signed up for school shows and the cheerleading squad.

attended University of Michigan on a dancing scholarship.

dropped out, two years into college studies

joined a series of small-time bands

attracted considerable attention for her boogie-inducing tunes and her enthusiastic, naughty stage presence.

In 1982, star DJ Mark Kamins supplied Madonna with her big break: he created a club-scene hit from one of her demo singles, "Everybody," and introduced the budding performer to Warner Bros. executives, who liked what they heard and saw and promptly signed her to a recording contract. Madonna's eponymous debut album was released to zero fanfare in 1983. The record's first single, "Holiday," made the leap from dance-floor turntables to airplay by inner-city radio stations and, incredibly, into America's Top 20 chart. In quick succession, "Lucky Star" and "Borderline" followed the debut single's trajectory. Both those tunes were boosted by music videos that introduced the world to Madonna's intriguing look: layered mesh halter tops, exposed midriff, short skirts, all set off by religious accessories and a pointedly bad dye-job. While hits from Madonna were still camped out on the charts, Warner Bros. released "Like a Virgin" in 1984. Its title track became the singer's first No. 1 single, and the album topped the charts. In 1985, Madonna sold more singles and albums than any other artist that year. Now a certified sensation, Madonna embarked on a sold-out tour; appeared in the modestly entertaining feature films "Vision Quest" and "Desperately Seeking Susan" (both in 1985); married actor Sean Penn; and made her theatrical debut opposite him in a 1986 production of David Rabe's "Goose and Tom-Tom". The media-magnetic couple wed in 1985 on Madonna's birthday in Malibu, California. The partnership produced the truly dreadful film "Shanghai Surprise" and zillions of tabloid headlines, and ended in divorce less than four years later. In 1992, Madonna cemented her superstardom with a seven-year, $60-million deal with Time Warner. Under the pact, Madonna became head of her own label, Maverick which has succeeded beyond even the Material Girl's most ambitious dreams, thanks largely to the label's best-selling artists, Alanis Morissette and the English techno band Prodigy. After the uproar surrounding her book, "Sex" subsided, Madonna, realizing she was seriously overexposed, slipped out of the limelight and into a handful of low-key film roles in such indie fare as "Blue in the Face" and "Four Rooms". When she reemerged, she embodied two new personae: mother-to-be and serious actress. On October 14, 1996, she and then-boyfriend Carlos Leon welcomed daughter Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon, whom mama Madonna calls Lola, into the world. In addition, she appeared as the titular heroine of "Evita" in 1996. It was a role she seemed born to play and received a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. Nowhere was Madonna's newfound state of meditative reserve and self-awareness more readily in evidence than on her 1998 release "Ray of Light", a moody, introspective (yet danceable!) album she created with the express intent of affecting people "in a quieter way," as she related to one interviewer. Never one to limit her media boundaries, the continually morphing pop icon is hard at work establishing two new Maverick divisions which she will head: Mad Guy Television and Mad Guy Films.