Madonna Young – Early Life
Madonna was born to Catholic parents Madonna Louise (née Fortin) and Silvio Anthony “Tony” Ciccone in Bay City, Michigan on August 16, 1958.
Her father’s parents were Italian emigrants from Pacentro, while her mother was of French-Canadian descent. Tony worked as an engineer designer for Chrysler and General Motors.
She has two elder brothers, Anthony and Martin, and three younger siblings, Paula, Christopher, and Melanie.
She was raised in the Detroit suburbs of Pontiac and Avon Township (now Rochester Hills). Months before her mother died of breast cancer at age 30 on December 1, 1963. Madonna turned to her paternal grandmother for solace.
In 1966, Tony married the family’s housekeeper Joan Gustafson. They had two children, Jennifer and Mario. Madonna’s father got remarried which angered her. She began rebelling against him, which strained their relationship for many years afterward.
Madonna Young – School Years
She Young Madonna attended St. Frederick’s and St. Andrew’s Catholic Elementary Schools, and West Middle School. Madonna got her high grade point average, and achieved notoriety for her unconventional behavior.
She would perform cartwheels and handstands in the hallways between classes, dangle by her knees from the monkey bars during recess, and pull up her skirt during class—all so that the boys could see her underwear
Madonna’s father put her in classical piano lessons, but she later convinced him to allow her to take ballet lessons.
Christopher Flynn, her ballet teacher, persuaded her to pursue a career in dance. She later attended Rochester Adams High School where she became a straight-A student and a member of the cheerleading squad.
After graduating, she received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan and studied over the summer at the American Dance Festival.
In 1978, Madonna dropped out of college and relocated to New York City. She had little money while working as a waitress at Dunkin’ Donuts.
She started to work as a backup dancer for other established artists. One night, while returning from a rehearsal, a pair of men held her at knifepoint and forced her to perform fellatio.
She later found the incident to be “a taste of my weakness, it showed me that I still could not save myself in spite of all the strong-girl show.
She later impressed DJ and record producer Mark Kamins who arranged a meeting between Madonna and Sire Records founder Seymour Stein.
After Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire. Sire released her debut single, “Everybody”, in October 1982, and the second, “Burning Up”, in March 1983. Both became big club hits in the United States.