Madonna through the years: her life in pictures

Since the release of her debut album in 1983, Madonna has rarely been out of the public eye – and she’s never stopped delivering floor-filling pop hits.

Born in Bay City, Michigan, in 1958, Madonna began dancing as a child after convincing her father to let her study ballet instead of piano. After graduating from high school in 1976, she attended the University of Michigan on a dance scholarship, but dropped out two years later and moved to New York City.

Madonna continued to study dance in the Big Apple, but she also started making music, and in 1981 she had her debut single “Everybody” ready. “I wanted to make money first and foremost. I was tired of being broke,” she recalled The New York Times in 2019, looking back on those early years. “But secondly, all I wanted was a song that would be played on the radio. That’s all I prayed for. A song.”

That dream came true and then some. As of 2023, she is the best-selling female solo artist of all time and is connected with Barbara Streisand for most multiplatinum albums by a female solo artist. “Every time I make a record, I have something new to say,” she said Weekly entertainment in 2016. “I think that’s a pretty good idea. I’m not a greatest hits type of girl. You could say it’s reinventing, but a true artist is constantly changing and evolving because art is constantly changing and evolving. I mean, Picasso didn’t paint the same paintings over and over.”

Keep scrolling for a look back at Madonna’s life and career over the years: