Happy Birthday, Madonna

Happy fifty-fourth birthday today (August 16th) to American singer, songwriter, and actress Madonna Louise Ciccone.

The Michigan born woman's road to becoming one the world's top-selling female recording artists of all time (with over 300 million records sold) began with her move to New York City in 1977 to become a modern dance professional. She also began performing with the group Breakfast Club, which led to her getting her own recording contract. The rest has been musical history.

Madonna - Like a Prayer

In 1989, Madonna released her fourth studio album Like a Prayer. As co-writer on all of the tracks, it had a much more intimate look into her personal world. The songs drew from her upbringing as well as events that were going on in her off-stage life. The result was an album that was both a critical and commercial success.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at number 237 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time, the highest ranking of the four albums by her that made the list. Time magazine included Like a Prayer in its All-TIME 100 Albums list. Q magazine ranked it number 14 on its list of the 40 Best Albums of the '80s.