Madonna Magazine Cover Star

Madonna Ciccone moved from Michigan to New York City in the late 1970s to pursue a career in modern dance. In the early 1980s she performed with the dance pop groups Breakfast Club and Emmy that garnered her attention on the New York City dance scene. In 1983 she released her debut self-title album.

While her debut album didn’t make much of an impression on the national music scene, her follow-up “Like a Virgin” album hit the big time in the mainstream, selling 12 million copies and landing at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard magazine charts. Very quickly Madonna became a style icon for young American girls with her signature bleached hair, lace tights, cross earrings, mini-skirts and oodles of bangle bracelets.


For her mega pop culture influence, Madonna appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1985 with the headline “Why She’s Hot.” Also in 1985 Madonna appeared on the cover of People magazine three times. Some of the People magazine covers included “Best and Worst Dressed,” an appearance with her controversial friendship with Michael Jackson and various relationships like Sean Penn and Warren Beatty.

By 1986 Madonna released her third album “True Blue,” which was also a major success and changed her look, as noted in a Rolling Stone magazine article accompanied by a Rolling Stone magazine cover. Madonna would appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine a numerous times in the late 1980s through the present.

Also in the 1980s Madonna appeared on the covers of celebrity magazines like Star magazine, fashion magazines like Glamour magazine, Vogue magazine, Vanity Fair magazine, Harper’s Bazaar magazine, Cosmopolitan magazine and other entertainment magazines like Premiere magazine.

In 1992 Madonna appeared on the cover of Entertainment Weekly magazine. This magazine cover became one of the most controversial covers of Madonna’s career. Madonna appears nude with a question mark over her body. The cover was part of the controversy of her photography book promotion.

Madonna also appeared on the cover of People magazine when she gave birth to daughter Lourdes Leon in 1996 and when she married British film-director Guy Ritchie in 2000. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s Madonna appeared on magazine covers like Elle, Marie Claire, Esquire, Spin, Vanity Fair, Interview, InStyle, Ladies Home Journal and Entertainment Weekly.

In the fall of 2008 Madonna made many magazine covers again including celebrity magazines like Us Weekly, People magazine, OK magazine and Life & Style magazine when rumors swirled that her marriage to Ritchie was on the rocks and she was having an affair with Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez.

On October 15, 2008, a spokeswoman confirmed that Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie plan to divorce, which generated more magazine covers like Us Weekly, People magazine, OK magazine and Life & Style magazine.