It's 300 for the pleasure of seeing her in concert this time round. For that princely sum, fans will be treated to the sight of a jodhpur-clad Madonna riding male dancers around the stage, dressing up as John Travolta, and wearing a crown of thorns while hanging from a massive neon crucifix.

Value for money, surely.

If this 'Confessions' tour does as well as expected, she'll earn more than 150m . . . a record for a solo female performer. But not a big deal for a woman who can't sing, dance or write, and yet has made a 660m fortune out of doing all three.

Madonna's love of money, and her ability to get it any which way she could, started perhaps with getting paid for homework. Madonna's father paid her 25 cents for every 'A' that she got in school. With the result that young Madonna consistently got excellent grades.

She was the third of six children born to father Silvio Ciccone, and her mother, Madonna Fortin, after whom she was named. Hers was a traditional Catholic family in the Detroit suburbs. A very average, normal childhood. Until, at the age of five, Madonna's mother died of breast cancer.

Following that death, Madonna tried to fill the gap in the family, becoming the selfclaimed "unhired help" in the house. (Her brother described her as "spoilt, bossy but good-hearted". ) In ballet classes as a child, Madonna proved herself to be a gifted dancer, and she received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan. She gave college a year before heading to New York city to pursue her career. Speaking of the move, Madonna said it was the first time she'd ever taken a plane. "And I came here with $35 in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I'd ever done, " she said.

After a poverty struggle in the big city, Madonna's first mainstream album, Like A Virgin, coasted to the top of the charts on a wave of controversy and outrage. The queen of self-promotion edged it on with a provocative appearance on the first annual MTV Video Music Awards, in which she writhed on the stage wearing a combination bustier/wedding gown and her then-trademark 'Boy Toy' belt. The publicity stunt worked a treat. It was the first of many.

Following a brief (and largely unsuccessful) foray into acting, Madonna catapulted back into the music world with the release of 'Like A Prayer' in 1989. The video for the song, featuring burning crosses and a black Jesus, was roundly condemned by the Vatican and shot to number one in the charts.

Two years later, Madonna managed to scandalise even MTV with her video for 'Justify My Love', which showed S&M, bondage, gay and lesbian cuddling and nudity. The footage was banned by the music station, prompting Warner Bros to release it as the first ever video single.

It remains one of the highest-selling videos of all time.

Privately, Madonna's life was a mess.

She had had a number of abortions in the early years of her career, and in 1989 was just recovering from a disastrous four-year marriage to actor Sean Penn.

Commenting on the failed union, Penn has said he has no regrets. "It was a miserable marriage, but I like her a lot, " he said. "I describe that marriage as loud. I don't recall having a single conversation in four years."

In 1996, Madonna gave birth to a daughter, Lourdes, fathered by her fitness instructor Carlos Leon.

The pair split up seven months after the birth. Four years later, Madonna married film director Guy Ritchie, a much-hyped media event.

It wasn't long before rumours began of discord between the couple, with some gossip-mongers going so far as to suggest that they actually got divorced in 2004, but decided to keep living together and not tell anyone.

Madonna has done little to stall the rumours. In February of last year she failed to mention Ritchie during her acceptance speech at the Brit Awards, while remembering to thank her music producer, Stuart Price.

The snub to her husband might be attributable to the fact that Ritchie walked out of the room when he first heard her new album, Confessions on a Dancefloor. "Guy thought it was sh*t, " said Madonna. "He prefers Irish folk music."

The singer has also recently admitted she wed Ritchie for all the wrong reasons.

"I went into the marriage saying, 'He's going to make me laugh and look good', and of course, he's gorgeous, sexy and handsome, " she said. "But none of these things mean anything after you've been sharing a life together for a few years."

Friends and relatives have suggested the couple will stay together for their children. (Madonna gave birth to Ritchie's son, Rocco, in 2000. ) And certainly, Madonna seems to take her mothering role very seriously. When it comes to children, she undergoes a total change, becoming the polar-opposite of her public persona.

She has written a number of children's books about 11-year-olds who love music, dancing, skating, picnics, sleepovers, and anything else that involves good clean fun. Also, despite signing a 1.5m deal to advertise mobile phones last year, she continues to forbid her own children from having their own phones.

Neither are they allowed watch television or eat junk food.

But even the TV ban couldn't prevent Lourdes from catching wind of one of Madonna's most successful publicity stunts in 2003, when she engaged in a bit of very-public lesbian action with pop princesses Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the MTV Video Music Awards.

According to Madonna, her daughter has a rather unusual preoccupation with homosexuality, and assumed that her mother kissing two girls was an indication that she might be gay.

Madonna explained the situation to Lourdes as only Madonna could: "And I said, 'No, it just means I kissed Britney Spears. I am the mommy pop star and she is the baby pop star. And I am kissing her to pass my energy on to her.'" Passing on energy? But she's much too busy for that.

C.V.

Occupation: Singer, actor, author
Born: 16 August, 1958 as Madonna Louise Ciccone
Educated: Rochester Adams High School
Married to: Guy Ritchie
In the news: Because her marriage to Ritchie is reportedly on the rocks, and she's outraged the Catholic Church with her misuse of Catholic symbolism. Again.