Madonna chosen for Hall of Fame induction

Madonna, a multi-Grammy Award winning artist, has been nominated for induction into the 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

US pop sensation and heart throb of millions, the super sexy Madonna would join such globally renowned nine recording artists on the list of the top 10 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees.

Other contenders on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, who are chosen by a nominating committee composed of music historians, include Canadian poet-singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, disco queen Donna Summer, instrumental rock band The Ventures, rap pioneer Afrika Bambaataa and puckish rappers The Beastie Boys.

Also in the running are Leonard Cohen, rock singer John Mellencamp, New York-based funk group Chic, the 1960s English band The Dave Clark Five, and Afrika Bambaataa, according to Billboard magazine.

More than 600 music experts would trim the list of these nominees to a final list of five, who will be inducted into the Hall on March 10 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.

Artists become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record, meaning the current nominees had to have issued their inaugural record no later than 1982.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recognizes four categories: Performers, Non-Performers, Early Influences, and since 2000, Sidemen. The Hall of Fame Foundation’s nominating committee, composed of rock and roll historians, selects nominees each year in the Performer category. Nominees should have demonstrable influence and significance within the history of rock and roll.

Born on 16 August 1958 as Madonna Louise Ciccone in Bay City, Michigan, Madonna is an American pop singer, musician, record and film producer, dancer, actor, and children's author. She burst out of New York dance clubs in the early 1980s with "Holiday" and soon became a pop culture icon.

In 2000, The Guinness Book of Records credited this raging beauty as the most successful female recording artist of all time, with estimated worldwide sales of 120 million albums.

Referred to as the ‘Queen of Pop’, she is noted for her innovative music videos, elaborately mounted stage performances, and use of political, sexual, and religious themes and imagery in her work.

In the list of the 150 highest selling artists ever, Madonna appears at number 4, right behind the Beatles, Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley, with a total of 275 millions records sold worldwide from 1984 to late 2005.

As a singer, she has won great accolades; success in acting has been varied, but mostly heavily panned by critics. She was presented with a special Razzie award in the year 2000 as ‘Worst Actress of the Century’.

The hot and sultry beauty has always been in headlines due to her controversial acts on the stage. Protests were raised for tonight’s concert as well from the Russian Orthodox Church, which accuses the pop star of inappropriately exploiting Christian symbols.

On December 22, 2000, Madonna married British director Guy Ritchie, whom she had met in 1999 through mutual friends, Sting and his wife Trudie Styler. Madonna gave birth to a son, Rocco John Ritchie, on August 11, 2000. She currently resides in Wiltshire, England with Ritchie and her three children, Rocco, an adopted son David Banda and a daughter Lourdes, fathered by her personal trainer, Carlos Leon.