The ‘material girl’ turns 60 —Happy birthday, Madonna!

Madonna approached her 60th birthday in typically mocking style. She appeared in a photo on Twitter earlier this week, dressed to the nines, with half-eaten piece of cake in her mouth.

"Three more days... Let's all have cake!" she wrote, apparently having temporarily lost her manners.

It seems the Queen of Pop — Madonna Louise Ciccone — born August 16, 1958 in Bay City, Michigan, has no plans to ignore what for many is a day they dread.

With some 335 million records sold and a fortune estimated at more than $1 billion, Madonna is the music business' most successful woman. Even more importantly, she's become the first woman to dominate the male world of pop.

Breaking taboos

Turning heads, ignoring boundaries and breaking new ground is what Madonna's career has been all about. Breaking several taboos in her music videos — think of the black Jesus in "Like a Prayer" and the explicit postures in "Erotica" — Madonna has always known how to court publicity — by causing a stir.

But she is also an entrepreneur, writer, director, producer and designer. And while her acting career may have struggled to take off, she still won a Golden Globe for her role as "Evita" in the 1997 movie version of the musical.

The mother of two biological and four adopted children lives in Lisbon, Portugal and spends much of her time helping her offspring fulfil their own dreams. Her 12-year-old son David wants to become a professional football player, and she thinks he'll stand more of a chance in Cristiano Ronaldo's home country than in the United States.

Wherever she goes, she always takes inspiration from local culture. As she recently revealed to the fashion magazine Vogue, she recently recorded new songs inspired by the Portuguese fado folk tradition. Her fourteenth studio album will be released later this year.

We wish the Queen of Pop many happy returns!

Inputs by NH Web Desk

Deutsche Welle, or Dw, is Germany's public international broadcaster