Madonna, the Queen of Pop, should perhaps also be crowned the Queen of Personal Reinvention, with a career spanning over two decades, studded with chart-topping hits and sold-out tours, and the ability to consistently wow fans the world over, she's undoubtedly a pop-music icon. Madonna's 2004 tour was even titled, ?Re-Invention World Tour.?



Now she's back again with her 11th studio album, ?Hard Candy? and the first single from the album, ?4 Minutes? is already topping charts. Madonna fans the world over are breathlessly awaiting official tour dates as her website announced three dates in April and May 2008. ?Hard Candy? is unwrapped for the world on 28 April, and hits the US on 29 April.

On 30 April, Her Majesty takes to the stage at New York's Roseland Ballroom. The ?Hard Candy? kick off is presented by Verizon Wireless, Control Room and MSN and will be live broadcast in the US on MSN.com, followed by a 15 May broadcast outside the US. A show at the Olympia Hall in Paris is scheduled on 6 May and the Material Girl is headlining Radio 1's Big Weekend on Saturday 10 May in Mote Park: Maidstone Kent.

Partial Discography

1983Madonna

1984Like a Virgin

1986True Blue

1989Like a Prayer

1992Erotica

1994Bedtime Stories

1998Ray of Light

2000Music

2003American Life

2005Confessions on a Dance Floor

2008Hard Candy

Tour List

1985 Virgin Tour

1987Who's That Girl World Tour

1990Blond Ambition World Tour

1993The Girlie Show

2001Drowned World Tour

2004Re-Invention World Tour

2006Confessions Tour

2008Forthcoming ?Hard Candy? Tour

?Hard Candy? features vocal collaborations between Madonna and guest artists Justin Timberlake and Kanye West among others with Pharrell Williams and Timbaland popping up as collaborators and producers. The first single from the album, ?4 Minutes??a flirty Madonna and Justin Timberlake duet?has already topped charts and critics have been praising the back-to-her-roots flavour of ?Hard Candy.?

Strike a Pose?there's nothing to it

Promo material for the album has everyone's favourite Queen of the Dance Floor looking hotter than ever (how many near 50-year-old women could rock that hot cover shot like she does?) The mock wrestling champion belt seems incredibly apt after her March 2008 induction into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And if you've seen the ?4 Minutes? video, you know she's still got the moves.

Madonna's no stranger to fame, and each time her star seems to be on the verge of waning, she's proved everyone wrong and made a comeback with all new, all hot material. According to Billboard, her 2006 Confession tour holds the record as the highest grossing concert tour by a female artist. In the UK, she's the most successful female artist in album and singles chart history, with over 61 Top Ten singles. The 2007 Guinness World Records and Forbes both list Queen Madge as the top earning female singer in the world. And her legions of loyal fans would all say, ?Yeah. We've been telling you she's great!?

Who's That Girl?

Her career spans a wide range, from her early days of ?80's pop, her appearance in some less than stellar films, the controversy of 1989's ?Like a Prayer,? publishing her book ?SEX,? to her award winning performance singing and acting in ?Evita,? and beyond, she's proven critics wrong, and rewarded fans with a consistent flow of new material.

She? can lay claim to titles like multi-Grammy-award winning singer, songwriter, producer, cultural icon, world-renowned stage performer, video visionary, children's book author, actor, director, documentary filmmaker and has sold over 200 million albums over the course of her career. That she is a savvy businesswoman, masterfully managing her career and taking advantage of the best and latest technology does not make her any less stellar an entertainer.

Judging by past history, the ?Hard Candy? tour is going to be a serious and tasty treat. Early reviews of the album have been favorable, with critics apparently saying ?mmm-mmm Good!? Rolling Stone said, ?A songwriting team of American chart royalty helps Madonna revisit her roots as an urban-disco queen.? Brit mag Attitude gave the album a five out of five star rating and Entertainment Weekly praised it with a B+ rating. With 12 tracks, including titles like ?Candy Shop,? ?Give it 2 Me,? ?Dance 2night,? ?Devil Wouldn't Recognize You? and ?She's Not Me?, it seems the world has a serious sweet tooth that only Madonna can satisfy. The ?net is abuzz with talk and rumours of tour dates, and fans are on the edges of their seats, breathless and anxious for when they too can get a live taste of ?Hard Candy.?