Christopher Ciccone, the younger brother of pop icon Madonna, passed away. He was 63.
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Ciccone’s rep confirmed that he died on Friday, Oct. 4, following a battle with cancer. His death comes weeks after Madonna’s stepmother, Joan Ciccone, died from an aggressive form of cancer.
CBS reports that Madonna and her brother Christopher Ciccone were close during the early years of her music career. He was also known for being one of her backup dancers. He later became the show designer and backstage dresser for the pop star. Ciccone was famously known as the art director for his sister’s “Blonde Ambition” world tour, which ran from Apr through Aug. 1990.
Along with his work with Madonna, Ciccone also directed music videos for Tony Bennett and Dolly Parton.
However, things between the siblings turned ugly when Ciccone discovered Madonna didn’t hire him to assist her in her 2001 Drowned World Tour. He was also excluded from his sister’s wedding to Guy Ritchie.
Ciccone said in a 2009 interview with The Guardian that he and Madonna stopped being close after that. “From the moment I found out that I wasn’t doing Drowned World, to her and Guy’s wedding,” he said. “Everything became a bit of a blur, a dark, fairly negative period of time for me.”
Madonna’s Younger Brother Christopher Ciccone Called Her Out in His 2008 Biography
Although the siblings were close back in Madonna’s early music days, it appears things soured between the two when Ciccone heavily criticized his big sister in his 2008 biography Life With My Sister Madonna.
“Her moves are, indeed, terrific. Her voice, however, is another matter,” Ciccone wrote. “My sister’s unwillingness to submit to the drudgery of regular singing lessons is a by-product of the supreme self-confidence with which she was born.”
He also stated, “Niki Harris has a better voice than Madonna. Her voice is fully trained, and Madonna fights to keep her at bay because Niki is fully capable of drowning her out and often does. When that happens, Madonna sometimes orders Niki’s mike to be switched off. Once or twice, Madonna has even raised the possibility of firing Niki.”
Ciccone continued by revealing, “Not that she would ever do it herself…she is utterly terrified of confrontation, avoids it at all costs, can never bring herself to fire anyone face-to-face, and always delegates that task to one of her minions, usually me.”
Despite the fallout after the book was released, Madonna and her brother Christopher Ciccone eventually made up.