Christopher Ciccone, the designer and artist who was the younger brother of superstar Madonna, has died aged 63.
Madonna shared on Instagram that her brother had passed away aged 63 after a long illness. The singer remarked on how her younger brother had followed her to New York in the early 1980’s and been involved in her early days as a singer.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Christoper served as the Creative Director for some her biggest tours, while also finding success as an interior designer and artist. Madonna also referenced the siblings falling out and many years of estrangement.
“The last few years have not been easy.” Madonna wrote. “We did not speak for some time but when my brother got sick. We found our way back to each other.”
In 2008 Christopher published his memoir Life with My Sister Madonna which shared his experience of working in his older sister’s shadow.
In the book Christopher shared how his sister had taken him to his first gay club in their hometown of Detroit when he was in his final year of High School. After dropping out of college he begins following in his sister’s footsteps studying dance and with her encouragement he also moves to New York.
After spending some time with a dance company in Canada he returned to New York to work as Madonna’s back-up dancer for her earliest club appearances and appeared alongside her in her early music videos. He is featured in Madonna’s performance of Holiday on Top of the Pops and her video for Lucky Star.
Fashion designer Erika Bell, who appeared in the same video clips as a backing dancer, posted a photo of the trio to social media site X with the caption “RIP, Chris” alongside an emoji of a star.
He’d later work as Madonna’s dresser on The Virgin Tour and became part of her entourage as she found continued success in music and branched out into films.
Christopher later took on the task of developing his sister’s multimillion dollar art collection, decorated her many houses and designing the looks for her Blond Ambition World Tour and The Girlie Show tour that came to Australia in the mid 90s. Christopher is featured prominently in Madonna’s 1991 tour documentary Truth or Dare: In Bed with Madonna.
He also worked as an artist, one of his paintings appears on the cover of his sister’s Like a Prayer single. He later opened his own art gallery. He also directed several music videos including Dolly Parton’s Peace Train and a clip for Tony Bennet’s rendition of God Bless the Child.
Christopher Ciccone’s relationship with Madonna became strained as his drug use increased, something that his sister did not approve of. In his book he also wrote about he did not get on with Madonna’s second husband Guy Ritchie, who she wed in 2000.
In 2001 Madonna appointed Jamie King to be the director her Downed World Tour, reportedly not telling her brother that he was being dumped from her team. The acrimonious falling out leading him to pen his book where he accused Madonna of underpaying him for his services for decades.
Ciccone married Britsh actor Ray Thacker in 2016 and is reported to have died after a long battle with cancer. Joan Ciccone, the sibling’s stepmother also died just a few weeks ago after being diagnosed with cancer.
