The mystery is
solved: Madonna's brother, Christopher Ciccone, is writing
a memoir about his sister, to be released in mid-July by an
imprint of Simon & Schuster, the publisher told
The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The imprint,
Simon Spotlight Entertainment, had been promoting a
celebrity memoir for July, without identifying the author or
contents. Life With My Sister Madonna will have
a first printing of 350,000. Financial details were
not disclosed.
"Ciccone's
extraordinary memoir is based on his life and 47 years of
growing up with and working with his sister -- the most
famous woman in the world," the publisher said
Wednesday in a statement.
Persuading stores
to make "blind" orders has been tried before. In 2006,
William Morrow offered a mysterious tell-all that turned out
to be by Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell,
who had already written about her. Retailers were
angered and the book sold poorly.
Ciccone will work
with Wendy Leigh, who has written biographies of Liza
Minnelli and Grace Kelly and a highly critical book about
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Ciccone, 47, has
worked often with his older sister, designing and
directing her "Girlie Show" tour in 1993 and serving as
artistic director of her 1991 documentary, Madonna:
Truth or Dare. But according to Madonna's
spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, they are no longer close.
Madonna, who
turns 50 this summer, is among the most popular recording
artists in history, with such hits as "Like a Virgin,"
''Material Girl" and "Vogue."
Rosenberg had no
initial comment on the book, but told the AP that
"Madonna has not cooperated with any biography about
herself." (AP)