Madonna’s brother, Christopher Ciccone, a multihyphenate artist, dancer and designer.
He was 63.
The news was revealed to American media on Friday through his representative Brad Taylor who told the Associated Press, he had succumbed to cancer.
Madonna paid tribute to him in a post on her Instagram account sharing a number of pictures of them together over the years.
“He was the closest human to me for so long,” she wrote. “Its hard to explain our bond. But it grew out of an understanding that we were different and society was going to give us a hard time for not following the status quo. We took each other’s hands and we danced through the madness of our childhood.”
Speaking of their careers in the industry and dance in particular, she said that learning how to dance saved them from their small hometown.
Ciccone was deeply intertwined with his sister’s rise in pop stardom in the 1980s, appearing in music videos like “Lucky Star,” art directing her Blond Ambition World Tour and serving as tour director for The Girlie Show tour. He also directed music videos for Dolly Parton and Tony Bennett.
“When it came to good taste, my brother was the Pope, and you had to kiss the ring to get his blessing,” Madonna wrote.
“He was a painter a poet and a visionary. I admired him. He had impeccable taste. And a sharp tongue, Which he sometimes used against me but I always forgave him.”
It is no secret that there were a few rocky moments in their relationship.
In 2008, Ciccone released a bestselling autobiography called “Life with My Sister Madonna” in which he wrote about their strained relationship, her romantic entanglements as well as recollections from his time on tour with her.
Madonna said they repaired their relationship when he became sick.
