Author Matt Cain – who wrote a novel inspired by the singer – talks candidly about how important the popstar was to him. Jayson Mansaray reports.

LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATE (REUTERS / WARNER MUSIC) – Singer, author and businesswoman.

She’s the material girl whose reign over the pop charts spans three decades.

And on August 16 (2018) Madonna turns 60.

Author Matt Cain’s crowdfunded novel “The Madonna of Bolton” has become a best seller.

The story is about a young man struggling to come to terms with his sexuality and how Madonna helps him through.

A story close to home for the author.

MATT CAIN, AUTHOR, SAYING:

“I had a hard time growing up because I always knew that I was gay and this was a time when hysteria was raging around the HIV AIDS crisis and this generated a lot of homophobia in the mainstream media. But at the time when most pop stars who were gay wouldn’t come out, people like Freddie Mercury, people like George Michael because it would have ended their careers, Madonna was one of the very few who stood up for us, who proudly flaunted her gay friends and collaborators.”

Since her first album in 1983, Madonna has sold more than 300 million records with albums like “True Blue”, “Like a Prayer” and “Ray of Light”.

Making her one of the highest selling music artists of all time…and one of the most enduring.

MATT CAIN, AUTHOR,

“If you look at Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Prince, even George Michael they’re not with us any more Madonna is. But this is interestingly consistent with her message she was always about strength, drive, determination, survival against the odds, battling all obstacles to pursue your aim. So actually it was always going to be Madonna that would survive.”

She’s a singer/songwriter, actress, director and mother of six.

And in a career spanning 35-years, on her 60th birthday, the reigning queen of pop could claim a new title.

To some she is now “The Madonna of Bolton” too.

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