Madonna’s brother, Christopher Ciccone, has died at 63

Christopher Ciccone, a multihyphenate artist, dancer, designer and younger brother of Madonna, has died. He was 63.

Ciccone died Friday in Michigan, his representative Brad Taylor told The Associated Press Sunday. He had cancer.

Madonna posted a tribute to him on Instagram Sunday with a carousel of photos from 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.”

Madonna wrote that discovering dance in their small Midwestern town saved them both, and that their ballet teacher created a safe space for her brother to be gay.

A dancer since his youth, 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.”

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. For two decades, he was by her side, choreographing, directing, dressing and helping his sister. He also interior designed her homes in New York, Miami and Los Angeles. He said that it was a bit like a marriage at times.

“It was a double-edged sword,” he told Good Morning America in 2008. “Nobody was chaining me down to make — to stay.”

The book, and his no-filter descriptions of the exploits of his sister’s famous circle, took its toll on some of his Hollywood friendships too. Several years later, in 2012, around the launch of a shoe collection he designed, he told The Standard that he and his sister were “on a perfectly personable level” and in contact.

“I don’t work for her, and it’s better this way,” he said.

In recent years Ciccone relocated to Michigan’s Lower Peninsula to be closer to family. In 2016, Ciccone married Ray Thacker, a British actor, who was by his side when he died.

Madonna wrote that when he got sick, they found their way back to one another.

“I’m glad he’s not suffering anymore,” she wrote. “There will never be anyone like him. I know he’s dancing somewhere.”

Madonna also lost her stepmother, Joan Clare Ciccone, to cancer just a few weeks ago, and her older brother Anthony Ciccone in early 2023.

FILE - American pop star Madonna performs "Fever" in her 1993 Girlie Show World Tour concert before 30,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome, Japan, Dec. 13, 1993. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)

FILE - Madonna poses with her brother, Christopher Ciccone, left, and director Alek Keskishian following the premiere showing of Madonna's newest film, "Truth or Dare," May 7, 1991, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Julie Markes, File)

FILE - Honoree Madonna accepts the advocate for change award at the 30th annual GLAAD Media Awards May 4, 2019, at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Christopher Ciccone poses with his memoir "Life With My Sister Madonna," Wednesday, July 30, 2008, in West Hollywood, Calif. (AP Photo/Rene Macura, File)

FILE - Christopher Ciccone, brother of Madonna and author of "Life With My Sister Madonna," poses for a portrait in Los Angeles, Friday, August 1, 2008. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — An unidentified male fan fell from the 21-foot Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park during Wednesday night’s game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs.

Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track.

The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart.

The team issued a statement shortly after the game ended saying the man was transported to Allegheny General Hospital. No further details were given.

Players from both teams could be seen praying and McCutchen held a cross that hung from his neck while the fan was taken off the field. The game was paused for several minutes while the man was tended to but there was no official stoppage in play.

Fans have died from steep falls at baseball stadiums.

In 2015, Atlanta Braves season ticket holder Gregory K. Murrey flipped over guard rails from the upper deck at Turner Field. That was four years after Shannon Stone, a firefighter attending a game with his 6-year-old son, fell about 20 feet after reaching out for a foul ball tossed into the stands at the Texas Rangers’ former stadium.

Both incidents prompted scrutiny over the height of guard rails at stadiums. The Rangers raised theirs, while the Braves settled a lawsuit with Murrey’s family.

A spectator at a 2022 NFL game at Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium died following a fall on an escalator.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton, left, and bench coach Don Kelly stand in the dugout during a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)