Madonna Has Child

Lourdes has a brother.

Madonna gave birth to a baby boy on Friday, her publicist announced. The baby had been due in September.

"English film director Guy Ritchie and Madonna are delighted to announce the birth of their son, Rocco Ritchie, on Aug. 11, 2000," Liz Rosenberg said in a statement.

She refused to provide other details, including where the child was born and his height and weight.

"Overjoyed mother, father, and sister Lourdes are all safe and sound at an undisclosed location," Rosenberg said.

The 41-year-old Madonna had joked about the baby's pending birth with DJ Rick Dees Thursday, saying she might name him Baby Jesus.

She also said that while she liked England, where she was staying with Ritchie, she had decided to return to America to give birth to the boy.

"Have you been to the hospitals in England? They are old and Victorian. It is always strange to go and see doctors in foreign countries. I like it here (in the U.K.) but I like efficiency," she said.

Madonna revealed she had taken a kayaking holiday last month, adding "Can you imagine a water buffalo on a kayak?"

The birth punctuates an already busy summer for the Material Girl. Until recently she had been putting the finishing touches on her eighth album, Music, due out in mid-September, and on Friday, two Web sites began featuring the full-length version of a new video of the same name.

LAUNCH.com and Madonnamusic.com are currently the only Web sites to feature the new video, which is the first single off the pop chameleon's forthcoming album of the same name.

The new album had a lot of "funky electronic stuff" as well as party songs and a "little bit of a funky folk thing," she said.

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