Madonna Sells Miami Manse

By Stephen M. Silverman

08/31/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

An aspiring pop group called the Burgundians -- there are five of them -- is buying Madonna's nine-bedroom, 8 1/2-bathroom Miami mansion for $7.5 million. Haven't heard of the Burgundians? Well, with the purchase of the property, which is being deemed in some quarters as an expensive publicity gimmick, perhaps you will. The Associated Press reports that the real-estate buy -- as well as the group itself -- is being backed by an unnamed financial backer whose identity will be revealed on the house deal's closing day, July 12, according to the group's publicist, Dindy Yokel. A $750,000 cash deposit is said to be being held in escrow. Yokel described the band's sound as similar to that of the Monkees, the Spice Girls and *NSYNC.