CHRISTINA AGUILERA BIOGRAPHY

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Christina Aguilera has had a colorful and extremely successful career. Before she reached the young age of 21 Christina claimed multiple platinum records, three Grammy awards, and record sells that reached well over twenty million copies.

Christina Maria Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, New York. Her father, Fausto Aguilera, was born in Ecuador but had immigrated to the United States and pursued a career in the military. Her mother, the former Shelly Fidler, was a talented violinist who toured with the Youth Symphony Orchestra as a teenager. During Christina’s early years, the Aguilera family followed her father's assignments to Florida, Texas, New Jersey, and Japan. After having another daughter, Rachel, the Aguileras separated around 1986. The following year, Shelly Aguilera moved with her daughters back to her hometown of Wexford, a suburb northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After her mother remarried, Aguilera's family included siblings Casey, Robert Michael, and Stephanie. For several years after the divorce, Aguilera had very little contact with her father. While growing up in Wexford, Aguilera began entering talent contests; with a voice that was unusually mature for her age, she usually won first prize. In 1988 she entered a regional talent audition for the syndicated show: Star Search. Christina made it through the audition with a rendition of "The Greatest Love of All," which she performed on the show. Although she failed to win in her appearance on Star Search, the experience helped Christina build confidence in her performing abilities. For the next couple of years she was a regular performer of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before games of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team and Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team. Christina was a child actor on the Disney series The New Mickey Mouse Club along with such stars as Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Kerri Russel.

While her two years on The New Mickey Mouse Club provided Aguilera with invaluable acting, dancing, and singing experience, it caused turmoil when she returned to school. After a number of incidents spurred on by classmates jealous of her new fame, Aguilera was forced to transfer to a new junior high school in Pittsburgh. She experienced similar problems during high school and was relieved when she was able to complete her secondary education with a tutor while recording her debut album, Christina Aguilera, in 1998. After her stint on The New Mickey Mouse Club, Aguilera's agent secured an unusual opportunity for the young singer. Keizo Nakanishi, a Japanese singer, was looking for a duet partner to sing on his release "All I Wanna Do." After submitting an audition tape, Aguilera was chosen for the assignment. She recorded her part of the song in a Pittsburgh studio; it was then mixed in with the final recording. The making of the video brought Aguilera to Japan, and she subsequently joined Nakanishi on tour to perform their song in concert. After returning to the United States in 1997, Aguilera worked on a demo tape to help her find a recording contract. Her Disney ties came in handy when the producers of the soundtrack for the studio's Mulan were looking for someone to record a pop version of the film's key song, "Reflection." Aguilera got the job and a recording contract with RCA records in early 1998. Released as a single in the summer of 1998, "Reflection" became a modest hit on the adult contemporary chart. After completing some promotional appearances for the song, Aguilera entered a Los Angeles recording studio to make her debut album, Christina Aguilera. With a team of veteran songwriters and producers behind it, the album was a sophisticated yet accessible collection of songs that highlighted the power and range of Aguilera's voice. The first single from the album, "Genie in a Bottle," was released in the summer of 1999 and quickly went to number one, selling over two million copies in the process. The album itself debuted at number one on the Billboard chart and eventually sold over eight million copies, another remarkable feat for a new act. Two other singles from the album, "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby," also hit the top of the charts in 2000. At the 1999 Grammy Awards Aguilera pulled an upset win over Britney Spears to claim the award for Best New Artist. Her album had only been out a few months at the time of the award, and most expected Spears to walk away with the Grammy. Aguilera herself appeared shocked at getting such recognition just months after her album's release. The following year she claimed her second Grammy Award—this time from the Latin Recording Academy—for her Spanish-language release, Mi Reflejo. Although she had to record the album

phonetically because she did not speak Spanish, Aguilera looked at the experience as a chance to reconnect with her father's side of the family. The album was a major success and sold over three million copies in the year after its 2000 release. That year Aguilera released another platinum-selling album, My Kind of Christmas, a collection of holiday standards. Like teen singer Britney Spears, Aguilera endured some criticism as her records sold in the millions. While reviewers acknowledged her impressive vocal abilities—especially in comparison to Spears—images of the sexually provocative teenagers made others question the appropriateness of their videos. The protests peaked around Aguilera's appearance in the video for the 'Lady Marmalade' track for the movie Moulin Rouge in 2001. Aguilera countered the criticism head on; as she told Allure in a May of 2002 interview, "Everybody said, 'Don't do "Lady Marmalade," it's too urban for you!' But I wanted to do it. The girls [Pink, Lil' Kim, Mya, and Missy Elliott] were great to work with—it was like, 'Let's play dress-up for a day!' If you're doing a video for a movie like Moulin Rouge—I mean, it's about a whorehouse—you have to get up there in some fun costumes. I love taking chances." Christina was by now a fixture at music industry awards shows; as she enjoyed her celebrity, a collection of old demos -- recorded when she was 14 and 15 -- was released under the title Just Be Free, despite Christina's vehement objections. Christina attempted to deter the mass media's expectations when she issued her second studio album in fall 2002. “Stripped”, which appeared in October on RCA, was quickly criticized for its adult yet confident approach. Christina's look had gone from glossy to gritty. She appeared topless on the cover of the album and went nude for a fall issue of Rolling Stone. Debut single "Dirrty" revealed her new sexual power and became a chart smash, while "Beautiful" showed her softer side. In regards to her second album Christina said, "For me, in my heart, I have to move away from [teen pop]," she said. "Even if the label said I had to make another record like that, I don't think I could. Getting older, you just don't want to sing fluffy. You just have more things to say about real life and real people and the bitterness that you get from people." Aguilera won her third Grammy Award at the 2002 ceremonies for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Lady Marmalade”.

In 2004 she became the new face for MAC cosmetic company and spokesperson for the MAC AIDS Fund. More recently she became involved in awareness campaigns with YouthAIDS and ALDO. She also sponsors and is actively involved in the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh for battered women and children.

For her third record, however, Aguilera split from producer Scott Storch and went to work with DJ Premier and Linda Perry, among others, for the 2006 Back to Basics, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The album, a two-disc set that explored her influences, mainly '20s, '30s, and '40s jazz and blues in the style of Etta James or Billie Holiday, portrayed a more mature, yet at the same time provocative, singer. Today, while devoting the lion's share of her time to recording and touring, the 25-year-old is active in a range of philanthropy. A major contributor to the fight against AIDS, Aguilera has participated in the "What's Going On?" cover project for AIDS Project Los Angeles' Artists Against AIDS.