Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera was born December 18, 1980, in Staten Island, New York. She is the daughter of an Ecuadorian father, Fausto, and a Irish mother, Shelly. Since her father was in the military she moved around quite a bit in the initial years. Her parents separated when she was seven, and she settled with her sister and mom in Wexford, Pensylvania. Her mother was a professional pianist. By the time she was five, Christina knew all the songs from The Sound of Music and performed them at neighborhood block parties. At the age of eight Christina appeared on the nationally syndicated show Star Search and at the age of ten she sang the National Anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins. By twelve years of age Christina had become a member of the television show the New Mickey Mouse Club. with fellow castmates Britney Spears, Keri Russell, and J.C. Chasez and Justin Timberlake from the boy band *N Sync.

All the while Christina had in mind a goal of producing her first album before she graduated from High School. After her two-year stint on The Mickey Mouse Club, Christina traveled to Japan in 1998, where she recorded a duet with Japanese star Keizo Nakanishi. She also performed at the Golden Stag Festival in Transylvania, Romania, joining Sheryl Crow and Diana Ross, who were also on the playlist. Christina Aguilera caught the eye of manager Steve Kurtz, who requested a demo tape. Amazed by her voice and beauty he offered her a record deal when she was 15. She got the gig to sing Reflection for the animated film Mulan and the song was eventually nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture.

Her self-titled debut album was released on August 24th, 1999, and sold more than 250,000 copies within one week of being released. It spawned the hits Genie in a Bottle, Come on Over and What a Girl Wants. She also had a hit with P!nk, Courtesy of BMG and Lil Kim with the Moulin Rouge song, Lady Marmalade. Christina subsequently went on to win the 1999 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. In less than a year since the release of Genie in a Bottle, Christina performed a duet with B.B. King and performed The Christmas Song for Bill Clinton on the TV special Christmas at the White House. Also performed a duet at the Super Bowl Half Time Show with Enrique Iglesias; and she was the only female guest at VH1's Men Strike Back special.

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