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After
Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera
was the most popular female singer
of the late-'90s teen pop revival.
Unlike many of her contemporaries,
Aguilera was a technically skilled
singer with a genuinely powerful
voice, belting out her up-tempo
dance numbers and ballads with a
diva's panache. Born Christina Maria
Aguilera on December 18, 1980, on
Staten Island, her parents were of
Irish and Ecuadorian stock and her
father's military career meant the
family moved quite a bit during her
childhood. They eventually settled
in Philadelphia, where Aguilera
began performing in talent shows at
age six, with considerable success.
She appeared on Star Search in 1988
(though she didn't win) and in 1992
joined the cast of the Disney
Channel's The New Mickey Mouse Club,
which also included Spears, future
*N Sync members Justin Timberlake
and JC Chasez, and Felicity star
Keri Russell. After two years,
Aguilera moved to Japan, where she
recorded the hit duet "All I Wanna
Do" with pop star Keizo Nakanishi.
Returning to the U.S. in 1998,
Aguilera recorded the song
"Reflection" for Disney's Mulan; her
performance helped earn her a record
deal with RCA. Her self-titled debut
album was released in the summer of
1999 and with teen-oriented
dance-pop all the rage, the lead
single "Genie in a Bottle" shot to
the top of the charts for five
weeks; the album also hit number one
on its way to sales of over eight
million copies in the U.S. alone.
The follow-up, "What a Girl Wants,"
was the first number one single of
the year 2000 and Aguilera
consolidated her near-instant
stardom by performing at the White
House Christmas gala and the Super
Bowl halftime show, and winning a
Grammy for Best New Artist. Further
hits followed in "I Turn to You" and
another number one, "Come on Over
Baby (All I Want Is You).">>>
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In
September 2000, seeking a place in
that year's Latin pop boom, the
part-Ecuadorian Aguilera recorded a
Spanish-language album called Mi
Reflejo, learning the lyrics
phonetically since she didn't speak
Spanish. It was followed quickly by
the holiday album My Kind of
Christmas; both sold extremely well,
a testament to Aguilera's
popularity. In the spring of 2001,
Aguilera was featured -- along with
Pink, Mya, and Lil' Kim -- on the
chart-topping blockbuster remake of
Patti LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade"
featured on the Moulin Rouge
soundtrack. Aguilera 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 Aguilera's vehement
objections.
Ms. Aguilera 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. Aguilera'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 Aguilera's new sexual power
and became a chart smash.
>>>
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