 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 uptempo 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 Pittsburgh, PA, 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 *NSYNC 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)."
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.
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 her
new sexual power and became a chart smash, while "Beautiful" showed her softer
side. For her next 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.
|
