Christina Aguilera Pictures & Shout Out

In the late 1990’s, pop music was overtaken by a stream of teen stars whose good looks, attitude, catchy songs and powerful hype machines often overshadowed their talent--or lack thereof. The anomaly of this teen invasion was Christina Aguilera, who backed up the hype with a powerful set of pipes that validated her pop star status. Possessing a four-octave range, Aguilera faced constant comparison to another blonde ex-Mousketeer, Britney Spears, when vying for the role of pop music’s top diva. Her eponymously titled debut album, released in August 1999, took the music world by storm and eventually sold over 10 million copies. Though she also rivaled Spears and Jessica Simpson as the pop star with the most wholesome image, Aguilera would eventually break that mold to become something she was more comfortable with: herself.

Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, NY. Of Irish and Ecuadorian descent, Aguilera was exposed early on to the music industry through her mother, who played violin and piano professionally. Her father was career military, which forced the family to move from place to place all over the world. Eventually, the family settled in Wexford, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, where Aguilera, already displaying her potential as a singer, began singing in school talent shows. At 8 years-old, Aguilera made her first professional appearance as a contestant on the nationally syndicated “Star Search” (1983-1995), where she made a strong second-place finish. When she was 10, Aguilera sang the national anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, the youngest person ever to do so. Aguilera then auditioned for the “The Mickey Mouse Club” (Disney, 1988-1995) and got a part as a Mouseketeer along side Spears, Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez. After two years on the show, Aguilera went to Japan to record “All I Wanna Do”, a hit duet with local pop star Keizo Nakanishi.

Aguilera returned to the states to record the song Reflections for the Walt Disney movie, “Mulan” (1998). The movie was a hit, and the song was nominated for “Best Original Song in a Motion Picture” at the Golden Globe Awards. Though the song didn’t win, Aguilera secured a recording contract shortly after with RCA Records and began recording her debut album. The first single, Genie In A Bottle, hit number one on The Billboard Hot 100 and Top 40 Mainstream charts. Written by UK-based songwriter and Fame Academy teacher Pam Sheyne, the song stayed at number one for five weeks, making it the biggest selling single in 1999. Other hits included Love Will Find A Way, So Emotional and What A Girl Wants, which topped the US charts in January 2000 and gave rival Spears a run for her money. Aguilera continued her assault on pop music with the release of Mi Reflejo, a Spanish-language collection of her hits, in late 2000. Aguilera also recorded and released My Kind of Christmas on the heels of Mi Reflejo, just in time to be in every aspiring diva’s stocking. Then Aguilera cemented her stardom in 2000 by performing at the Super Bowl and White House, and winning a Grammy Award for “Best New Artist”.