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| Christina Aguilera Biography |
Christiana Maria Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980, to Fausto Aguilera, a sergeant in the US Army, and Shelly Loraine Fidler, a Spanish translator. Growing up, Christiana had the dream to become a professional singer, and wouldn't let anyone stand in her way. At the age of 10, Aguilera appeared on Star Search, but returned home disappointed, as she failed to win. In 1993, she got her first major gig, appearing on the Disney Channel, in The New Mickey Mouse Club, along with other child sensations Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.
Christina continued on to her success, singing in a number of international concerts, and gaining popularity slowly, but surely. It wasn't until 1998, when Aguilera's first music video, "Reflection", was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for a Motion Picture, that she transformed from "the little girl with a big voice" to an up and coming star in the music industry.
On August 24, 1999, her self-titled album, Christina Aguilera, was released under the exclusive contract of her manager, Steve Kurtz. The album was extremely successful, selling over 8 million copies in the US alone, and reaching the top of the Billboard 200. It was this success that led to Aguilera securing the Best New Artist award at the 2000 Grammy Awards. She was also nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Genie in a Bottle", but lost out to Sarah McLachlan's "I Will Remember You".
Following her success at the 2000 Grammies, Aguilera decided to temporarily change directions in her career, and released a Spanish album, Mi Reflejo. The CD was very popular, especially among the Latin community, where it debuted number one on the Latin Music Charts. This album also won Christina the 2001 Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. Shortly after the release of this second successful album, a scandal broke out regarding demo tracks that she had recorded as a young teen, and were now trying to be sold throughout Europe.
Aguilera went to court against the record company, but ended up settling out of court, and the CD was released to the public. It was this, along with the continued frustration with manager Steve Kurtz, which resulted in Christina filing a lawsuit to void her contract with Kurtz, and seek a new manager. Her attempts were successful, and on October 27, 2000, she hired Irving Azoff, in an effort to change her image as a "Bubblegum Pop" artist, to that of a respectable adult pop artist.
Christina Aguilera's second English album, Stripped, debuted in October, 2002, but was not received well by the critics. In a further attempt to change her image, Aguilera appeared in many magazines, including Maxim, Rolling Stone, and Cosmo Girl, in a sexually explicit manner. The album was initially popular, but this popularity was mainly driven by Aguilera's stardom. Stripped went double platinum within 8 weeks of its release, but no song on the album ever passed #48 on the Billboard Top 100 Songs. However, Aguilera quickly rebounded, releasing several singles, including "Beautiful", which helped Stripped become the Billboard #10 Top Album of 2002. Aguilera was chosen as the 2003 Billboard Female Artist, but she did not attend the event, and the award was forfeited, which caused much controversy among her fans.
In 2003, at the inaugural Video Music Awards, Aguilera made headlines once again in a tribute to Madonna, where she kissed Madonna in the opening performance. Later in the year, she was at the head of another controversy, when she criticized other teen pop artists, saying the following when referring to Britney Spears: "These people aren't artists; they're just performers — fake and superficial... I was up for kissing Britney, but Britney wasn't. She was... she seemed very distant, even during rehearsals. Every time I tried to start a conversation with her — well, let's just say she seemed nervous the whole time. I wanted to reach out to her, because I feel she needs somebody in her life right now to help guide her." Aguilera has attempted to put this all behind her, saying in interviews she would like to become a more mature person.
She is currently working on a third English album, which she describes as, "a retro blues/jazz/soul record, but a really meaty, gritty, real raw record of soul." There also have been rumors of a second Spanish album, though no details have been released about either. Christina Aguilera furthermore has future plans of becoming an actress. She has been offered several movie parts in the past, but she has declined them all, waiting for the perfect part, that she describes as a part similar to those that Angelina Jolie typically plays. |
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