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| Christina Aguilera Bio |
| Teen pop diva, Christina Maria Aguilera, was born December 18, 1980 in Staton Island, New York. The careers of her military father and musician mother ensured that the family travel the globe before finally settling in Wexford, Pennsylvania, where the youngster first began performing in area talent shows. At age eight, Aguilera appeared on the syndicated television series Star Search. Four years later, she landed a regular role on Disney's The New Mickey Mouse Club, co-starring with future luminaries including Britney Spears, 'NSync's J.C. Chasez and Justin Timberlake, and Felicity's Keri Russel. Aguilera's first pop music success came in Japan thanks to All I Wanna Do, a smash duet with Keizo Nakanishi; she returned to the US in 1998 to record the song Reflection for the soundtrack of the animated film Mulan, that same week signing to RCA. Releasing her self-titled debut album the following year, Aguilera topped the pop charts with the single Genie In A Bottle. |
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| Christina Aguilera sold over 10 million copies worldwide in just under a year and turned its namesake into a superstar. She followed this success with performances at the Super Bowl XXXIII Halftime Show and for President Clinton, and won a Best New Artist Grammy. Just over a year after she released her debut album, Aguilera released Mi Reflejo, a collection of Spanish-language songs, as well as My Kind Of Christmas, a holiday album. Her fourth album, Just Be Free, a collection of demos she recorded when she was fourteen, was released in the Summer of 2001 through a lawsuit she settled with Warlock Records. The suit, filed by the pop star in May, maintained that the demos were made to shop the singer to record labels and not intended for commercial distribution. |
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| Aguilera believed that the demos are of lesser quality than the content she currently produces, and therefore did not want the material released and marketed to her fans. And while Just Be Free was released on August 21st, Aguilera used the letter to her fans addressed, "Dear Friends" as an opportunity to promote her next effort, her as-yet-untitled follow-up to her 1999 multi-platinum debut. |