Biography
Christina MarĂa Aguilera,
born December 18, 1980, is an American
pop singer and songwriter. She was
signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection" for the film Mulan. She came to prominence following her debut
album Christina Aguilera (1999), which was a critical and commercial
success. A Latin pop album Mi Reflejo, and a Christmas album, My Kind of Christmas, followed during this period
and also sold strongly. Aguilera took creative control over her
second studio album Stripped (2002), which
received mixed reviews and yet produced substantial sales. During
the album's promotion, her overtly sexual image became the subject
of intense criticism and ridicule, although in recent times it has
given her respect for promoting independence and female empowerment.
Her third studio album Back to Basics (2006)
included elements of soul, jazz, and blues music.
It was released to good sales and positive critical reception. Aguilera's
works have earned her numerous awards, most notably five Grammy
Awards and sixteen nominations. She has sold over 30 million albums
worldwide.
Early life and career
Aguilera was born in Staten
Island, New York City, New York, to Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera,
a Sergeant in the US Army at the time and Shelly Loraine Fidler,
a SpanishGuayaquil, Ecuador, while her mother is of Irish descent
(her maternal grandmother emigrated from County Clare). The two
met at Brigham Young University, and later married in the LDS temple
in Washington D.C. Her father, Fausto, was stationed at Earnest
Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland, Canada and
Japan. Aguilera lived with her father and mother until she was seven
years old. When Aguilera's parents divorced, her mother took her,
and her younger sister Rachel, to her grandmother's home in Rochester,
Pennsylvania, a blue-collar suburb of Pittsburgh. According to both
Aguilera and Fidler, her father was very controlling, as well as
physically and emotionally abusive. She later wrote about her difficult
childhood in the songs "I'm OK" in Stripped, and "Oh Mother" in
Back to Basics. Although her father has written to Christina, she has ruled out any chance to reunite
with him. Since then, Fidler has married a paramedic named Jim Kearns,
and has changed her name to Shelly Kearns.
As a child, Aguilera aspired to be a singer. Her musical
influences included Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston,
Nina Simone, and Madonna. She also cites the musical The Sound of
Music as an early inspiration for singing and performing. As a child,
she was known locally as "the little girl with the big voice", singing
in local talent shows and competitions.
According to VH1's Driven, whenever competitors learned
they would be up against her in any given week, would immediately
withdraw, prompting insiders to claim it was "like sending a lamb
to the slaughter." Her peers soon became jealous of her and would
frequently subject her to ridicule, ostracism, and, in one gym class,
attempted assault. Acts of vandalism around her house included the
slashing of the tires on the family car. Eventually, the family
relocated to another suburb in the Pittsburgh area and took to secrecy
about Aguilera's talent lest another backlash occur.
On March 15, 1990, she appeared on Star Search singing
Etta James' "A Sunday Kind of Love", but lost the competition. Soon
after losing on Star Search, she returned home and appeared on Pittsburgh's
KDKA-TV's Wake Up with Larry Richert to perform the same song. People
remarked that the then ten-year-old "sounded 20".
Throughout her youth in Pittsburgh, Aguilera sang "The
Star-Spangled Banner" before Pittsburgh Penguinshockey, Pittsburgh
Steelersfootball and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games. Her first
major role in entertainment came in 1993 when she joined the Disney
Channel's variety show The New Mickey Mouse Club. Her co-stars included
Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Rhona Bennett (who later became a
member of En Vogue), Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears, and Keri Russell.
According to the documentary Driven, Aguilera's Mickey Mouse Club
co-stars called her "the Diva". One of her most notable performances
was of Whitney Houston's I Have Nothing". When the show was canceled
1994, Aguilera began recording demos in an attempt to get signed
to a record label.
At the age of fourteen, Aguilera recorded her first
song, "All I Wanna Do", a hit duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi.
In 1997, she represented the United States at the "Golden Stag"
International Festival with a two-song set which included a Sheryl
Crow and Diana Ross.
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