Christina Aguilera Biography Discography Filmography

Christina Maria Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980, she's an American pop singer sensation, also known as Xtina. Christina was born in Staten Island, New York but grew up mainly in the Pittsburgh suburb of Wexford, Pennsylvania, after living in various places around the world such as Texas and Japan. Her father, Fausto Aguilera, is a U.S. Army sergeant of Ecuadorian descent, and her mother, Shelly Loraine Fidler (now known as Shelly Kearns), was a Spanish translator and violinist from Newfoundland, Canada, and of remote Irish and German descent. Aguilera's parents met while Fausto was serving at Earnest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador. Aguilera lived with her father until she was five or six years old, when her parents divorced and her mother took her and her younger sister Rachel to her mother's home in Pittsburgh. According to Aguilera and her mother, her father was very controlling, as well as physically and emotionally abusive.

Christina's grandmother was the first person to really notice her beyond-her-years mature voice. Since Aguilera was able to talk, she set a goal to become a professional singer. She grew up as a fan of artists such as Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne and B.B King. As a child she performed at block parties and in talent competitions — defeating opponents with little effort. Aguilera soon gained media attention, and was known to some as "the little girl with the big voice".

Christina started her singing career on March 15, 1990, she appeared on Star Search singing Ella Fitzgerald's "Sunday Kind of Love", but failed to win. 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 again. Later on, she would sing "Vision of Love", Mariah Carey's first single, and astonished everybody in attendance by hitting every riff and note, including Carey's trademark whistle register note. People remarked that the then-ten year old "sounded twenty".

Throughout her youth in Pittsburgh, Aguilera sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Pittsburgh Steelers football 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 Britney Spears, as well as Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez (who went on to join *NSYNC), Rhona Bennett (who later became a member of En Vogue, and Keri Russell (who would go on to become the star of Felicity). The show ended in 1994, and that year Aguilera began recording demos in an attempt to get signed to a record label.

In 1997, Aguilera's first hit single was "All I Wanna Do", which was a collaborative effort recorded in Japan with Japanese pop sensation Keizo Nakanishi. Aguilera later went on tour with Keizo. Also that year, she competed in an international singing contest at the Golden Stag Festival in Transylvania, Romania, where she met and shared the stage with Sheryl Crow and Diana Ross.

In 1998 to 2001, her pop music sensation began she was then selected to record the song "Reflection" for the Disney animated production of Mulan (1998). The music video promoting the film was Aguilera's first. "Reflection" peaked at number fifteen on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart, and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for a Motion Picture in 1998. Recording "Reflection" led to Christina getting signed by RCA the same week.

August 24, 1999, Christina released her self-titled album and surprisingly it reached the top of the Billboard 200 and Canadian album charts, selling over eight million copies in the United States alone. "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants", and "Come on Over (All I Want is You)" all reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 during 1999 and 2000, and "I Turn to You" peaked at number three. Aguilera won the Best New Artist award at the 2000 Grammy Awards, and was also nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Genie in a Bottle". "Obvious", the final track on the album, was one of the original demo tracks that was sent to Ron Fair before Aguilera was signed with her record label, RCA.

In 2000, Aguilera first emphasized her Latino heritage, following the Latin pop trend of the time, by releasing her first Spanish-language album, Mi Reflejo. This album contained Spanish-language versions of songs from her English debut as well as new Spanish tracks. It reached twenty-seven on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Latin album charts. In 2001, it won Aguilera a Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. The single "Falsas Esperanzas" from the album reached the top forty in Argentina in 2001. Ricky Martin asked her to duet with him on the track "Nobody Wants to be Lonely" from his album Sound Loaded; released in 2001 as the album's second single, it reached the top five in the United Kingdom and Germany, top twenty in the U.S., and top forty in Canada, Switzerland, and Australia.

In 2001, a single emerged into record stores called "Just Be Free", one of the demos Aguilera recorded when she was around fifteen years old. When RCA Records discovered the single, they officially advised fans not to purchase it and had German authorities pull the single off shelves. Months later, Warlock Records was set to release Just Be Free, an album which contains the demo tracks.

Christina changes her image and music in late 2002, where she released her second full-length English album, Stripped. The majority of Stripped was co-written by Aguilera, and was influenced by many different subjects and music styles, including ballads, gospel, rhythm and blues, pop rock and jazz (on "Impossible", a collaboration with Alicia Keys). The album was not received as well as her debut by most critics, and Aguilera's vocals were overlooked as she began to cultivate a more sexually provocative image.
Initially, the raunchy image had a negative effect on Aguilera in the U.S. While the video for "Dirrty" became a huge hit on MTV, it disappointed on the U.S. singles chart. However, the single was a huge hit worldwide, reaching number one in several countries and on the World Chart. The album reached the top five of the UK, U.S. and Canadian album charts, but despite solid sales, it was initially considered a sophomore slump. The second single, "Beautiful", became a huge radio hit and three more singles from the album ("Fighter", "Can't Hold Us Down", and "The Voice Within") were released in the following two years to commercial success. Stripped stayed on the U.S. and UK album charts until well into 2004, and went on to sell four million copies in the U.S., ending up at number ten on Billboard's year-end album chart.

She is most often recognized by her notable vocal abilities and unorthodox fashion sense. Her vocal skills have been compared to those of singers such as Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. She has achieved four number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as two top five albums and four Grammy Awards in the United States.
After failed relationships with Latin dancer Jorge Santos and an unnamed producer, she began dating music executive Jordan Bratman. After dating him for almost three years, their engagement was announced in February 2005.
They were married on November 19, 2005, in the Napa Valley. It was rumored by several media outlets that Aguilera may change her legal name to Maria Bratman. However, she would continue to use her maiden name professionally. She is the first woman to have a wedding nipple ring.

Discography

Christina Aguilera (1999)
Mi Reflejo (2000)
My Kind of Christmas (2000)
Just Be Free (2001)
Stripped (2002)

Filmography

Mulan-Walt Disney (1998) (Song Performer)
Pokemon The First Movie (1999) (Song Performer)
The Next Best Thing (2000) (Song Performer)
What Women Want (2000) (Song Performer)
Moulin Rouge (2001) (Song Performer)
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004) (Song Performer)
Shark Tale (2004) (Song Performer/Voice)
Spanglish (2004) (Song Performer)
Christina Aguilera - Music Video Box (2005) (Real life documentary)

Awards

ALMA Award Special Achievement Awards
Year, Category, Win/Nominated
2000, Special Achievement Award, Win
2001, Outstanding Song in a Motion Picture Soundtrack, Win

Blockbuster Awards
Year, Category, Win/Nominated
2000, Favorite New Female Artist and Favorite Single, Win
2001, Favorite Female Artist of the Year and Favorite Latin Album of the Year, Win

GLAAD Media Awards
Year, Category, Win/Nominated
2003, Special Recognition, Win

Grammy Awards
Year, Category, Win/Nominated
2000, Best New Artist, Win
2001, Best Latin Pop Album (Mi Reflejo), Win
2002, Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (Lady Marmalade), Win
2004, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (Beautiful), Win

MTV Europe Awards
Year, Category, Win/Nominated
2003, Best Female Artist, Win

MTV Video Music Awards
Year, Category, Win/Nominated
2001, Best Song From a Movie Soundtrack, Win
2001, Best Video Of The Year, Win

World Music Award
Year, Category, Win/Nominated
2001, World's Best Selling Latin Female Artist, Win