She
was born to Fausto Xavier Aguilera, a U.S. Army sergeant of
Ecuadorian descent stationed in the United States and Shelly Fidler
whose father was of German descent and mother of Irish and Dutch
descent. Aguilera's parents met while Fausto was serving at Earnest
Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Her parents married when her mother was 20 years old and her father
was almost 32. Aguilera lived with her father and mother until she
was 6 or 7 years old, when her parents divorced and her mother took
her and her younger sister Rachel to her grandmother's home in
Pittsburgh. According to Aguilera and Fidler, her father was very
controlling, as well as physically and emotionally abusive. [2]
Since then, Fidler has married a paramedic named Jim Kearns, and has
changed her name to Shelly Kearns. [3]
Aguilera's grandmother was the first person to recognize her vocal
skills. Since Aguilera was a small child, she wanted to be a singer.
She grew up admiring artists such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald,
Etta James, Judy Garland, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson,
and Mariah Carey. As a child she performed at block parties and in
talent competitions, where she defeated her opponents. Aguilera soon
gained media attention, and was known to as "the little girl with
the big voice".[4]
According to VH1's Driven, this label eventually became
cross-productive. When competitors learned they would be up against
her in any given week, they immediately backed out, 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 and, by her own
order, swearing to secrecy about her talent lest another backlash
occur.[5]
On March 15, 1990, she appeared on Star Search singing Etta James's
"A 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.
People remarked that the then 10-year-old "sounded 20"[7].
Throughout her youth in Pittsburgh, Aguilera sang "The Star-Spangled
Banner" before Pittsburgh Penguins Hockey games, 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, Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez Rhona Bennett (who
later became a member of En Vogue), Ryan Gosling, 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".[5]
Aguilera was alleged to have fought constantly with co-star Spears
regarding Timberlake. Aguilera has said the two of them have made
jokes about these alleged incidents, which suggests that the
allegations may not be accurate.)[6] When the show ended in 1994,
Aguilera began recording demos in an attempt to get signed to a
record label.
It has also been said recently that Aguilera and John Cena had a
fling some time ago. She met him on the set of the WWE because her
two younger siblings were fans of John Cena. Links of Christina and
her siblings can be found on the youtube website.
In 1998 she sang the High "E" (second "E" above middle "C") in full
voice on a cover of Whitney Houston's "Run to You" which she
recorded with an old tape recorder in her bathroom. She was then
selected to record the song "Reflection" for the Disney animated
production of Mulan (1998). Recording "Reflection" led to Aguilera
earning a contract with RCA Records during the same week.[7] "Reflection"
peaked within the top twenty on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart,
and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best Original
Song" in 1998.
Aguilera in the music video for "Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is
You)".Under the exclusive representation of Steve Kurtz, Aguilera's
self-titled debut album Christina Aguilera was released in the
United States in August 1999. It reached the top of the Billboard
200 and Canadian album charts, shipping over eight million copies in
the United States alone. "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants"
and "Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" topped the Billboard Hot
100 during 1999 and 2000, and "I Turn to You" reached the top five.
Aguilera won the "Best New Artist" award at the 2000 Grammy Awards,
and she was nominated for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" for
"Genie in a Bottle". According to the album's songwriters who
appeared on the documentary Driven, Aguilera wanted to display the
power and audacity in her voice during the promotion of the album,
and performed acoustic sets and appeared on television shows
accompanied only by a piano.[5] She ended the year on MTV's 2 Large
New Year's Special, as she performed and was MTV's first artist of
the millennium.
Later in 2000 Aguilera first emphasized her Latino heritage,
following the Latin pop trend of the time, by releasing her first
Spanish album, Mi Reflejo. This album contained Spanish versions of
songs from her English debut as well as new Spanish tracks. It
reached the top thirty on the Billboard 200 and number one on the
Latin album charts, and 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. 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 Aguilera, rapper Lil' Kim, Mya, and P!nk were chosen to
remake Patti LaBelle's 1975 single "Lady Marmalade" for the Moulin
Rouge! soundtrack. "Lady Marmalade" hit number one on the Hot 100
for five weeks and reached number one in eleven other countries, and
it earned all four performers a 2002 Grammy Award for "Best Pop
Collaboration with Vocals".
That year 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.[8] Months later, Warlock Records was set to release
Just Be Free, an album which contains the demo tracks. Aguilera
filed a breach of contract and unfair-competition suit against
Warlock and the album's producers to block the release. [9] Instead,
the two parties came to a settlement to release the album. Aguilera
lent out her name, likeness and image for an unspecified amount of
damages. Many of the details of the lawsuit remain confidential.
When the album was released in August 2001, it had a photograph of
Aguilera when she was fifteen years old.[10]
Although Aguilera's debut album was very well-received, she was
dissatisfied with the music and image her management had created for
her. At the time, Aguilera was marketed as a bubblegum pop artist,
because of the genre's upward financial trend. However, she publicly
mentioned plans of her next album to have much more depth, both
musically and lyrically.[11] Steve Kurtz's influence in matters of
the singer's creative direction, the role of being her exclusive
personal manager and overscheduling had in part caused her to seek
legal means of terminating their management contract.
In October 2000 Aguilera filed a Breach of Fiduciary Duty lawsuit
against Kurtz for improper, undue and inappropriate influence over
her professional activities, as well as fraud. According to legal
documents, Kurtz did not protect her rights and interests. Instead,
he took action that was for his own interest, at the cost of hers.
The lawsuit came about when Aguilera discovered Kurtz used more of
her commissionable income than he was allotted, and had paid other
managers to assist him. She also petitioned the California State
Labor Commission to nullify the contract. After terminating Kurtz's
services, Irving Azoff was hired as her new manager. She has also
been under speculation of having her breasts augmented in 2005. [12]
The change in management marked a new change in how Aguilera was
marketed, as well as what music she would do in the future.
Kurtz countersued later that month for breach of contract, claiming
that the singer violated the same agreement she had sued to void. In
the lawsuit, he included others close to Aguilera, alleging their
intent to sabotage his business relationship with Aguilera. He also
singled out Azoff for being in violation of the terms of Kurtz's
contract
In October 2002, after much delay, Aguilera's second full-length
English album, Stripped, was released in the U.S. The majority of
Stripped was co-written by Aguilera (who had recently signed a
global music publishing deal with BMG Music Publishing), and was
influenced by many different subjects and music styles, including
rhythm and blues, gospel, soul, ballads, pop rock, hip-hop and jazz.
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. After the release of the album, she took
part in photoshoots for magazines such as Maxim, Rolling Stone[14]
and CosmoGirl!. Many of these photographs featured her nude or
semi-nude. She denied that this change was a matter of publicity,
claiming that the image better reflected her true personality than
did the image she cultivated back in 1999. It was during this time
Aguilera referred to herself as "XTina", stating that it was a
"reflection of her darker self".[citation needed]
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. The
album reached the top five of the UK, U.S. and Canadian album
charts, though 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" featuring
Lil' Kim, and "The Voice Within") were released in the following two
years to moderate 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. Kelly Clarkson's second single
"Miss Independent" was co-written by Aguilera, and was originally
supposed to be a song on Stripped. Aguilera was the number-one
Billboard Female Artist (albums and singles) of 2003, and Stripped
has sold over twelve million copies worldwide.[15]
Aguilera and Madonna kissing at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.In
June Aguilera joined Justin Timberlake on the final leg of his
international Justified tour, held in the U.S. This portion of the
tour became a co-headliner called the Justified & Stripped tour. In
August an overhead lighting grid collapsed from the ceiling of the
Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, causing major damage to
the sound and video equipment below. Since the collapse occurred
hours before the performance, only a few stagehands were injured,
but a few shows were cancelled or postponed. In the fourth quarter
of that year Aguilera continued to tour internationally without
Timberlake, and changed the name of the tour to the Stripped tour.
She also dyed her hair black. It was one of the top-grossing tours
of that year, and sold out most of its venues. Rolling Stone readers
named it the best tour of the year.[16]
In light of the tour's success, another U.S. tour was scheduled to
begin in mid-2004 with a new theme and featuring Chingy as an
opening act. The tour was scrapped due to Aguilera's vocal cord
injuries suffered shortly before its opening date. It was later
reported by the British tabloid newspaper The Sun that low ticket
sales and lack of new material were actually the major contributing
factors in the tour's cancellation. Aguilera has since denied the
report.[17] In a tribute to Madonna's performance at the inaugural
MTV Video Music Awards' ceremony, Aguilera performed a kiss with the
singer-actress at the 2003 edition of the ceremony in August. The
incident occurred during the opening performance of Madonna's songs
"Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood" with fellow popstar Britney Spears.
[18]
[edit]
2004–2005: Post-Stripped activities
A January 2004 ZOO magazine (a British men's tabloid magazine)
article reported that Aguilera is possibly bisexual. The article
quotes her stating in an interview: "I find it hornier looking at
women than men. Sorry, I love experimenting with my sexuality. If
that means girls, then so be it." The article also reports that
Christina enjoys casual sex: "I have casual sex, I love casual sex.
But that doesn't mean I'm incapable of keeping my legs together",
Aguilera was quoted as saying. [19]
Aguilera later decided to embrace a more mature image; this move was
met with more praise than criticism, with articles using punch lines
such as "From Crass to Class".[20] She eventually dyed her hair
cherry-blonde and recorded a jingle, "Hello", for a Mercedes-Benz
ad, becoming the new face of Mercedes-Benz. Shortly after, she dyed
her hair blonde and cut it short, and took on a Marilyn Monroe look;
she is believed by many of her fans to be one of the main proponents
(along with Dita Von Teese, Gwen Stefani and Ashley Judd) in
bringing back the 1920s-1940s Hollywood glamour look.[citation
needed]
Image used in the Declare Yourself billboard campaign. Photograph by
David LaChapelleIn the run-up to the 2004 United States presidential
election, Aguilera was featured on billboards for the "Only You Can
Silence Yourself" online voter registration drive run by the
nonpartisan, non-profit campaign "Declare Yourself". In these
political advertisements Aguilera was shown with her mouth sewn shut,
to symbolize the effects of not voting. She appeared on The Oprah
Winfrey Show to discuss the importance of voting and having a say in
the future.
In late summer 2004 Aguilera released two singles. The first, "Car
Wash", was a remake, not cover, of the Rose Royce disco song
recorded as a collaboration with rapper Missy Elliott for the
soundtrack to the film Shark Tale. The second song is also a
collaboration, but this time as a second single from one of Nelly's
double-release albums, Sweat, titled "Tilt Ya Head Back". Both
singles failed commercially in the U.S., but did considerably better
in other parts of the world. After much delay, Aguilera's first DVD
live-recording from a concert tour, Stripped Live in the UK, was
released in November 2004. In late December she officially released
a fragrance, Xpose, which has only been available in a few European
countries.
She dated Brooklynite dancer Jorge Santos for two years until the
relationship ended in September 2001. She began dating music
executive Jordan Bratman in late 2002. After dating him for almost
three years, their engagement was announced in February 2005.[21]
They were married on November 19, 2005, in the Napa Valley. [22]
Aguilera collaborated with jazz artist Herbie Hancock on a cover of
Leon Russell's "A Song for You", recorded for Hancock's album
Possibilities, released in August 2005. Aguilera and Hancock were
later nominated for the Grammy Award for "Best Pop Collaboration
with Vocals". Aguilera went back to her Mickey Mouse Club roots when
she helped open the 50th Anniversary for Disneyland by performing
"When You Wish upon a Star", and she also collaborated with Andrea
Bocelli on the song "Somos Novios (It's Impossible)" for his album
Amore, released in early 2006. She performed at "Unite of the Stars"
charity banquet in Johannesburg, South Africa in late 2005 with
stars such as Diana Ross and Westlife in aid of Unite Against
Hunger, and she also performed at the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund
at the Coca-Cola Dome in November.
In March 2006 Aguilera signed a contract with European cellphone
operator Orange to represent the company and promote the new Sony
Ericsson Walkman phones across Europe. She was featured in a Pepsi
commercial alongside Arab singer Elissa in May, the spot aired
during the 2006 World Cup.
Aguilera on the cover of the June 2006 issue of GQ.Aguilera also
posed nude for a Marilyn Monroe-inspired photoshoot for the May 2006
issue of GQ magazine, in which she was interviewed. She expressed
disappointment in fellow singer Mariah Carey, saying, "She was never
cool to me... to the point that one time we were at a party and I
think she got really drunk, and she had just really derogatory
things to say to me." Carey responded in a press release, "It is sad
yet predictable that she would use my name at this time to reinvent
past incidents for her promotional gain."[23] Aguilera then stated,
"My intentions were not to upset Mariah with any statements that
were published or taken out of context. I have all the respect in
the world for her."[24][25]
[26][27]Back to Basics is preceded by the single "Ain't No Other
Man". She described the double-CD album as "a throwback to the 20s,
30s, and 40s-style jazz, blues, and feel-good soul music, but with a
modern twist."[28] Producers on the album include DJ Premier, Linda
Perry, and Mark Ronson. Christina has also stated recently that a
second Spanish language album (which will include both adapted songs
from Back to Basics and original material) will be recorded very
soon. 'Oh Mother' from Back to Basics is one of the songs she would
like to re-record in Spanish
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