Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, NY. Of Irish and Ecuadorian descent, Aguilera was exposed early on to the music industry through her mother, who played violin and piano professionally. Her father was career military, which forced the family to move from place to place all over the world. Eventually, the family settled in Wexford, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, where Aguilera, already displaying her potential as a singer, began singing in school talent shows. At 8 years-old, Aguilera made her first professional appearance as a contestant on the nationally syndicated “Star Search” (1983-1995), where she made a strong second-place finish. When she was 10, Aguilera sang the national anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, the youngest person ever to do so. Aguilera then auditioned for the “The Mickey Mouse Club” (Disney, 1988-1995) and got a part as a Mouseketeer along side Spears, Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez. After two years on the show, Aguilera went to Japan to record “All I Wanna Do”, a hit duet with local pop star Keizo Nakanishi.

Aguilera returned to the states to record the song Reflections for the Walt Disney movie, “Mulan” (1998). The movie was a hit, and the song was nominated for “Best Original Song in a Motion Picture” at the Golden Globe Awards. Though the song didn’t win, Aguilera secured a recording contract shortly after with RCA Records and began recording her debut album. The first single, Genie In A Bottle, hit number one on The Billboard Hot 100 and Top 40 Mainstream charts. Written by UK-based songwriter and Fame Academy teacher Pam Sheyne, the song stayed at number one for five weeks, making it the biggest selling single in 1999. Other hits included Love Will Find A Way, So Emotional and What A Girl Wants, which topped the US charts in January 2000 and gave rival Spears a run for her money. Aguilera continued her assault on pop music with the release of Mi Reflejo, a Spanish-language collection of her hits, in late 2000. Aguilera also recorded and released My Kind of Christmas on the heels of Mi Reflejo, just in time to be in every aspiring diva’s stocking. Then Aguilera cemented her stardom in 2000 by performing at the Super Bowl and White House, and winning a Grammy Award for “Best New Artist”.

As if all that wasn’t enough for the young star, Aguilera teamed up with Pink, Mya and Lil’ Kim to remake Patti LaBelle’s '70s hit Lady Marmalade for a popular, lingerie-heavy music video to accompany director Baz Luhrmann’s period musical, “Moulin Rouge” (2001), in which the recording was featured. Aguilera won another Grammy, this time for “Best Collaboration with Vocals” in 2002. The year 2002 also saw a new Aguilera emerge with the release of her second album, Stripped. Instead of continuing to cater to the sugary-sweet good-girl image, Aguilera went the opposite direction and unleashed a before unseen hyper-sexuality, complete with a semi-nude photo on the album’s cover. Perhaps she felt pressure from her adversary Spears, who adopted a similar tone once the virginal teen image ran its course. Whatever her reasons, Aguilera seemed to go one better than Spears, as she did not hesitate to use her body, new piercings and liberated sexuality to attract media attention. The album itself took 18 months to record, as the Aguilera used several producers, including high-profile Rockwilder of Jay-Z and Prodigy fame. Rockwilder produced the album’s first single, Dirrty, performed with hardcore rapper, Redman. Unfortunately, the song didn’t make a dent in the charts. Her next single, Beautiful, written by singer-songwriter Linda Perry, formerly of 4 Non Blondes, faired much better and went to number one in the Top 40 Mainstream chart. Aguilera then joined forces with fellow Mouseketeer Justin Timberlake for the Justified/Stripped tour, which wended its way across the United States and Europe, ending in Manchester, England and, presumably, a much-deserved break for Aguilera.