Biography

Biography

‘What a girl wants’, maybe to be just like the singer who composed this song. The lady in question is Christina Auguilera who is American pop diva and song writer that has been rocking the charts since her debut in 1999. The singer who is known for her vocal ability has won various awards including 5 Grammys.

Christina Maria Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, New York, to Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera, a Sergeant in the U.S. Army at the time and Shelly Loraine Fidler, a Spanish teacher. Her father is a Latino while her mother is of Irish descent. As a child she traveled a lot due to her father’s postings. Her parents separated when she was 7 years old and she went away to live with her mother and younger sister Rachel in Wexford, Pennsylvania, a White-collar suburb outside of Pittsburgh. Her mother married a paramedic named Jim Kearns, and changed her name.

Christina has been awed by the music personas ever since she can remember. In fact, she used to take part in almost all the singing and talent shows in the locality. Such was the reputation of this “little girl with a big voice” that her peers used to withdraw their names upon hearing of her entering a competition. This also became the cause of everyone’s envy and there were in fact many acts of vandalism and ostracism against her.

In 1990, she entered the competition, ‘star search’ at the mere age of 10 but lost it. Later she made an appearance on the Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV's Wake Up with Larry Richert, where upon she was lauded for her performance.
Throughout her growing up years, she used to perform in front of Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, Pittsburgh Steelers football and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games singing her trademark song, “The Star –Spangled Banner”.

Career in Music

She set foot into the entertainment world with her selection as mousekeeter on the Disney Channel's variety show The New Mickey Mouse Club in 1993 alongside stars like Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Ryan Gosling, and Keri Russell. Her colleagues used to call her “the diva”.

When she was just 14, Christina recorded her first song, "All I Wanna Do," a hit duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi and in1997; she became a representative of United States at the "Golden Stag" International Festival with a two-song set which included Sheryl Crow and Diana Ross.

Upon recording a bit part for Whitney Houston’s album, Christina got selected to sing song "Reflection" for the Disney production of Mulan (1998). This also led her earning a contract with RCA records. Her song from Mulan was nominated for Golden Globe under the best original score category.

In 199, she came out with her debut album Kurtz, Aguilera's self-titled debut album Christina Aguilera. It reached the top of the Billboard 200 and Canadian album charts, selling eight million copies in the U.S.and over 14 million copies worldwide. Her most famous singles from the album were “Genie in a Bottle”," "What a Girl Wants" and "Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)". In fact she even received a "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" at 2000 Grammys and won the award for “Best New Artist”.

Next year i.e. 2000, she released her first Spanish album Mi Reflejo, which contained her debut albums songs converted in Spanish. In 2001, it won Aguilera a Latin Grammy Award for "Best Female Pop Vocal Album." She soon followed suit by releasing a Christmas album called My Kind of Christmas.

In 2001 she also won Grammy Award for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals” along with, Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink for the song “Lady Marmalade” from the movie Moulin Rouge.

Dissatisfied with the way her career was being handled, she parted ways with her management and even filed a suit against Steve Kurtz for improper, undue and inappropriate influence over her professional activities, as well as fraud.

Aguilera's second full-length English album, Stripped, was released, in 2002 selling more than 330,000 copies in the first week and peaking at #2 on the Billboard 200. the album which became famous for presenting a rather raunchy and overtly sexual image of Christina included songs catering to rhythm and blues, gospel, soul, balladry, pop rock, and hip hop. In fact, there was major controversy over her “Dirrty” music video in the U.S.

She also got associated with Justin Timberlake’s international Justified tour, held in the U.S. in its final leg which then was called as “Justified and Stripped “tour. The show minus Timberlake was renamed as “Stripped World Tour."

She later sang many singles and movies songs including jingle, "Hello," for a Mercedes-Benz ad, singles "Car Wash” and "Tilt Ya Head Back”. 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 which also earned them a nomination at Grammys.

By 2006 she was ready with her third studio album Back to Basics, and her hit single, "Ain't No Other Man" again succeeded in winning her the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 49th Grammy Awards. For the promotion of her album, Aguilera did the "Back to Basics Tour” that began in late 2006 and covered Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. She also performed Aguilera performed "Steppin' Out With My Baby" with Tony Bennett on his NBC special Tony Bennett: An American Classic and on Saturday Night Live where she was the musical guest.

She has been planning her new album to release in 2008. She describes her latest album as "short, sweet and completely different".

Like her other counterparts she also has had her share of screen presence. She has worked in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. She hosted a Saturday Night Live episode in 2004, which included a Sex & The City and voiced a small singing part in the animated film Shark Tale. In addition, she has also made an appearance in Martin Scorsese documentary Shine A Light.

An active member of PETA, Aguilera is also associated with Defenders of Wildlife, Missing Kids, National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations, Women's Cancer Research Fund, and Cedars-Sinai Women’s Cancer Research Institute.

Christina has endorsed many brands with the likes of Sketchers, Mercedes-Benz, Verizon Wireless, and soft drink giants Coca-Cola in 2001, and Pepsi in 2006. She has also done modeling for fashion house Versace and Harod’s and even signed a contract with European cell phone operator Orange to promote the new Sony Ericsson Walkman phone during the 2006 World Cup.

Living a scandalous life, with feuds and upheaval with her fellow colleagues, she is currently married to American Jewish music marketing executive Jordan Bratman in. whom she tied the knot on November 19, 2005, in a Napa Valley estate. Aguilera gave birth to her son, Max Liron Bratman in January 2008.

This firebrand singing sensation after all these years is still raring to go and hope to scale bigger and better heights in her career.