Christina Aguilera Biography

news-detailsBorn on December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, New York, Christina Aguilera was actually predestined as an American pop singer. Approvingly, the young, beautiful and energetic Christina Maria Aguilera grew up as a talented and famous singer of 2000s. She was born to an Ecuadorian father, Fausto Aguilera, and an Irish descent mother, Shelly Kearns, who are both fluent in Spanish. Growing up together along with her four siblings, Michael, Casey, Rachel and Stephanie, Christina realized from the beginning of her life that she really wanted to be a singer.

Since her five years of age, Christina had known all the songs from the "Sound of Music", all of which she sang at the neighborhood block parties. Just a short period of time after that, she, as the youngest person ever, performed the National Anthem at professional sporting events in the area of Pittsburgh, where she lived with her mother after her parents' divorce. Seriously wanting to build her career in entertainment, ten-year-old Christina went to an open audition for "The Mickey Mouse Club" but was rejected. She only got a favorable reply two years later. There, she became a "musketeer", working with the not-yet-famous Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Keri Russell. After two years of singing, dancing, and performing in Disney, in request of manager Steve Kurtz, Christina sent a demo tape to RCA exec, Ron Fair.

And so the story goes at 15, she finally had a record deal with the "talent hunter" manager. Lucky for Christina, she got an interesting offer from her friend at Disney to sing "Reflection", the lead song for 1998's animated film "Mulan", which was later nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture. One year later, in 1999, she was widely popular for her self-titled album "Christina Aguilera" that reached the top of the Billboard Hot 200 and Canadian album charts with selling rate in U.S. reaching 8 millions. The album's well-known singles, "Gennie in the Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come on Over Baby (All I Want is You)", additionally sat on the top of the 1999 and 2000 Billboard Hot 100. Another song from the "Christina Aguilera" album entitled "I Turn to You" even became the top 5 in the United States. The beginner later on won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

In 2001, Christina released "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely," her collaboration song with Latin singer Ricky Martin which went to the top 5 in the U.K. and Germany and became the top 40 in Canada, Switzerland and Australia. The experiences she got had made her more and more creative in producing new works. In the same year, she had another collaboration with Mya, Lil' Kim and Pink for "Moulin Rouge!" (2001) soundtrack "Lady Marmalade" that won her a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. The song was also popular in Australia with "Moulin Rouge!" soundtrack becoming the 2001 Best Selling Album in that country. Together with her co-performers, Christina won two awards at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, one for the prestigious Best Video Of The Year and the other one for Best Song From A Movie Soundtrack.

Possessing a powerful voice and ability to sing a capella, Christina, who considers Julie Andrews, Whitney Houston, Etta James and Billie Holiday as her most important musical influences, released a Latin album "Mi Reflejo," which led her to win the 2001 World's Best Selling Latin Female Artist at the World Music Awards. She even received 3 BRIT Awards nominations; Best International Female Solo Artist, Best International Album, and Best Pop. Influenced by her annoyance towards public images that often accused her of being an expert pretender to hide her pain, in the year of 2002, Christina released the album"Stripped." In this album, she offered her new and real image as a highly-sexualized woman influenced by mixing hip-hop and porn star style. She became brave enough in exploiting her physical and sexual attraction in her video clips.

Despite the controversy surrounding her "Dirrty" video included in the album "Stripped," which was banned from several national TVs, Christina was nominated for five Grammys in 2004, including Song of the Year for single "Beautiful"; Best Female Pop Vocal Performance also for "Beautiful"; Best Pop Collaboration with Vocal for "Can't Hold Us Down"; Best Pop Vocal Album for "Stripped"; and Best Remixed Recording for "Beautiful" remixed by Peter Rauhofer. Above all, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake's "Justified and Stripped" tour had favorably topped the Rolling Stone 2003 Readers' Poll for Best Tour. Rolling Stone Magazine also wrote the singer's "Dirrty" video as the Most Played Music Video of All Time. In addition to those accomplishments, her "Fighter" video got six nominations for the 2004 Music Video Production Association Awards for Best Pop Video, Best Hair, Best Makeup, Best Cinematography, Best Styling and Best Direction of a Female Artist.

Those phenomenon above have proven that Christina deserved two thumbs up for her achievement in music. Far from her career's end, she kept on producing something new. In the late 2004 she released her "Shark Tale" soundtrack, featuring Missy Elliott, titled "Car Wash". In the same year, she made another collaboration with some other famous singers for "Tilt Ya Head Back." She was also known as the one behind the co-writing of Kelly Clarkson's hit single "Miss Independent." Reaching success in music, however, doesn't prevent Christina to spread her wings to be a spokesperson for Fetish cosmetics, Coca-cola, Versace, Sketchers, MAC-cosmetics, Virgin-mobile, Mercedes, Declare Yourself.com and Xpose perfume. Though she's already famous and rich, Christina still owns a heart of mercy for she did a lot of philanthropic work including donating $200,000 to the Women's Center and the domestic abuse Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh in Oakland.

Christina's considerable achievement in music, indeed, had arisen public acknowledgment on her in form of other prestigious awards. She was once in the 2001 Top 20 in FHM Magazine's 100 Sexiest Women, #1 on Maxim's Hot 100 of 2003, nominated for the 2004 Echo Award Best International Female, #3 on Maxim's Hot 100 List for 2004, one of Teen People's 25 Hottest Under 25 (2004), Glamour's Very First Woman of the Year (2004), #14 on VH1's The 50 Greatest Women of the Video Era, and #13 in Stuff magazine's 102 Sexiest Women in the World (2002).

Early in 2005, Christina performed on a U.S. TV show held in an attempt to raise more funds for Tsunami victims, which was aired on January 15. On stage with her, among others Sheryl Crow, Tim McGraw, George Clooney, Courteney Cox and Danny Glover. The pop singer then ended her single life right at the time she said "yes" to her boyfriend of two years, Jordan Bratman, in a marriage proposal declared as a romantic hideaway dinner near their home in Los Angeles on February 11, 2005. Amidst the preparation of her wedding, Christina was reported to have sold her wedding pictures rights to PEOPLE magazine for 350,000 pounds before finally going down the aisle in a Christian Lacroix gown on November 19, 2005 at Staglin Family Vineyard in northern California's Napa Valley.

After a period of break, during which she enjoyed the early stage of her marriage life, Christina made a comeback to music scene, working on a new solo album, "Back to Basics", which marked her first album in four years. It was backed up by such tracks as "Ain't No Other Man" and "Candyman". The retro-jazz set was launched on August 15, 2006 and directly topped the U.S. album charts, selling 342,000 copies in its first week of release. On top of that, the album also scored great abroad, opening at number one in the U.K., Canada, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Ireland among others. Christina embarked on an extensive world tour to support the album and got ill when she had to perform in a couple of Australian dates. The tour, grossing 40 million worldwide, was the most successful US tour by a female in 2007.

"Ain't No Other Man" won her a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. By January 2007, Christina was named the 19th richest woman in entertainment by Forbes, with a net worth of $60 million. Later that year, Xtina confirmed that she was expecting her first child with Bratman. Max Liron Bratman was born January 12, 2008 and was circumcised in Bratman's Jewish tradition. Pictures of Max was the sixth most expensive celebrity baby photos ever taken with $1.5 million. Max also made his debut in public when appearing on Rock the Vote PSA, wrapped in an American flag.

Christina began making more television and movie appearances since. She joined comedy film "Get Him to the Greek" for a cameo role and guest-judged an episode of "Project Runway". While she's dedicating her time as a mom, a compilation album titled "Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits" was released on November 11, 2008. The title track was premiered at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards and peaked at No.7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Throughout the year 2009, Christina kept herself low from the public scene to prepare for a new album and several other projects. The sixth studio album "Bionic" was completed for a released on June 8, 2010.

The effort saw Christina's return to mainstream pop and her entry to electropop genre with singles such as "Not Myself Tonight" and "You Lost Me". However, "Bionic" received criticisms and debuted low in the U.S. compared to her previous albums. It entered at number three on the United States Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 110,000 copies. The singer would later argue, "I can proudly say it was ahead of its time, to be honest. It wasn't so commercialized. You had to really be a music lover, be a true fan of music and the love of being open to really appreciate that record."

In October 2010, Christina announced her separation from Bratman and filed for divorce which was finalized in April 2011. She spent her time concentrating on her first feature film "Burlesque", in which she stars as an aspiring singer looking for a chance of success in a Los Angeles neo-burlesque club. Some of the tracks in the musical film were co-written by her and the soundtrack debuted in the top 20 in the U.S. Christina was generally praised for her performance in the film which went on receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture - Musical or Comedy and Best Original Song for the track "Bound to You". Christina herself took a Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack.

From here, Christina's personal life seemed to spin out of control and was put under media scrutiny. Dating "Burlesque" production assistant, Matt Ruler, she was caught on late night outs having drunk alcohol. She was arrested for public intoxication in West Hollywood in March 2011 while Matt was arrested for DWI. Released on bail, Christina was not charged. Life was finally back on track when she signed up as one of the coaches of NBC's "The Voice". The singing show's first season received a major success, earning Christina a place back in her fans' heart. She collaborated with fellow judge Adam Levine on the Maroon 5 track "Moves Like Jagger", which later was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the Grammy Awards.

As "The Voice" got picked up for a second season, Christina announced that a new album was on the way. She consequently expressed her desire to concentrate on her music and take a break from the show. She released a new single "Your Body" in September 2012. It became the first single of "Lotus" which has been scheduled for November 9, 2012 release.

"Lotus" peaked at No. 7 on Billboard 200, becoming her least commercially successful album so far. During the promotion of her album in 2012, Christina was temporarily replaced by Shakira for the fourth season of "The Voice". She returned to the show for its fifth season in 2013.

The failure of her album didn't make Christina feel down as she found her revitalized success through collaboration with other artists. She was featured on Pitbull's "Feel This Moment" in January 2013. The single peaked at No. 8 on Billboard's Hot 100 and was certified double platinum. Her collaboration with A Great Big World on "Say Something" was highly praised by music critics and met with commercial success. It earned a six-time platinum certification and won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2014 Grammy Awards.

After getting engaged to Matthew Rutler and giving birth to their child Summer Rain Rutler in 2014, Christina chose to devote her time to her family. She was replaced by Shakira and Gwen Stefani for the sixth and seventh seasons of "The Voice" respectively. She returned as a coach for the eighth and tenth seasons of the show.

In April 2015, Christina reprised her role as Jade St. John in the third season of "Nashville". In the following year, she and her fiance were announced as executive producers for a music-based game show "Tracks", which aired on Spike TV. Following a shooting in Orlando nightclub that year, she released a song titled "Change" which was dedicated to the victims of the incident. Profits from the song were donated to the National Compassion Fund.

While Christina didn't release any new music in 2017, she contributed as a voice actress for "The Emoji Movie". The singer voiced Akiko Glitter in the animated movie. She came back to the music industry when she released the first single off her upcoming eighth studio album "Liberation". Titled "Accelerate", the single was released on May 23, 2018. Second single "Twice" and third single "Fall in Line" were released days after that. "Liberation" is set to be released on June 15. In support of the album, she will embark on a North America tour.