Christina Maria Aguilera was born on the 18th of December 1980 in Staten Island,
New York. Christina's parents, Shelly Kearns (Irish decent) and Fausto Aguilera
(Ecuadorian) met while attending college at Brigham Young University in Utah,
and they were married in the LDS Temple in Washington D.C. Christina has 4
siblings: Michael, Casey, Rachel and Stephanie. Christina's parents divorced
when she was young, and she carried on living with her mom who later married Jim
Kearns. Christina Aguilera attended Rochester Area Elementary School in
Rochester, Pennsylvania. With a voice that ranges four octaves, she debuted on
national TV at age 8 in Star Search. At 11, she was the youngest person
to perform the national anthem at a major sporting event at that time. In the
meantime, Christina attended Marshall Middle School in Wexford, Pennsylvania. At
the age of 12, Christina was invited to audition for Mickey Mouse Club
(1989), on which she performed for 2 years until the show ended. She attended
North Allegheny High School in Wexford, PA until her 9th grade year
at which point she set out to record an album.
In 1994, several labels, including RCA, passed on the opportunity to sign
Christina Aguilera. Undaunted, Christina traveled to Japan in 1998, where she
recorded a duet with Japanese star Keizo Nakanishi, and later toured in Japan.
Her next public performance was at the Golden Stag Festival in Transylvania,
Romania, joining Sheryl Crow and Diana Ross,
who were also on the playlist. Christina then sent a demo tape to the producers
of the Disney animated feature, Mulan, after having been invited to
audition for the part. Two days later, Christina recorded "Reflection" for
Mulan and was signed for a record deal with RCA Records that same week.
The song "Reflection" became a hit adult contemporary single and garnered a
Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song for a Motion Picture.
In 1999, Christina Aguilera had her breakthrough hit, "Genie in a bottle". Her
self titled debut album went 10x platinum, and
she won a Grammy for "Best New Artist" in February 2000. Among numerous
nominations and awards, Christina also won the 2004 Grammy for Best Female Pop
Vocal Performance, with her song, "Beautiful". Christina co-wrote fourteen songs
on her latest album, Stripped. She also co-wrote Kelly Clarkson's hit
single, "Miss Independent". In addition, Christina appeared in the musical "The
Pussycat Dolls". Despite not being fluent in Spanish, Christina has released one
Spanish album and is working on a second. In May 2001, Christina Aguilera sued
Warlock Records, Platinum Recording Group and producers Robert Allecca and
Michael Brown to prevent them from releasing Just Be Free, a demo
compilation she recorded when she was just 14 years old. Despite her vehement
objections, the album was recently released.
Beyond her musical endeavors, Christina has joined forces with Fetish, the
cosmetic line to come out with a line of her own. She also has her own shoe
line, which is manufactured by ES Orginals. The shoe box that has her picture on
it, can be used as a CD holder or picture frame. Christina is a spokesperson for
Coca-cola, Versace, Sketchers, MAC-cosmetics, Virgin-mobile, Mercedes, Declare
Yourself.com, and Xpose (perfume). In 2003, Christina Aguilera made an estimated
$29.7 million dollars, in album sales, and endorsement campaigns. In 2003,
Christina was also #1 on Maxim's Hot 100 of 2003. On the 21st of
December 2003, she visited and donated $200,000 to the Women's Center and
Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh in Oakland, a domestic abuse shelter, and she was
named Glamour's very first Woman of the Year in 2004.
As for her love life, Christina has been allegedly linked to Enrique
Iglesias, Fred Durst and MTV's Carson Daly. Christina also had an ongoing
relationship with her back-up dancer Jorge Santos. Her songs "Loving Me 4 Me"
and "Infatuation" were written about the relationship. Christina has currently
been dating music exec Jordan Bratman for the past two years.
Bratman is proposed to Christina over the Valentine's Day weekend, 2005, and
the two have been engaged since. On November 18, 2005, the two were wed in a ceremony held in the Napa Valley of California.
