- Singer and songwriter born in Staten Island New York in 1980, and raised in the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area.
- She had a strong singing voice as a child, and entered talent shows, winning her first when she was 8 years old. In 1990, she appeared on Star Search, eliminated as a semi-finalist. Still not in her teens, she sang The Star Spangled Banner at Pittsburgh Steeler, Pirate and Penguin games.
- In 1991, she auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club, though she was too young to be selected. In 1993, she was chosen to join the TV series, and she performed on the show until it was cancelled in 1994. She sent a demo of her singing Whitney Houston’s Run To You to Disney, hoping to be chosen to sing the theme song for the film Mulan. Disney said yes, and she sang Reflection for the film’s soundtrack album. The song includes a high note – a High E above Middle C – Aguilera hits the note, and she refers to it as “the note that changed my life.” Her success led to a record deal.
- The record label decided to position Aguilera as a teen pop idol. Her debut album, the self titled Christina Aguilera, was a huge success, selling over 21 million copies worldwide. It included 3 hits that were #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 – Genie In A Bottle, What A Girl Wants and Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You). She was only 18 years old when the album was released. Given the album’s success, Aguilera won a Grammy for Best New Artist in 2000.
- Her next 2 albums were released in 2000. Mi Reflejo, Spanish for My Reflection, contained all Spanish language songs – 5 songs sung in Spanish from her first album, plus 4 new original songs and 2 cover songs. It was the best selling Latin album of the year, and won several Latin music awards. Later that year, she released a Christmas album, which was certified platinum in sales.
- She was not satisfied with the image that her managers had created, so she replaced them with new advisors, determined to take artistic control of her career. She insisted on performing a cover of LaBelle’s Lady Marmalade (together with Lil’ Kim, Mýa and Pink) for the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!, despite objections from her record company. It topped the Hot 100 for 5 weeks and it won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
- In 2002, she released her next album, Stripped. The name was symbolic of her evolving image, away from teen idol, towards sexuality and aggression. She died her hair black, sported tatoos and piercings. Despite wide spread criticism of her new image, the album sold over 13 million copies worldwide, and the single Beautiful peaked at #2, winning a Grammy award.
- Her final album of the 00s was Back To Basics, released in 2006. A double album, it was influenced by jazz, blues and soul music from the 20s, 30s and 40s. She changed her look again, embracing the Old Hollywood Glam era. Three singles charted from the album – Ain’t No Other Man reached #6 (and won a Grammy Award), Hurt made it to #19, and Candyman peaked at #25.
- She remained a force in 2010 and 2011. She starred in the the film Burlesque along with Cher, and contributed 8 songs to the film’s soundtrack album. She was a coach on the TV series The Voice for the first 3 seasons of the show (she also coached in season 5, 8 and 10). She released her sixth studio album, Bionic. And, she collaborated with Maroon 5 on their song Moves Like Jagger, which became one of the best selling digital singles of all time. When it reached #1, Aguilera became only the second woman to have a #1 single in the 90s, 00s and 10s – Britney Spears was the first.
- Two more albums released in the 10s – Lotus in 2012 and Liberation in 2018 – did not sell as well as her earlier albums. But album sales have become less important to the Aguilera brand. She has her own fragrance and fashion lines, and promotes everything from cars to Coke. She also has been very involved in philanthropy – in 2012 she won the George McGovern Leadership Award for contributions to the UN World Hunger Relief, and in 2013 she was recognized with a Muhammad Ali Humanitarian of the Year Award for her work to end world hunger.
- In 2015, she won her fifth Grammy with her collaboration with the band A Great Big World – the song Say Something won for Best Pop/Duo Group Performance.
- Christina Aguilera has been called The Princess of Pop and The Voice of a Generation. Her vocal skills are amazing – she is a soprano with 4 octave range, and she can sing semitone notes (the interval between adjacent notes in a 12-note scale) and the whistle register (extremely high pitched notes). Along with Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, she is considered at the top of the list of greatest female singers. Watch and listen to her nail it with the song Beautiful.