Christina Maria Aguilera (born December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, New York) is an American popular music singer and songwriter. She's most recognized by her superior vocal ability and unorthodox fashion sense. Her vocal skills have been compared to singers such as Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, making her one of the most prominent singers of her generation. She has achieved four number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, two United States top 5 albums and won four Grammy Awards.
Early years
Christina Aguilera was born in Staten Island, but grew up primarily in Wexford, Pennsylvania (just outside Pittsburgh) after living in various places of the world. Her father, Fausto Aguilera, a US Army sergeant is of Ecuadoran descent, and her mother, Shelly Loraine Fidler, is a Spanish translator from Newfoundland and of remote Irish descent. Christina's parents met while Fausto was serving on Earnest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Since Christina was able to talk, she set a goal to become a professional singer. As a child she performed at block parties and in talent competitions — defeating opponents without effort. Christina also gained media attention, and was known some as "the little girl with the big voice".
Aguilera sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Pittsburgh Steelers football and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games throughout her youth. In 1990, she competed on Star Search, but she didn't win. Her first major role in entertainment came in 1993 when she joined the Disney Channel's variety show The New Mickey Mouse Club. Her co-stars included Britney Spears, as well as Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez, who went on to join NSYNC, and Keri Russell, who would go on to become the star of Felicity.
Christina's first song was "All I Wanna Do," which was a collaboration single recorded in Japan with native pop star Keizo Nakanishi . In 1997, she competed in an international singing contest at the Golden Stag Festival in Transylvania, Romania, where she shared the stage with Sheryl Crow and Diana Ross. In 1998, after proving she can sing the High "E" above middle "C" note in an audition, she was selected to perform the song "Reflection" for the Disney animated production of Mulan (1998). The music video promoting the film featured a young Christina with a bob hair cut; this was her first music video.
Christina Aguilera: debut
Under the exclusive representation of Steve Kurtz , her self-titled album, Christina Aguilera, was released on August 24, 1999 and reached the top of the Billboard 200 and Canadian album charts, selling eight million copies in the US. "Genie in a Bottle," "What a Girl Wants" and "Come on Over Baby (All I Want is You)" all reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1999 and 2000, and "I Turn to You" went top 5 in the US. Aguilera won for Best New Artist at the 2000 Grammy Awards, defeating fellow singer Britney Spears. She was also nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Genie in a Bottle."
In 2000, she emphasized her Latino heritage, following the Latino trend of the time, by releasing her first Latin album, Mi Reflejo. This album was a variation of her debut album in Spanish and reached #27 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on the Latin album charts. The single "Falsas Esperanzas" from the album reached the top 40 in Argentina in 2001. Ricky Martin asked her to a duet with him on the track "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" from his album Sound Loaded, released as a single in late 2000. The song was released as the second single in 2001 going top 5 in the UK and Germany, top 20 in the U.S. and top 40 in Canada, Switzerland and Australia.
Change in management
Although Christina's album was met with prosperity, Christina was very dissatisfied with the music and image which her management brought on for her. At the time, Christina was marketed as a bubblegum pop artist, because of the genre's upward financial trend. In contrast to the genre's nature, she publicly mentioned plans of her next album to have much more depth, both musically and lyrically. Steve Kurtz's influence in matters of Christina's creative direction, the role of being her exclusive personal manager, and him overscheduling Christina has in part caused Christina to seek legal means of terminating their management contract.
On October 13, Christina filed a Breach of Fiduciary Duty lawsuit against Kurtz for improper, undue, and inappropriate influence over her professional activities, as well as fraud. [1] According to legal documents, Kurtz did not protect her rights and interests. Instead, he took action which was for his own interest at the cost of hers. The lawsuit came about when Christina discovered Kurtz used more of her commissionable income than what he was allotted, by paying other managers to assist him. She also petitioned the California State Labor Commission to nullify the contract.
When she terminated services with Kurtz, she hired Irving Azoff as her new manager. The change in management marked a new change in how Christina was marketed, as well as what music Christina will do in the future.
Kurtz countersued on October 27 for breach of contract for violating her the same agreement in which Christina has sued to void. [2] In the lawsuit, he included others close to Aguilera in the lawsuit, alleging their intent of sabotaging his business relationship with Christina, as well as Azoff for being in violation of the terms of Kurtz's contract.
Stripped: career development
Her initial indications of a raunchier image were shown in her appearance in the video for "Lady Marmalade," which showed her, Lil' Kim, Pink and Mya dressed in lingerie. The track was produced by Rockwilder and Missy Elliott and appeared on the soundtrack for the Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rouge. The song, a remake of the 1975 hit by Patti LaBelle, went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals . The song also topped the charts in Australia with the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack being the best selling album of 2001 in that country.
In late August, 2002, "Dirrty" the first single from Christina's upcoming album was leaked on the Internet and radio stations. The song was a hip-hop influenced track, based on rapper Redman's song "Let's Get Dirty". Incidentally, Redman was included on "Dirrty", rapping for one verse of the song.
On September 30, the music video for "Dirrty" premiered on MTV in the United States. The video features a scantily clad Christina, lecherously dancing with members of both sexes in a filthy underground boxing venue. Due to the mature nature of the video, it was heavily criticized by other musicians, as well as the media. In response, Aguilera pointed out the video is more about power and control; "I'm not just some lame chick in a rap video; I'm in the power position, in complete command of everything around me."
On October 29, after much delay, Christina's second English language album, Stripped was released in the United States. The album is a vast improvement to her previous one. The majority of Stripped is co-written by Christina, about eighty minutes long, and influenced by many different subjects and music styles. "Impossible", a collaboration with Alicia Keys, is a jazz inspired song about someone who's trying to get through to one who's reclusive. "Soar" is a gospel inspired song about becoming self reliant. Christina's most emotionally challenging song to record on the album is "I'm OK". This track chronicles in grave detail about how Christina and family was abused as a young child by her father, thanking her mother for her love through that time in her life. Her vocal skills have improved from her previous recordings as well.
However, her vocals were much overlooked as she began to cultivate a more sexually provocative image. After the release of that album, she has taken part in photo shoots for the magazines Maxim, Rolling Stone, and Cosmo Girl . Many of these photographs featured her nude or semi-nude. She denied that this change was a matter of publicity, claiming that the image better reflected her true personality than did the image she cultivated back in 1999.
Ironically, the raunchy image initially had a negative affect on the sales of the album in the US. While the album debuted at #2 on the UK and Billboard album charts and #3 in Canada, its sales proved a disappointment compared to the success of her debut album. However, the success of subsequent singles off the album meant Stripped did well in the rest of the world. The staying power of the album was also shown in the UK when the album was consistently in the top 20 of the album charts between late 2002 and mid-2004. The album is quadruple platinum in Australia despite only reaching a peak of #7 - again a reflection of its consistency between late 2002 and 2004.
There have been a number of hit singles from Stripped, including:
- "Dirrty,", a hip-hop influenced song about not being afraid to conform to one's standard, went to number one in the UK, Ireland and was a top ten hit in the Netherlands, Spain and Australia - it only reached #48 on the Billboard Hot 100 reflecting the early sales backlash;
- "Beautiful", a ballad about not having the negativity of others affect someone, went to #1 in the UK and Ireland as well as the US top 40 and adult contemporary charts. The song peaked at #2 on the Hot 100.
- "Fighter", a track known to be a response to the management change of 2000 as well as others who wronged her in the past, went to #20 in the US and reached top 10 on world airplay charts
- "Can't Hold Us Down", a collaboration with Lil' Kim which indicates and condemns the existence of the double standard on society's views of men and women, was another top 5 hit on world airplay charts and reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100
- "The Voice Within", a ballad about turning to one's self if all else fails, peaked at #33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 in the UK
"Beautiful" earned Aguilera the award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2004 Grammy Awards . The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) presented a special award for inclusion to her in February, 2003 for the positive images of gay and transgender people.
The Stripped Tour
In early 2003, Aguilera aroused much comment when she gained a noticeable amount of weight. She was quoted as saying, "I couldn't care less about stupid diets. Eating is sensual and fun. I'm not going to let it be spoiled by calorie-counting." Later, she gave the reason for her weight gain as preparation for her upcoming summer tour.
On June 4, 2003, she joined Justin Timberlake on the final portion of his international "Justified" tour, held in the United States. The tour became a co-headliner called the "Justified & Stripped" tour. On August 9, an overhead lighting grid collapsed from the ceiling of the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey causing major damage to the sound and video equipment below. Since the collapse occurred hours before the performance, only a few stagehands were injured. As a result, a few shows after the incident were canceled or postponed. In the 4th quarter of that year, Christina continued to tour internationally without Justin, and changed the name of the tour to only the "Stripped" tour. During the tour she dyed her hair black. The tour was one of the top grossing tours of that year, as it sold out most of its venues. It also was named by Rolling Stone readers as the best tour of the year.
In light of the tour's success, another United States tour was scheduled to begin in mid-2004 with a new theme and featuring Chingy as an opening act. This tour was scrapped due to Christina suffering vocal chord injuries shortly before its opening date. It was later reported by The Sun tabloid that low ticket sales and lack of new material were the major factors in the tour's cancellation.
Post Stripped events
In a tribute to Madonna's performance at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards' ceremony, Christina was involved in a lesbian kiss with at the 2003 edition of the ceremony, August 28th, during the opening performance of Madonna's songs "Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood"—this was overshadowed by the kiss between Madonna and Britney Spears in the same performance.
Aguilera opened up a new vein of controversy in late 2003 by viciously criticizing other teen-pop musicians. In the December, 2003 issue of Blender magazine, Christina is quoted; "Look at people like Beyoncé or Britney. They're desperate to come across as sweet, good little girls, but then you see them in photo shoots that are extremely sexual—tight little booty shorts, and not much else. So why do they try to be virginal in interviews?" Concerning Britney Spears, she claimed, "These people aren't artists; they're just performers—fake and superficial... I was up for kissing Britney, but Britney wasn't. She was.... she seemed very distant, even during rehearsals. Every time I tried to start a conversation with her— well, let's just say she seemed nervous the whole time. I wanted to reach out to her, because I feel she needs somebody in her life right now to help guide her." [3]
A January, 2004 ZOO Magazine (a Danish men's magazine) article, reported that Aguilera is possibly bisexual. The article's interview quotes her stating; "I find it hornier looking at women then men. Sorry, I love experimenting with my sexuality. If that means girls then so be it." It also states how Christina enjoys casual sex; "I have casual sex, I love casual sex. But that doesn't mean I'm incapable of keeping my legs together." [4] Because of the tabloid nature of articles in ZOO, the factual accuracy of the article is dubious.
Aguilera hosted Saturday Night Live on February 21, 2004 and participated in various parody skits such as "Do You Know My Father Is?" which lampoons Win Ben Stein's Money, and a skit dedicated to the movie You Got Served. She was praised for her impersonation of Kim Cattrall's Sex and the City character Samantha.
Aguilera decided to take on a more mature image; this move was met with more praise than criticism, with articles using punch-lines such as "from crass to class." She eventually dyed her hair cherry-blonde. Aguilera recorded a jingle, "Hello," for a Mercedes-Benz ad, and became the new face of Mercedes-Benz. Shortly after, she dyed her hair blonde and cut it short, and took on a Marilyn Monroe look; she is believed by many of her fans to be one of the front-runners of the bringing back of the old Hollywood look trend, along with Gwen Stefani and Ashley Judd.
In the run-up to the 2004 election, Aguilera was featured on billboards for the "Only You Can Silence Yourself" online voter registration drive run by the nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign, Declare Yourself. In these political advertisements, Christina is shown with her mouth sewn shut, to symbolize the effects of not voting.
In late summer, she released, almost consecutively, two singles. The first, "Car Wash," was taken from the soundtrack of the hit movie Shark Tale. It is a collaboration with popular rapper, Missy Elliott, and is a cover version of Rose Royce's disco hit. The second is also a collaboration, but this time as a second single from one of Nelly's double-release albums, Sweat , titled "Tilt Ya' Head Back." She appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards to do it with him; it was a visually striking and effective performance. Both singles flopped in US, but did considerably well in other parts of the world; the latter reached #1 in a few countries, like the Philippines. "Tilt Ya' Head Back," formerly rumored to be "Tilt Cha' Head Back," was well-received in the US at first, but quickly deteriorated mainly due to its lack of radio appeal and promotion. "Tilt..." recently went platinum in Australia for selling over 40,000 copies, while "Car Wash" was certified Gold for selling over 25,000 copies.
After much delay, Christina's first live recording DVD was released in November, excluding her performance of Make Over, due to its similarity with another song. In late December, she officially released a new perfume, Xpose, which has only been available in a few, select European countries.
After a failed relationship with Latin dancer Jorge Santos, in which she chronicles in her song "Infatuation" from her sophomore album Stripped, and an unnamed producer speculated to be Dallas Austin, she started dating music executive Jordan Bratman. After dating him for almost 3 years, their engagement was announced in February 2005. [5] In an interview with MTV at an Oscar party, she announced she would like to have her wedding in the Winter of 2005.
The future
Christina announced her third English album is nearly complete. Similar to Stripped, the upcoming album's feel will be completely different from the previous, as it focuses more on her vocal abilities and musical tastes. While interviewed during a post Oscar party, Christina describes the album "a retro blues/jazz/soul record, but a really meaty, gritty, real raw record of soul". [6]
She has also shown interest in becoming an actress in a film. Although she has been offered many roles over the years, she continues to insist that she's looking for a particular role. She prefers a role similar to ones played by Angelina Jolie [7], but avoids roles which portray herself, or any character who resembles her.
Discography
Albums
Singles
The following is a list of English language singles in order of U.S. release date including their peak rank on record sales charts:
Inspired by the Motion Picture Mulan; on Christina Aguilera:
- Reflection (1998)
From Christina Aguilera:
- Genie in a Bottle (1999) #1 US, #1 UK
- What a Girl Wants (1999) #1 US, #3 UK
From My Kind of Christmas:
- The Christmas Song (1999) #18 US
From Christina Aguilera:
- I Turn to You (2000) #3 US, #19 UK
- Come on Over (All I Want Is You) (2000) #1 US, #8 UK
Collaborations with other artists:
-
Nobody Wants to Be Lonely (with Ricky Martin; 2001) #13 US, #4 UK
From the Moulin Rouge soundtrack
-
Lady Marmalade (with Mya, Lil Kim and P!nk; 2001) #1 US, #1 UK
From Stripped:
-
Dirrty (ft. Redman; 2002) #48 US, #1 UK
- Beautiful (2002) #2 US, #1 UK
- Fighter (2003) #20 US, #3 UK
-
Can't Hold Us Down (ft. Lil Kim; 2003) #12 US, #6 UK
- The Voice Within (2003) #33 US, #9 UK
From the Shark Tale soundtrack
-
Car Wash (ft. Missy Elliot, 2004) #4 UK
Collaborations with other artists:
-
Tilt Ya Head Back (with Nelly; 2004) #58 US, #5 UK
DVDs released
-
Genie Gets Her Wish (1999) #1 US
-
My Reflection (2000) #1 US
-
Stripped Live in the UK (2004) #3 US
See also
External links
Official sites
Fan sites
Miscellaneous links
Last updated: 09-12-2005 02:39:13
