Christina María Aguilera is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. As a child, Aguilera was drawn to soul and blues records her grandmother bought and would practice singing, which earned her a reputation as “the little girl with the big voice” in her neighborhood. In 1991, Aguilera auditioned for a position on The Mickey Mouse Club, although she did not meet its age requirements. She joined the television series two years later, where she performed musical numbers and sketches until its cancellation in 1994.
She sent her cover version of Whitney Houston’s “Run to You” to Disney in hopes of being selected to record the theme song “Reflection” for their animated film Mulan (1998). Aguilera was ultimately selected to sing “Reflection”; the song was released in June 1998 and charted on the Billboard at number 15.
After “Reflection”, Aguilera attracted the attention of RCA’s A&R Ron Fair and was signed with the label quickly afterwards. RCA was pressured by the contemporary teen pop craze evoked by Aguilera’s peer Britney Spears, leading to the label rushing production of the album and aligning Aguilera to be part of the teen pop trend. They released the lead single from the album, “Genie in a Bottle”, a trendy pop and R&B track, in June 1999. The single brought Aguilera to stardom, peaking atop the US Billboard and the charts of 20 other countries.
Aguilera’s debut album followed in August 1999 and peaked at number one on the US Billboard. It was certified 8 times platinum by the RIAA, and had moved 17 million copies worldwide by 2010. The album produced three other singles: two US number-one singles–”What a Girl Wants” and “Come on Over Baby (all I want is you)”, and one US top-five single –”I Turn to You”. At the $2nd Grammy’s in February 2000, Aguilera won Best New Artists.
Aguilera took her first steps in artistic control with a cover of Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade” (1974) with Pink, Mya, and Lil’ Kim for the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack. RCA executives initially opposed to Aguilera recording “Lady Marmalade” because it was “too urban”, but Aguilera ultimately managed to record the song of her own accord. The collaboration topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks based on airplay alone, becoming the first airplay-only track in history to remain on the chart’s top spot for more than one week. It won Best Vocal Collaboration at the 54th Grammy’s.
While working on her fourth studio album, Aguilera leaned toward a new artistic direction that she felt had more musical and lyrical depth. She named the album Stripped and explained that the title represented “a new beginning, a re-introduction of [herself] as a new artist in a way”. Aguilera served as the album’s executive producer and co-wrote most of the songs. To present her new persona, Aguilera released “Dirrty” as the lead single from the album in September 2002.
The second single from the album, the ballad “Beautiful”, received universal acclaim for its empowering lyrics about embracing inner beauty, and became an anthem for the LGBT community. It was the album’s best-charting single, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The song won Best Female Pop Vocal Perfomance at the 46th Grammy’s in 2004.
Stripped was followed by three other singles: “Fighter”, “Can’t Hold Us Down”, and “The Voice Within”, all of which were released in 2003 and entered the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. She was the host of the 2003 MTV Eurpoe Music Awards, where she won Best Female award, in November. Billboard announced Aguilera as the Top Female Pop Act of 2003.
In 2005 Aguilera became engaged to marketing executive Jordan Bratman, who had dated her since 2003. They married in November 2005, at an estate in Napa County, California. Aguilera released the lead single, “Ain’t No Other Man”, from her fifth studio album, Back to Basics, in June 2006. The album was released in August 2006. Aguilera described the record, a double album as a “throwback” to jazz, blues, and soul music of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s that incorporates “a modern twist.” Back to Basics was succeeded by two international top-ten singles: “Hurt” and “Candyman”.
From April 2011 to December 2012, Aguilera served as a coach on the first three seasons of the television competition series The Voice. During the first season, Aguilera was featured on Maroon 5’s single “Moves Like Jagger” upon the invitation of the group’s lead vocalist and Aguilera’s fellow The Voice coach Adam Levine. The single peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and has sold seven million digital copies worldwide.
