Christian Aguilera

BIOGRAPHY

Christina María Aguilera was born in New York City, on December 18, 1980, to Shelly Loraine (née Fidler) and Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera. Because of her father’s military service, Aguilera’s family moved frequently during her early years, residing in areas such as New Jersey, Texas, and Japan. Eventually, they settled in Pennsylvania where Aguilera’s younger sister, Rachel, was born. Aguilera had a difficult childhood marked by her father’s physical and emotional abuse. She used music as an escape, eventually leading to her interest in singing and competing in talent contests.

Starting with a variety of talent contests, Aguilera earned the nickname “the little girl with a big voice” locally. In 1990, she performed on Star Search, reaching the semi-final round. Aguilera then began performing the national anthem before major sports events, quickly gaining recognition. After facing bullying, she left school to be homeschooled.

In 1991, Aguilera auditioned for The All-New Mickey Mouse Club but was initially rejected due to her age. A year later, she was revisited and selected to join the cast, which included future celebrities like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Ryan Gosling. However, the show ended in 1994, and Aguilera decided to start a music career.

After moving to Japan in 1997, she recorded her first commercial track, “All I Wanna Do,” a duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi. But the song failed to achieve significant commercial success. During this time, Aguilera also participated in various singing contests and sought focus on her singing career by sending demo tapes to multiple record labels. Her cover of Whitney Houston’s “Run to You” eventually landed her a recording contract with RCA Records.

Aguilera’s first big break came when she recorded “Reflection,” the theme song for the 1998 Disney film Mulan. The song garnered attention and led to Aguilera releasing her self-titled debut album in May 1999. Her first single, “Genie in a Bottle,” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks and was labeled an international hit. Despite some criticism, the song was nominated for a Grammy. Christina Aguilera, her debut album, became a huge success, selling over seventeen million copies worldwide. It also nabbed her the Grammy for Best New Artist.

Christina’s fame kept growing, and she released her second studio album, Mi Reflejo, in September 2000. The album, sung in Spanish, topped Billboard’s Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums chart for nineteen consecutive weeks. It was the best-selling Latin pop album of 2000 and won Aguilera a Latin Grammy. She further proved her versatility by releasing My Kind of Christmas, her first Christmas album, which topped the US Top Holiday Albums chart.

Aguilera’s career took a bold turn when she sought to depart from her teen idol image and released Stripped in 2002. Despite initial mixed responses, the album, an exploration of controversial themes, became one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. Aguilera continued to influence the music industry with the subsequent release of Back to Basics in 2006, an album inspired by vintage music, which was critically acclaimed.

Throughout the 2010s, Aguilera continued to innovate and push boundaries in her music. Despite moderate success with the albums Bionic (2010) and Lotus (2012), she sifted focus to other ventures. She starred in the film Burlesque in 2010 and participated in its soundtrack, earning a Golden Globe nomination. Aguilera also served as a coach on the reality competition show The Voice from 2011 to 2016.

Now regarded as one of the most influential Latin artists in the entertainment industry, Aguilera’s accolades include five Grammy Awards, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and recognition as one of the best-selling music artists of all time with over 90 million records sold globally. Despite a career filled with ups and downs and numerous reinventions, Christina Aguilera’s status as the “voice of a generation” remains indisputable.