The Biography

Christina Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York at December 18, 1980. Her birth name was Christina Maria Aguilera. Her father Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera, was a Sergeant in the U.S. Army at the time and her mother Shelly Loraine Fidler, a Spanish teacher. Aguilera's father is Ecuadorian born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, while her mother is of Irish descent (Christina's maternal grandmother emigrated from County Clare.) Aguilera lived with her father and mother until she was seven years old. When Aguilera's parents divorced, her mother took her, and her younger sister Rachel, to her grandmother's home in Wexford, Pennsylvania, a White-collar suburb outside of Pittsburgh. According to both Aguilera and Fidler, her father was very controlling, as well as physically and emotionally abusive. She later wrote about her difficult childhood in the songs "I'm OK" in Stripped, and "Oh Mother" in Back to Basics. As a child, Aguilera aspired to be a singer, she was known locally as "the little girl with the big voice," singing in local talent shows and competitions. Her musical influences included Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Nina Simone, and Madonna. At the age of fourteen, Aguilera recorded her first song, "All I Wanna Do," a hit duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi. In 1997, she represented the United States at the "Golden Stag" International Festival with a two-song set which included Sheryl Crow and Diana Ross In 1998, she sang the High "E" in full voice (E5) on a cover of Whitney Houston's "Run to You" which she recorded with a tape recorder in her bathroom. She was then selected to record the song "Reflection" for the Disney production of Mulan (1998). Recording "Reflection" led to Aguilera earning a contract with RCA Records the same week. "Reflection" peaked within the top twenty on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart, and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best Original Song" in 1998. Her singles "Genie in a Bottle," "What a Girl Wants" and "Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" topped the Billboard Hot 100 during 1999 and 2000, and "I Turn to You" reached #3. She ended the year on MTV's 2 Large New Year's Special, as she performed and was MTV's first artist of the millennium. Aguilera won the "Best New Artist" award at the 2000 Grammys, and she was nominated for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" for "Genie in a Bottle." Aguilera first emphasized her Latin heritage by releasing her first Spanish album, Mi Reflejo on September 12, 2000. This album contained Spanish versions of songs from her English debut as well as new Spanish tracks. Aguilera also released a Christmas album on October 24, 2000 called My Kind of Christmas. In 2001, Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink were chosen to remake Labelle's 1975 single "Lady Marmalade" for the film Moulin Rouge! and its sound.