Christina Aguilera Biography

NAME: Christina Maria Aguilera

Nickname : Chrissy, X-Tina, Baby Jane, Candy

Height : 5' 1½" (1.56 m)

OCCUPATION: Film Actress, Television Actress, Singer, Philanthropist

BIRTH DATE: December 18, 1980 (Age: 30)

ZODIAC SIGN: Sagittarius

Born Christina Maria Aguilera on December 18, 1980, in Staten Island, New York, to parents Fausto Xavier Aguilera and his wife, Shelly Loraine Fidler. Her early home life was troubled. Christina's father, an Ecuadorian immigrant and sergeant in the U.S. Army, was an abusive husband. It wasn't until Aguilera was 6 that her mother managed to end the marriage and move her two daughters (Christina and her younger sister, Rachel) to a new life in Rochester, Pennsylvania.

From an early age Aguilera loved music, a gift she no doubt inherited from her musical mother, an experienced violin and piano player. By the time she was in elementary school, Aguilera's big voice had swept through a number of local talent shows, causing harsh envy from her schoolmates and even some parents. It became so bad that eventually Christina's mother made the decision to home-school her daughter.

Still, Christina continued to perform, and in 1990 she earned a spot on the nationally syndicated television program, Star Search. There, the 9-year-old prodigy wowed audiences with a mesmerizing rendition of Etta James' "A Sunday Kind of Love," to take home second place.

Upon returning to the States in early 1998, Christina auditioned to sing "Reflection," a track which appears on her debut album, for Disney's animated film "Mulan." The film makers needed someone "who could hit a high E above middle C" according to Christina, who then cut a one-take demo in her living room singing to a karaoke tape of Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Run To You." The demo was rushed to Disney, and within hours, Christina was in a Los Angeles studio recording "Reflection." That same week, RCA Records signed her to a record contract. "Mulan" premiered in America in June 1998, and "Reflection" became a Top 15 US single.

On her self-titled debut album for RCA in 1999, Christina showcased her many talents. From the sparkling upbeat dance-pop of the "Genie In A Bottle" to the soulful gospel strains of "So Emotional" and the awe-inspiring ballad "I Turn To You," Christina's powerful voice intertwined themes of finding one's own identity with the uncertainties of growing up. The album, which Christina says was very scripted for her, leaving her with little real involvement, fitted in with the popular music of the time to reap high sales.

October 2000 saw the release of "My Kind Of Christmas," a soulful collection of sacred carols, holiday pop classics, and newly written songs for the season. Said Christina, "I wanted to bring a real R&B edge to some of these songs. Making the album really unleashed the soul in me. I'd say it's an all-around feel-good album."

Aguilera began dating music marketing executive Jordan Bratman in 2002. Their engagement was announced in February 2005, and they married on November 19, 2005, in a Napa Valley estate. In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Aguilera revealed that she and Bratman enjoy being nude on Sundays, saying, "You have to keep marriage alive, spice it up". The story received so much attention that following the news supermodel Heidi Klum told Degeneres that she and her husband Seal would consider doing the same ritual.

In May 2006, she posed nude for a Marilyn Monroe-inspired photoshoot in GQ magazine where she re-created several photographs done by Monroe and spoke about her marriage to Bratman. In the issue she also expressed disappointment in fellow singer Mariah Carey, saying that Carey "was never cool to me", and that "one time we were at a party, I think she got really drunk, and had really derogatory things to say to me." Carey then released a statement saying, "It is sad yet predictable that she would use my name at this time to reinvent past incidents for promotional gain." Aguilera responded saying, "My intentions were not to upset Mariah with any statements published or taken out of context. I have all the respect in the world for her."

On September 9, 2007, at a birthday party for a mutual friend, Paris Hilton publicly congratulated the singer on her pregnancy. Aguilera, however, had not yet confirmed her pregnancy at the time. Aguilera later confirmed this on November 4 in an interview with Glamour magazine. On January 12, 2008, Aguilera gave birth to her son, Max Liron Bratman, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. His Latin firstname and Hebrew middle name roughly translate into ?My Greatest Song?. Aguilera was reportedly paid $1.5 million by People magazine for her baby pictures, which according to Forbes places fifth on the list of the most expensive celebrity baby photos.