Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Referred to as the “Voice of a Generation”, she is noted for her four-octave vocal range and signature use of melisma. She is recognized as an influential figure in popular music, having been credited with paving the way for pop artists who incorporate often controversial themes such as feminism, sexuality, and LGBT culture into their music.

Aguilera rose to fame in 1999 with her self-titled debut album. Its singles “Genie in a Bottle”, “What a Girl Wants” and “Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)” reached the top of the US Billboard Hot 100, and Aguilera won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. She found continued success with Mi Reflejo (2001), Stripped (2002) and the critically acclaimed Back to Basics (2006). The latter two constituted a departure from her teen idol image, with Stripped becoming one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. She also amassed numerous international hits, including her fourth Billboard Hot 100 number-one single “Lady Marmalade”, as well as “Beautiful”, “Dirrty”, “Can’t Hold Us Down”, “Fighter”, “Ain’t No Other Man” and “Hurt”. Throughout the 2010s, Aguilera featured on the successful singles “Feel This Moment”, “Say Something”, and “Moves like Jagger”; the latter reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making Aguilera the eighth artist to reach the top spot over three decades.

Aguilera was a cast member of the television show The All-New Mickey Mouse Club (1993–1994) as a child. She recorded “Reflection”, the theme for the 1998 animated film Mulan, and later re-recorded the track for its 2020 live-action remake. For her contributions to the Walt Disney Company, Aguilera was awarded with a Disney Legends award. In 2010, she starred in Burlesque and contributed to its soundtrack. Her subsequent ventures included a role in the series Nashville (2015), roles in the films The Emoji Movie (2017) and Zoe (2018), becoming an ambassador for the World Food Programme (WFP), performing a concert residency and serving as a coach on the reality competition show The Voice (2011–2016).

Aguilera is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 100 million records sold worldwide. Considered a pop culture icon and a triple threat entertainer, she has been named one of the greatests vocalists of all time by publications such as Rolling Stone and Consequence of Sound. In 2009, Billboard named her the twentieth most successful artist of the 2000s, she and was ranked the eighth greatest woman in music by VH1. Aguilera is regarded as one of the most influential Latin artists in the entertainment industry. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, two Latin Grammy Awards, six ALMA Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards (VMA), one Billboard Music Award, one Guinness World Record, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Christina María Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980, in New York City, New York, to Shelly Loraine (née Fidler) and Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera. Her father is an Ecuadorian emigrant from Guayaquil while her mother has German, Irish, Welsh, and Dutch ancestry. Fausto Aguilera was a United States Army sergeant, and Shelly Loraine was a violinist in the American Youth Symphony before becoming a Spanish translator. Due to Fausto’s military service, the Aguilera family moved frequently, living in New Jersey and Texas. In 1983, they moved to Japan and lived in Sagamihara for at least two years. The family returned to the US and ultimately settled in Pennsylvania, where they welcomed her younger sister, Rachel, in 1986. Aguilera has spoken out about her father’s physically and emotionally abusive behavior. She eventually used music to escape her turbulent household. In 1987, Shelly filed divorce to Fausto and moved with her children to her mother’s home in Rochester, a suburb of Pittsburgh. She later married James Kearns with whom she had a son named Michael. In 2012, following decades of estrangement, Aguilera expressed interest in reconciling with her biological father.

During childhood, Aguilera explored her grandmother’s personal records—which featured mostly soul and blues singers—which increased her interest in music.[19] She also began to practice singing and competing in talent contests. Followed numerous contests, she earned reputation in the neighborhood as the “little girl with a big voice” and received attention from local television and radio programs. In 1990, she performed the popular song “A Sunday Kind of Love” on the reality competition show Star Search, but was eliminated during the semi-final round. Aguilera eventually was invited to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, Pittsburgh Steelers football, and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games, as well during the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals. During her youth in Pittsburgh metropolitan area, she attended North Allegheny Intermediate High School before leaving there to be homeschooled to avoid bullying she experienced at school.

In 1991, Aguilera auditioned for a position on The All-New Mickey Mouse Club (MMC), aired on the Disney Channel. She ran against 400 candidates, and while she made the shortlist she was ultimately rejected for not meeting the minimum age requirement. One year later, in 1992, Aguilera received a call from one of the show’s producers asking if she was still interested in becoming a “Mouseketeer”. She once again competed for a spot (this time, against 15,000 candidates) and was selected to join the variety program the following year. Her fellow cast members included Ryan Gosling, Keri Russell, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake.[30] During the show recordings—which included Aguilera performing musical numbers and comedy sketches—she moved with her family to Orlando, Florida. In 1994, it was reported the series would not return for a new season.

Aiming to beginning a music career, Aguilera moved to Japan in 1997. She was selected to record a duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi, with whom she performed in concert shows around the country. Their song, “All I Wanna Do” was released as a promotional single but failed to reach commercial success. In June 1997, Aguilera went on to Romania to represent the United States in a singers contest during the Golden Stag Festival, but she failed to win over the audience. Seeking a recording contract, Aguilera recorded numerous demo tapes directed to record labels, including Walt Disney Records, for which she send a cover version of “Run to You” by Whitney Houston. She eventually was given the opportunity to record “Reflection”, theme from animated film Mulan (1998), which charted on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart at number 15.