Christina Aguilera
Encyclopedia
Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search
program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994. Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection
", the theme song for the animated film Mulan (1998).
In 1999, Aguilera came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera
, which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100
—"Genie in a Bottle
", "What a Girl Wants
", and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)
." Her sophomore and her debut Latin-pop album, Mi Reflejo
(2000), a Christmas third studio album, My Kind of Christmas
(2000), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success, though she was displeased with her lack of input in her music and image. After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her fourth studio album, Stripped
(2002). The album's second single, "Beautiful
," was a commercial success and helped the album's commercial performance amidst controversy over Aguilera's image. Aguilera followed up Stripped with the soul, jazz and blues inspired, Back to Basics
(2006), released to positive critical acclaim. The album had three commercially successful singles: "Ain't No Other Man
", "Hurt
" and "Candyman
". Four years later Aguilera released her sixth studio album, Bionic (2010), which incorporated aspects of R&B, electropop, and synthpop and was met with mixed reviews and low sales.
Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and image, musically, she includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music. Apart from her work in music, she has also dedicated much of her time as a philanthropist
for charities, human rights and world issues which include her work as a UN ambassador for the World Food Programme
. She made her feature film debut in the musical Burlesque
(2010), earning Aguilera a Golden Globe
nomination for Best Original Song
and a Grammy
nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
, four Grammy Award
s and one Latin Grammy Award, amongst fifteen and three nominations respectively. Rolling Stone
ranked her number fifty-eight on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, ranking as the youngest and only artist on the list under the age of thirty. She was ranked the 20th Artist of the 2000–09 decade by Billboard and is the second top selling single artist of the 2000s behind Madonna
. Aguilera's albums sales are estimated at around 50 million units worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
, New York, to Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera, a sergeant in the US Army at the time, and Shelly Loraine (née Fidler), a Spanish teacher. Aguilera's father was born in Guayaquil
, Ecuador and her mother is of German, Irish, Welsh, and Dutch ancestry. Her father was stationed at Earnest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador
and Japan. Aguilera lived with both her father and mother, up until their divorce when she was seven years old. Aguilera then lived with her mother, and her younger sister Rachel, at her grandmother's home in Rochester
, Pennsylvania, a town outside Pittsburgh. According to both Aguilera and her mother, her father was very controlling, as well as physically and emotionally abusive
. In an interview with Rolling Stone Aguilera revealed, "there was so much domestic violence going on when I grew up with my dad travelling in the military. I think the reason that my drive was so strong and I was so passionate about music was because I grew up in an environment of domestic violence
." She later sang about her difficult childhood in the songs "I'm OK" on Stripped, and "Oh Mother
" on Back to Basics. Even though he has made several attempts to reconnect with her, Aguilera ruled out any chance of a reunion. Since then, her mother has married a paramedic named Jim Kearns, and has changed her name.
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. She attended Rochester Area School District, Marshall Middle School
near Wexford and North Allegheny Intermediate High School
. On March 15, 1990, she appeared on Star Search
singing "A Sunday Kind of Love
", but lost the competition at number 2. Soon after losing on Star Search, she returned home and appeared on Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV
's Wake Up With Larry Richert
to perform the same song. Throughout her youth in Pittsburgh, Aguilera sang "The Star-Spangled Banner
" before Pittsburgh Penguins
hockey, Pittsburgh Steelers
football and Pittsburgh Pirates
baseball games, including during the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals
. Her talent was kept a secret to avoid bullying of other children. Following her television appearances Aguilera experienced resentment and bullying including an incident in which her peers slashed the tires on her family's car. Following several incidents Aguilera was later home schooled. Aguilera recalls, "doing what I did and maybe being a little smaller, I was definitely picked on and bullied for the attention that I got. It was definitely unwanted attention and there was a lot of unfairness about it."
In 1991 Aguilera auditioned for a role on The Mickey Mouse Club; however, she did not meet the age requirements. Two years later, she joined the cast, performing musical numbers and sketch comedy
, until the show's cancellation in 1994. Her co-stars included Justin Timberlake
, Britney Spears
, Ryan Gosling
and Keri Russell
where they nicknamed her "the Diva
" for her performance style and voice. 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 international Golden Stag Festival
with a two-song set. Aguilera entered talent contests on "teen night" at the Pegasus Lounge, a gay and lesbian nightclub in Pittsburgh, and later at Lilith Fair
. In 1998, Aguilera sent in a demo of her singing Whitney Houston
's "Run to You" to Disney who were looking for a singer to record the song "Reflection" for their animated feature film Mulan (1998). The demo caught the attention of producer and label executive Ron Fair
who would later mentor her throughout her career and 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
.
was released on August 24, 1999. It reached the top of the Billboard 200
and Canadian album charts, shipping eight million copies in the US and over seventeen million copies worldwide. The album is also included in the Top 100 Albums of All Time list of The Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) based on US sales. Released during the teen pop
era of 1999 the album was well received by several critics, Stephen Thomas Erlewine
of AllMusic writes that Aguilera's debut "remains firmly within the teen-oriented dance-pop genre, but done right." Concluding that the album is "lightweight in the best possible sense – breezy, fun, engaging, and enjoyable on each repeated listen. Out of the deluge of teen-pop albums in 1999, this feels like the best of the lot." Her debut single, "Genie in a Bottle
" was an instant hit reaching No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100
and in several countries worldwide. Her follow-up singles "What a Girl Wants
" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)
" topped the Hot 100 as well during 1999 and 2000 while "I Turn to You
" reached number three. She is one of the few artists to have multiple No.1 singles from a debut album in Billboards history. She made a cameo appearance on an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210
, performed on MTV's New Year's Special as MTV's first artist of the millennium, and the Super Bowl XXXIV
halftime show. Aguilera wanted to display the range and audacity in her voice during the promotion of the album, and performed acoustic sets and appeared on television shows accompanied only by a piano. At the 42nd Grammy Awards Aguilera received a Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammy nomination for "Genie in a Bottle" and despite earlier predictions, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
In 2000, Aguilera began recording her first Spanish-language album with producer Rudy Pérez in Miami. Later in 2000, 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. Though some criticized Aguilera for trying to cash in on the Latin music
boom at the time. According to Pérez, Aguilera was only semi-fluent, while recording. She understood the language, because she has grown up with her father, who is a native of Ecuador. He added "Her Latin roots are undeniable".
The album peaked at number twenty-seven on the Billboard 200 and went number one on the Billboard Latin
charts for a record 20 weeks. In 2001
, it won Aguilera a Latin Grammy Award
for Best Female Pop Vocal Album
. The album was later certified Gold in the U.S. Aguilera won the World Music Award and Billboard award as the best selling Latin artist that year. Aguilera also released a Christmas album, My Kind of Christmas
, on October 24, 2000 and performed "The Christmas Song
" at the White House
that year. The album's only single, "The Christmas Song" made Aguilera one of three artists to take the song into the top twenty on the Billboard Hot 100. The single and My Kind of Christmas were both certified Platinum in the U.S. Aguilera was Billboards top female artist for 2000.
Aguilera's first concert tour, Christina Aguilera: In Concert (also known as "Sears & Levis Tour ") began in the summer of 2000 in the US and ended early 2001 where she toured South America and Asia. A concert special aired on ABC
titled My Reflection
and was released to DVD and certified Gold in the US. Aguilera was rumored to have dated MTV VJ Carson Daly
. Rumors of their relationship were fueled after the release of Eminem
's song, "The Real Slim Shady
" in which he also insinuated a romance between her and rocker Fred Durst
. Aguilera responded saying the lyrics were "disgusting, offensive and, above all, not true." Their feud ended two years later backstage at the Video Music Awards after Aguilera presented the rapper an award onstage. She dated Puerto Rican
dancer Jorge Santos. Santos appeared on her tour and music videos throughout 2000. They dated for nearly two years until the relationship ended on September 11, 2001. He remained her dancer well into 2002.
Ricky Martin
asked Aguilera to duet with him on the track "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely
" from his album Sound Loaded
; released in 2001 as the album's second single. The single reached number one on the World Chart and top ten in several countries. 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 soundtrack
. The song peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks and was the most successful airplay-only single in history. It also reached number one in eleven other countries and earned all four performers a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Aguilera's appearance in the music video was compared to that of Twisted Sister
frontman Dee Snider
. The video won two MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year in 2001, where Aguilera accepted the award saying, "I guess the big hair paid off."
That same year, the single "Just Be Free" emerged into record stores which was one of the demos Aguilera recorded when she was around fifteen years old. When RCA Records discovered the single, they advised fans not to purchase it. Months later, Warlock Records
was set to release Just Be Free
, an album which contains the demo tracks. Aguilera filed a breach of contract
and unfair competition
suit against Warlock and the album's producers to block the release. Instead, the two parties came to a settlement to release the album. Aguilera lent out her name, likeness and image for an unspecified amount of damages. Many of the details of the lawsuit remain confidential. When the album was released in August 2001, it had a photograph of Aguilera when she was fifteen years old.
Although Aguilera's debut album was commercially successful, she was dissatisfied with the music and image her management had created for her. Aguilera was marketed as a bubblegum pop
singer because of the genre's upward financial trend. She mentioned plans of her next album to have much more depth, both musically and lyrically. Aguilera's views of Steve Kurtz's influence in matters of the singer's creative direction, the role of being her exclusive personal manager and overscheduling had in part caused her to seek legal means of terminating their management contract. In October 2000, Aguilera filed a breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit
against her manager Kurtz for improper, undue and inappropriate influence over her professional activities, as well as fraud. According to legal documents, Kurtz did not protect her rights and interests. Instead, he took action that was for his own interest, at the cost of hers. The lawsuit came about when Aguilera discovered Kurtz used more of her commissionable
income than he was allotted, and had paid other managers to assist him. She also petitioned the California State Labor Commission to nullify the contract. She revealed while recording her then upcoming album, "I was being overworked. You find out that someone you thought was a friend is stealing money behind your back, and it's heartbreaking. I put faith in the people around me, and unfortunately, it bit me in the butt." Kurtz was terminated as her manager. After terminating Kurtz's services, Irving Azoff
was hired as her new manager. Kurtz countersued later that month for breach of contract, claiming that the singer violated the same agreement she had sued to void. In the lawsuit, he included others close to Aguilera, alleging their intent to sabotage his business relationship with her. He also singled out Azoff for being in violation of the terms of Kurtz's contract.
, was released. The album sold more than 330,000 copies in the first week and peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. Unlike her previous work, the album showcased Aguilera's raunchier side. The majority of Stripped was co-written by Aguilera (who had recently signed a global music publishing contract with BMG Music Publishing), and was influenced by many different subjects and music styles, including contemporary R&B
, gospel
, soul
, balladry, pop rock
, and hip hop
. The majority of the album was produced by Scott Storch
and singer-songwriter Linda Perry
who produced her more personal records. Rockwilder
and singer Alicia Keys
also contributed a track each. Upon initial release, the album was very well-received by critics, although Aguilera's vocals were overlooked as she began to cultivate a more sexually provocative image. After the release of the album, she took part in photoshoots for magazines, many of these photographs featured her nude or semi-nude. Her cover for Rolling Stone, featured the singer only wearing boots and a well-placed electric guitar. It was during this time Aguilera referred to herself as "Xtina", even getting a tattoo
of her nickname on the back of her neck and several piercings.
Initially, the raunchy image had a negative effect on Aguilera in the U.S., especially after the release of her controversial "Dirrty
" music video. She denied that this change was a matter of publicity, claiming that the image better reflected her true personality than did the image she cultivated back in 1999. She defended the video stating it was about power and control adding, "I'm also at the forefront. I'm in the power position, in complete command of everything around me." While the video for "Dirrty" became very popular on MTV, it disappointed on the U.S. singles chart. However, the single was a hit worldwide, reaching number one in the UK and Ireland. The second single, "Beautiful
" received critical praise. The classically
influenced ballad reached number one in several countries and peaked at No.2 in the US. "Beautiful" earned Aguilera the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Three more singles ("Fighter
", "Can't Hold Us Down
" featuring Lil' Kim
, "The Voice Within
") were released in the following two years and were hits that helped the album stay on the charts for the next two years. Stripped stayed on the U.S. and UK album charts well into 2004, and went on to be certified four-times platinum in the U.S. with over thirteen million copies sold worldwide. It appeared at number ten on Billboards year-end album chart and Aguilera was the top female artist for 2003. Kelly Clarkson
's second single "Miss Independent" was co-written by Aguilera, having been half-finished for Stripped.
Aguilera joined Justin Timberlake
that June on the final leg of his international Justified
tour, held in the US. This portion of the tour became a co-headliner called the Justified/Stripped Tour. In August, an overhead lighting grid collapsed from the ceiling of the Boardwalk Hall
in Atlantic City
, New Jersey, causing major damage to the sound and video equipment below. Because the collapse occurred hours before the show, only a few stagehands were injured, but a few shows were cancelled or postponed. In the fourth quarter of that year, Aguilera continued to tour internationally without Timberlake, and changed the name of the tour to the Stripped World Tour
. She also dyed her hair black. It was one of the top-grossing tours of that year, and sold out most of its venues. Rolling Stone readers named it the best tour of the year. That same year she hosted the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards
and was a special guest performer with the Pussycat Dolls' dance troupe performing at the Roxy Theatre and Viper Room
in Los Angeles. She also appeared on a Maxim
spread alongside them, her second Maxim cover that year set record sales for the issue making it the top selling issue to date. By the end of the year she topped the annual Hot 100 list saying, "we had fun working with certain clothes, or the lack thereof."
Aguilera's first DVD live-recording from a concert tour, Stripped Live in the U.K., was released in November 2004. In light of the tour's success, another U.S. tour was scheduled to begin in mid-2004 with a new theme. The tour however was scrapped because of the vocal cord injuries Aguilera suffered shortly before the tour's opening date. In a tribute to Madonna
's performance at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards
, Aguilera performed a kiss with the singer-actress at the 2003 edition of the ceremony in August. The incident occurred during the opening performance of Madonna's songs "Like a Virgin
" and "Hollywood" with fellow popstar Britney Spears
. Also in 2004, she hosted a Saturday Night Live
episode which included a Sex & The City skit where she portrayed Samantha Jones revealing to everyone she was a man the entire time.
Aguilera later decided to embrace a more mature image; this move was met with more praise than criticism, with articles using punch lines such as "From Crass to Class." She eventually dyed her hair cherry blonde and recorded a jingle, "Hello
", for a Mercedes-Benz
ad. Shortly after, she dyed her hair flaxen blonde and cut it short, and took on a Marilyn Monroe
look; she is one of the main proponents (along with Dita Von Teese
, Gwen Stefani
, and Ashley Judd
) in bringing back the 1920s–1940s Hollywood glamour look. In late summer 2004, Aguilera released two singles. The first, "Car Wash
", was a remake of the Rose Royce
disco
song recorded as a collaboration with rapper Missy Elliott
for the soundtrack to the film Shark Tale
. She voiced a small singing part in the film playing a Rastafarian
jellyfish
in the film's closing musical number. The second song was also a collaboration, but this time as a second single from one of Nelly
's double-release albums, Sweat, titled "Tilt Ya Head Back
". Both singles failed commercially in the US, but did considerably better in other parts of the world. Aguilera collaborated with jazz
artist Herbie Hancock
on a cover of Leon Russell
's "A Song for You" recorded for Hancock's album Possibilities
, released in August 2005. Aguilera and Hancock were later nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals
. She helped open the 50th Anniversary
for Disneyland performing "When You Wish upon a Star
", and she also collaborated with Andrea Bocelli
on the song "Somos Novios" for his album Amore. 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.
was released August 15, 2006. The album debuted at No.1 in the US, the UK and eleven other countries. Aguilera described the double CD
as "a throwback to the 20s, 30s, and 40s-style jazz, blues
, and feel-good soul music, but with a modern twist." The album received generally positive reviews, although many critics commented on the album's length saying, "At one disc, this would have been nothing short of masterful." A review in AllMusic adds, "Back to Basics also makes clear that Stripped was a necessary artistic move for Christina: she needed to get that out of her system in order to create her own style, one that is self-consciously stylized, stylish, and sexy." The critically acclaimed lead single "Ain't No Other Man
" was a substantial success, reaching No.2 on the World Chart, No.6 in the US, and No.2 in the UK. Producers on the album included DJ Premier
, Kwamé, Linda Perry, and Mark Ronson
. The follow-up singles did very well in different regions, "Hurt
" in Europe and "Candyman
" in the Pacific. She co-directed
both music videos, the former with Floria Sigismondi
who directed her "Fighter" video, and the latter, "Candyman", with director/photographer Matthew Rolston
which was inspired by The Andrews Sisters
. Back to Basics has sold 4.5 million units worldwide, with over 1.7 million sold in the US.
In late 2006 Aguilera collaborated with Sean "Diddy" Combs
on a track, titled "Tell Me
", from his album Press Play. She also began the Back to Basics Tour
in Europe followed by a 41-date North American tour in early 2007. After this, she toured Asia and Australia, where it was supposed to end on August 3, however she canceled her dates in Melbourne and her final two in Auckland
due to an illness. Her extravagant arena tour included cabaret
, three-ring circus
and juke joint
sets and 10 piece costumes designed by Roberto Cavalli
. She released her concert DVD Back to Basics: Live and Down Under
the following year. The tour grossed nearly 50 million by the end of the year in North America and an additional 40 million worldwide in her Europe and Australia dates, grossing almost 90 million by the end of the tour. It was the most successful US tour by a female in 2007.
At the 49th Grammy Awards, Aguilera again won the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Ain't No Other Man". She made a noteworthy performance at the ceremony paying tribute to James Brown
with her rendition of his song "It's a Man's Man's Man's World
". In January 2007, she was named the 19th richest woman in entertainment by Forbes
, with a net worth of US$60 million. Aguilera performed "Steppin' Out With My Baby
" with Tony Bennett
on his NBC special Tony Bennett: An American Classic and on Saturday Night Live. They performed at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards
where both specials received Emmys. "Steppin' Out" was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards
.
Aguilera confirmed she was pregnant on November 4, 2007, though Paris Hilton
accidentally revealed her pregnancy several weeks prior during a party Aguilera hosted. She gave birth to her son, Max Liron Bratman, in Los Angeles early the following year and held a bris for him with Bratman, who is of Jewish descent, where the baby was circumcised in accordance with Jewish practice. Aguilera was reportedly paid $1.5 million by People
for her son's baby pictures—the sixth most expensive celebrity baby photos ever taken.
In 2008 Aguilera appeared in the Martin Scorsese
documentary Shine a Light
which chronicles a two day Rolling Stones
concert in New York City's Beacon Theatre. The film features Aguilera performing "Live With Me
" alongside Mick Jagger
. Shine a Light premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and was released worldwide on April 4, 2008. She also had brief cameo in the comedy film Get Him to the Greek
, and appeared as a guest judge on the sixth season of Project Runway
on Lifetime Television
. She and designer Bob Mackie
were the inspiration for the challenge in which they had to design a stage outfit for Aguilera. To commemorate Aguilera's ten years in the music industry, RCA Records released, Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits
on November 11, 2008 exclusively at Target
stores in the US. The greatest hits
included her first three number one singles, and other songs released from her previous three albums. "Lady Marmalade" and several Spanish singles from Mi Reflejo were included in the worldwide releases. The album's only single, "Keeps Gettin' Better
", was premiered at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards
, and debuted and peaked at No.7 on the Billboard Hot 100, her highest debut on the chart. Following the greatest hits, Aguilera took over a year hiatus in 2009 working on her then upcoming album and film. She was one of Billboards Top 20 Artists of the Decade in their year-end charts.
, Polow da Don
, Le Tigre
, Switch
, Ester Dean
, songwriters Sam Endicott
, Sia Furler
, Claude Kelly
, Linda Perry and collaborations with M.I.A.
, Santigold, Nicki Minaj
, and Peaches
. Two of the album's three singles, "Not Myself Tonight
" and "You Lost Me
" peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
Charts but were unsuccessful elsewhere. "Woohoo
", featuring rapper Nicki Minaj, was also released as the album's second single. Bionics material consisted of many mainstream and pop records along with electronic
and dance
music. The album was released to mixed reviews from music critics, with Jon Pareles
of The New York Times
writing that the singer's new music direction "makes her sound as peer-pressured as a pop singer can be." Allison Stewart of The Washington Post
described the album as being "noisy, robotic and overstuffed" adding that the disc's "greatest disappointments" is its "virtual abandonment" of Aguilera's voice. She concluded that Aguilera attempts "to do it all," which was to try to "revel in her newfound domesticity, to wrest her crown from Gaga
and to reestablish her sex kitten
bona fides." Dan Martin of the NME
wrote, "Perhaps best of all is ‘Monday Morning.' Written with Santigold and The Bravery’s
Sam Endicott, it’s a Day-Glo disco jam that sounds like Gwen Stefani
doing "Borderline
". Sales of Bionic were underwhelming in the US compared to her previous releases selling 110,000 copies in its first week landing at No.3 and has sold 280,000 units in the US to date. Shortly after the album's release, further promotion ended and a scheduled summer tour for the album was cancelled due to "inadequate rehearsal time". "You Lost Me" was her first single to not chart the Hot 100 while Bionic was her first English studio album not to receive a Grammy
nomination. Aguilera later responded in an interview saying, "I was really proud of that record. I think there was a lot of promotion issues, coming from a standpoint of how everything resulted. Nothing is ever a setback. If anything, it just motivates you for what’s next."
Aguilera announced that she and Bratman had separated, saying in a statement, "Although Jordan and I are separated, our commitment to our son Max remains as strong as ever." Aguilera filed for divorce from Bratman on October 14, 2010, seeking joint legal and physical custody of their son, and specifying September 11, 2010 as the date of separation. They later reached a settlement agreement and custody deal, details of their agreement were private. Their divorce was finalized on April 15, 2011. The following month, Aguilera appeared as herself on the Entourage
season seven finale as a client/friend of Ari Gold
. On November 15, 2010, Aguilera received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
.
In November 2010, Aguilera appeared in her first feature film, the musical
Burlesque
. She portrayed a small town girl, Ali Rose, who finds love and success in a Los Angeles neo-burlesque
club. Aguilera performed eight of the musical numbers on the film's soundtrack
released on November 22, 2010 and co-wrote a number of the tracks working with producers and writers including Tricky Stewart, Sia Furler, Samuel Dixon, Linda Perry, Claude Kelly, Danja, and Ron Fair
. The remaining two tracks were sung by Cher
, who co-starred alongside Aguilera. Distributed by Screen Gems
, the film was directed Steve Antin
who also wrote the script. Antin wrote the role of Ali specifically for Aguilera. Aguilera's co-stars also included Cam Gigandet
as her love interest, Eric Dane
, Kristen Bell
and Stanley Tucci
. Several critics praised Aguilera's performance. A review in TIME
states, "Aguilera might not be to your taste, or mine, but in terms of sheer power, she's impressive. If Ali were real, she'd have already been discovered on American Idol
." While Variety
wrote, "Aguilera, while undeniably entertaining when her character is onstage, cannot spin the slight backstory into anything resembling a full-blooded person." Though Burlesque was released to mixed reviews from critics, the film received a Golden Globe
nomination for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy and earned Aguilera, alongside co-writer Sia Furler and writer/producer Samuel Dixon, a nomination for Best Original Song for the track "Bound to You". Burlesque has grossed over $90 million worldwide.
Following the release of Burlesque, Aguilera collaborated with rapper T.I.
on the track, "Castle Walls
" which is included on his album No Mercy. Aguilera performed the U.S. national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner
", during the Super Bowl XLV
on February 6, 2011 and created embarrassment when she omitted a line of the anthem and messed up the song's lyrics. She later apologized, telling CNN
that "I got so caught up in the moment of the song that I lost my place. I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through." The following week, Aguilera, alongside Jennifer Hudson
, Martina McBride
, Yolanda Adams
, and Florence Welch
opened the 53rd Grammy Awards
paying tribute to Aretha Franklin
.
Aguilera began dating musician and production assistant
, Matt Rutler whom she met during the filming of Burlesque. Her personal life was the subject of scrutiny; and reports over out of control behavior, excessive drinking, and a reported confrontation with her co-star Julianne Hough
. On March 1, 2011, Aguilera was arrested for public intoxication
in West Hollywood
as her boyfriend was arrested for DWI. She was later released on bail and no charges were filed. Although the L.A. Sheriff's office stated Aguilera's mug shot
would not be released to the public, E! News
obtained the mug shot which circulated social networks and the media shortly after her release. Rutler's DWI charge was dismissed due to insufficient evidence, after his BAC
at the time of arrest was determined to be at .06%, below the legal limit in the state of California
.
Aguilera signed to be a part of the John de Mol created singing competition The Voice
which debuted on NBC
in April. Aguilera, alongside other musicians Adam Levine
, Blake Shelton
and Cee Lo Green serve as judges and coaches, with Carson Daly
as the show's host. The show's first episode was released to positive reviews making its debut at number one on the American rating list chart, delivering the strongest ratings for a series premiere on a major network since Undercover Boss
debuted after the Super Bowl
in February 2010. The show became an instant hit for NBC following the its debut. Aguilera performed "Moves Like Jagger
" on The Voice – the single with Maroon 5
on which she is featured, off their album, Hands All Over (Deluxe Edition)
. The song was an instant hit reaching No.2 in the UK, No.1 on the World Chart and earned Aguilera her fifth No.1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, a decade after her last No.1, "Lady Marmalade". The single became first 3 million-seller for both artists and marks the first time two former Best New Artist
Grammy Award winners have collaborated on a Hot 100 hit. On November 30, 2011, "Moves Like Jagger" was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
at the 54th Grammy Awards
.
In May 2011, Aguilera stated that she is recording a new studio album in an interview at Live with Regis and Kelly
. Aguilera told RTL: "It's going to be a very heartfelt, deep-rooted and introspective record for me" and that she's hoping for release in spring or summer 2012.
Aguilera has the vocal range of a soprano
and has been referred to as the "voice of her generation" and a blue eyed soul singer. Aguilera also topped COVE's list of the 100 Best Pop Vocalists with a score of 50/50 and came fifth in MTV's 22 Greatest Voices in Music. Her rendition of "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" at the 49th Grammy Awards ranked third in the Grammy's Greatest Moments List behind Celine Dion
's performance of "My Heart Will Go On
" and Green Day
's performance of "American Idiot
". In an interview, Dion described Aguilera as "probably the best vocalist in the world." Rolling Stone ranked Aguilera at 58 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, the youngest singer on the list.
Describing Aguilera's voice
, singing teachers Phyllis Fulford and Michael Mailler said, "The low register is light and tired, the belting register
is ample and full, but very scratchy because she screams; and head voice
as well as whistle register
are light, pure and bright. Her vocal range extends from G below middle C to C one octave above soprano
high C (G3 – C7). She can belt to F one octave and a third above middle C (F5). She possesses a good-sized technical arsenal. Her trill
is solid, she has a big mastery of melisma
s, and can sustain very long notes." Los Angeles Times
writer Margaret Wappler adds Aguilera can deliver "a well-executed legato
." However, countertenor
Philippe Jaroussky
said: "She has no breath support and often sings out of tune. People say she can cover four octaves, but it's not true because below A3, the low notes are forced, unsupported, her belting voice is throaty and forced, for her highest notes she doesn't use head voice but falsetto
or whistle register
, they are disconnected registers. So, she can only hit good notes from A3 to B4. Her melismas are always show-off, they are almost never connected with the rhythm and the structure of the songs."
Since her debut in 1999 Aguilera has been compared to the likes of Mariah Carey
and Whitney Houston
. David Browne
of The New York Times writes, "Aguilera has been one of the foremost practitioners of the overpowering, Category 5 vocal style known as melisma. Ms. Carey, Ms. Houston and Ms. Aguilera, to name its three main champions, are most associated with the period from the late ’80s through the late ’90s." A review in the Los Angeles Times compared Aguilera's vocal stylings to Barbra Streisand
, Gladys Knight
, and Aretha Franklin
adding, "Aguilera's Streisand-esque tendencies are a good thing; they're helping her figure out how to become the "great singer" she's been dubbed since she released her first single, the wise-beyond-its-years "Genie in a Bottle
", at 18." Although praised for her vocals, Aguilera has been labeled for oversinging
in her songs and concerts. Longtime producer and writer, Linda Perry, commented on working on the record, "Beautiful", saying, "I tried to keep it straight. I told her to get rid of the finger waves. Every time she'd start going into "hoo-ha", I'd stop the tape. I'm like, 'You're doing it again.'" Perry ended up using the first take saying, "She had a hard time accepting that as the final track. It's not a perfect vocal – it's very raw. She knows her voice really well, and she knows what's going on. She can hear things that nobody else would catch."
The constant theme in Aguilera's music and lyrics is love, although she has written on other subjects including spirituality, female empowerment
, and grief. Aguilera has also written about her childhood in two of her records which dealt with domestic abuse. In an interview Aguilera admitted she feels responsible to reveal her most vulnerable feelings and to share the darker sides of her life adding "People that can relate might not feel as alone in the circumstance." She has been noted to constantly changing her sound in her music and lyrical content. Originally marketed as a bubblegum pop singer during the late 90s pop scene, she quickly departed into a broad range of musical genres for her follow-up album Stripped. A review states, "Clearly afflicted with Premature Serious Artist Syndrome, Aguilera wants to demonstrate the range of her interests – vampy soul, quasi-metal, piano-bar intimacy, quiet-storm R&B
, bounce-bounce hip-hop
, and semi-exotic rock, all of it dutifully accomplished."
The majority of the songs are characterized by Aguilera's loud vocals, though she has used breathy and soft vocals. Her 2006 release, Back to Basics included producer DJ Premier
. The New York Times exclaims, "Her decision to work with the low-key DJ Premier was also a decision to snub some of the big-name producers on whom pop stars often rely." Aguilera has often cited that she prefers working with producers that are not in popular demand, saying "I don't necessarily go to the main people that are the No.1 chart-toppers in music." The album included live instrumentation
and samples of past jazz and soul records. Some tracks on the album included non-traditional forms of pop music such as swing jazz and big band
, drawing comparisons to Madonna's I'm Breathless
and the musical film Cabaret
. Her first feature film, Burlesque
, influenced by Cabaret, featured mainstream producers Tricky Stewart and Danja on the soundtrack where several established songs were updated and worked into dance numbers, a style similar to 2001's Moulin Rouge! "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
" was performed by Aguilera in the film, a musical number also performed by Nicole Kidman
in Moulin Rouge!
, whose classic song "At Last
" has been covered by Aguilera throughout her career. Aguilera says, "Etta is my all-time favorite singer. I've said it for the last seven years – since I had my first debut record out – in every interview. I mean, all of Etta's old songs, countless songs I could name, I grew up listening to." The majority of her album, Back to Basics, pays tribute to James and other pop standard
singers who many originated from the 1950s
. In her early years she listened to vintage jazz
, blues, and soul music. The album included an unreleased song, "Slow Down Baby
", which sampled a Gladys Knight & the Pips
song. A review in The Guardian
declared, "Practically everything recorded before Aguilera was born blurs into one amorphous genre, which she categorises, somewhat inadequately, as "fun music". Aguilera has also named Madonna and Janet Jackson
as two of her biggest influences "for being re-inventive and being brave as strong females, to explore whatever, even if they do get bad press. It's just like they were fearless." Her other musical influences include Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Nina Simone
.
Aguilera cites the musical The Sound of Music
and its lead actress, Julie Andrews
as an early inspiration for singing and performing. She mentioned the "Golden age of Hollywood
" as another inspiration in which she says, "I'm referencing Marlene Dietrich
, Marilyn Monroe
, Carole Lombard
, Greta Garbo
, Veronica Lake
". Ironically, her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located near Julie Andrews and is next to Greta Garbo. In her music video for "Ain't No Other Man
" she plays her alter ego
, "Baby Jane
" in reference to the film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
. The film's stars included actresses Bette Davis
and Joan Crawford
. The third single off Back to Basics, "Candyman
" was inspired by the 1941 song, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
" by The Andrews Sisters which was played during World War II. She was also inspired by pin-up girl
s and several paintings by Alberto Vargas
. Aguilera has expressed interest in cultural icons Nico
, Blondie
and artists Roy Lichtenstein
and Andy Warhol
. She has often worked with photographer and close friend, David LaChapelle
who once worked with Warhol. Chapelle has shot many of Aguilera's music videos, magazine shoots and advertisements. She is also a fan of graffiti
artist
Banksy
. In 2006 she purchased three of Banksy's works during a private art exhibition, one of them included a pornographic picture of Queen Victoria
in a lesbian pose with a prostitute. She has mentioned in several interviews that she is a fan of actress Angelina Jolie
, and her Burlesque co-star, Cher
. Fashion has also been a part of Aguilera's music career and image which she has used as a form of expression during performances and music videos. In 2003 she became the muse and inspiration for Donatella Versace
's 2003 fall line. Versace
also designed pieces her tour the following year. Aguilera is also a fan of Roberto Cavalli, John Galliano
, Marc Jacobs
, and Alexander McQueen
whose designs she has worn throughout her career.
, Mercedes-Benz
, Verizon Wireless
, and soft drink giants Coca-Cola
in 2001, and Pepsi
in 2006. She became the muse
and model for fashion house Versace appearing in a campaign for the 2003 fall line. In 2004 Aguilera earned £200,000GBP
(about $300,000USD) for opening the summer sale at London's Harrods
store which took in record breaking profits during the four week period. In 2005 she was reportedly paid $3.6 million to sing a three song set for Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko
's wedding. Aguilera signed a contract with European cell phone operator Orange
to promote the new Sony Ericsson
Walkman
phone during the 2006 World Cup
. In 2010, Aguilera was paid $1 million by investor Charles Brandes
to perform at a private party.
In 2008 jewelry designer Stephen Webster and close friend of Aguilera released "Shattered", a collection of sterling silver
pieces, through Neiman Marcus
and Bergdorf Goodman
. Aguilera, who inspired the collection, was featured as a Hitchcock
heroine saying, "Working together on this campaign and collection has been an incredible experience. I am honored to be a part of it all." They reprised their work together for Webster's 2009 spring line. In 2011, Aguilera attended São Paulo Fashion Week
to premiere her new line of clothing for Brazil
ian department store C&A
which launched in April.
Aguilera released two fragrances throughout Europe, the first one Xpose, was released in late 2004 and sold relatively well. Through Procter and Gamble Aguilera released her signature fragrance, Simply Christina in 2007. In Christmas 2007, the fragrance became the number one perfume in the UK, and later in 2009 it became the 4th best selling perfume in the UK, and Germany where it topped sales for the year. The perfume won as the people's choice for favorite celebrity fragrance at the annual UK Fifi Awards
2008. She released her third fragrance, Inspire
, accompanied with a body care collection, on September 1, 2008. The perfume hit shelves in the US, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Northern and Eastern Europe. It was Aguilera's first fragrance released outside of Europe. Her worldwide ad campaign included a television ad shot by David LaChapelle
and was released in the US through Macy's
department stores. The release coincided with Macy's 150th anniversary which featured Aguilera in commemorative photos. She released her fourth fragrance By Night in October, which became the third best selling fragrance in the UK in 2009. Both “By Day“ and “By Night“ were nomitated for Best Perfume of the Year in the Broad Appeal category at the FIFI Awards 2011. In 2010 the range was further augmented by Royal Desire her fifth fragrance, which won a 2011 Glammy Award for best perfume by German magazine Glamour. Aguilera announced she will be releasing a sixth fragrance later this year, Secret Potion.
to the South Korean government asking that the country stop its alleged killing of dogs for food. During her 2007 tour she unknowingly wore a fur stole during the beginning of her tour, which designer Roberto Cavalli
provided without informing Aguilera. After receiving a video from PETA Vice President Dan Mathews
on the treatment of foxes, she replaced the stole with faux fur for the remainder of her tour. Aguilera was reportedly upset adding, "I only ever wear fake fur". In 2010 Aguilera auctioned off tickets for her upcoming tour for Christie's
A Bid to Save the Earth. Proceeds benefit nonprofit environmental groups Conservation International
, Oceana
, Natural Resources Defense Council
, and The Central Park Conservancy. Aguilera also supports Defenders of Wildlife
, Missing Kids, National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations, Women's Cancer Research Fund, and Cedars-Sinai Women's Cancer Research Institute. She has also worked alongside nonprofit organization Do Something saying, "Every individual has the power to inspire young people across the country." In 2010 she was nominated for a VH1
Do Something Award for her work with the organization and her efforts in the response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake
. She was featured in the campaign for photographer, Brie Childers with the goal of helping women of all ages, races and lifestyles feel beautiful and confident about themselves and the body and skin they were born with. Proceeds from benefit several women's charities nationwide. Aguilera is still a major contributor in her hometown of Pittsburgh contributing regularly to the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh
. According to her official website, she toured the center and donated $200,000 to the shelter. She also has auctioned off front row seats and back stage passes for the Pittsburgh-based charity. She has continued her donations and visits to the shelter, and plans to open an additional one. She also supports the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Refuge UK. Since then she has worked with Lifetime Television
's 'End violence against women' campaign. Her work there included a public service announcement
which aired on the network and during her 2007 tour
.
Aguilera is a supporter of the LGBT
community and is considered a gay icon by many. She was honored at the GLAAD Awards for using gay and transgender images in her music video for "Beautiful". When accepting the award Aguilera said, "My video captures the reality that gay and transgender people are beautiful, even though prejudice and discrimination against them still exists." In 2005 she appeared on a compilation album titled, Love Rocks
, proceeds benefit the Human Rights Campaign
, an organization dedicated to fighting for equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. In 2008 she publicly spoke out against California's Proposition 8
which eliminates same-sex marriage in California
saying, "Why you would put so much money behind something [aimed at] stopping from people loving each other and bonding together? I just don't understand it. It's hard for me to grasp. But I would've been out there with my rally sign as well." In 2011 Aguilera was honored at The Abbey
, a gay club in West Hollywood
, for her contributions to the gay community
as the first honoree on their Gay Walk of Fame joining Dame Elizabeth Taylor
in being immortalized forever.
Aguilera contributes in the fight against AIDS, by participating in AIDS Project Los Angeles' Artists Against AIDS "What's Going On?
" cover project. In 2004, Aguilera became the new face for cosmetic company M·A·C and spokesperson for M·A·C AIDS Fund. Aguilera appeared in advertisements of the M·A·C's Viva Glam V lipstick and lipgloss, and was featured on Vanity Fair
in recognition of her campaign work. In addition, Aguilera contributed to YouthAIDS by posing for a joint YouthAIDS and Aldo Shoes campaign for "Empowerment Tags" in Canada, the U.S. and the UK. She was featured with one of three ubiquitous slogans, "Speak No Evil?" and stated, "HIV is something that people don’t want to talk about, hear about, or face." Singer Elton John
featured Aguilera in his charity book titled "Four Inches" benefiting the Elton John AIDS Foundation
. Elton also hand-picked Aguilera, for his annual "Fashion Rocks" charity concert which accompanies music and fashion to benefit the fight against AIDS/HIV.
In the run-up to the 2004 United States presidential election
, Aguilera was featured on billboards for the "Only You Can Silence Yourself" online voter registration drive run by the nonpartisan
, non-profit campaign "Declare Yourself
". In these political advertisements, shot by David LaChapelle
, Aguilera was shown with her mouth sewn shut, to symbolize the effects of not voting. She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show
to discuss the importance of voting. In late 2007 Aguilera became the spokesperson for "Rock the Vote
" where she urged young people to vote in the 2008 presidential election
. In partnership with "Rock the Vote", she appeared in a public service announcement which aired in summer 2008. The advert showed Aguilera with her son, Max Bratman, wrapped in an American flag
, while singing "America the Beautiful
".
In November 2005, all of her wedding gifts were submitted to various charities around the nation in support of Hurricane Katrina
victims. That year she also performed at "Unite of the Stars" concert in aid of Unite Against Hunger in Johannesburg
, South Africa and at the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund
at the Coca-Cola Dome. In March 2007 Aguilera took part in a charity album (remaking Lennon
's "Mother
"), proceeds benefit Amnesty International
's efforts to end genocide
in Darfur
. The album titled, Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur
, was released June 12, 2007 and featured various artists. In 2008 she headlined London's Africa Rising charity concert at Royal Albert Hall
which raises awareness for finding substantial issues facing the continent. Later that year she appeared on the Turkish
version of Deal or No Deal
"Var mısın? Yok musun?
", where she won $180,000. Proceeds were donated to a charity program for orphan
s.
In 2009 Aguilera became the global spokesperson for World Hunger Relief appearing in advertisements, online campaigns and a public service announcement. Aguilera and her husband traveled to Guatemala
with the World Food Programme
to bring awareness to issues such as the high malnutrition
rate in that country. She met with families of the villages and some of the beneficiaries of WFP's nutrition programs. Aguilera adds, "The people of WFP do such a great job helping hungry children and mothers. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be part of such a wonderful project." Since becoming a global spokeswoman Aguilera has helped raise over $22 million which helped provide over 90 million meals. She was honored at Varietys annual "Power of Women" luncheon in late 2009 alongside other women in entertainment for her contribution to philanthropic and charitable causes. In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake
, Aguilera donated a signed Chrysler 300
which was auctioned for relief efforts. She was one of the many artists who appeared on the Hope for Haiti
telethon on January 22, 2010, donations directly benefited Oxfam America
, Partners In Health
, Red Cross
and UNICEF. She later appeared on a second public service announcement alongside sports icon Muhammad Ali
to raise funds for the World Food Programme's efforts to bring food to survivors of the earthquake. Later that year Aguilera made her first visit to Haiti as an ambassador against hunger where she visited two schools in the town of Léogâne
. During her time there she assisted in the ongoing efforts to help the badly damaged town where she served meals and highlighted reconstruction efforts in the country. That year, Aguilera was appointed UN ambassador
for the WFP.
Compilation albums
Soundtrack albums
Co-headlining
Star Search
Star Search is a television show that was produced from 1983-95, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Alfred Masini. A relaunch was produced in 2003-04. The show was originally filmed at the old Earl Carroll Theatre at 6230 Sunset Blvd...
program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994. Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection
Reflection (song)
"Reflection" is a song featured on the soundtrack of the 1998 animated film Mulan, recorded by American recording artist Christina Aguilera. In the months before the recording of the track, Aguilera approached RCA, which gave her the chance to record the theme song to the film Mulan...
", the theme song for the animated film Mulan (1998).
In 1999, Aguilera came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera (album)
Christina Aguilera is the self-titled debut studio album by American pop singer Christina Aguilera released on August 24, 1999 in the United States by RCA Records...
, which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
—"Genie in a Bottle
Genie in a Bottle
"Genie in a Bottle" is the second single by American pop recording artist, Christina Aguilera, taken from her self-titled debut album. It was co-written by David Frank, Steve Kipner, and Pamela Sheyne, and produced by Frank and Kipner respectively...
", "What a Girl Wants
What a Girl Wants (song)
"What a Girl Wants" is the second single performed by Christina Aguilera from her self-titled debut album. The song was released on November 28, 1999, which was ten days after Aguilera's nineteenth birthday. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 15, 2000 for two weeks,...
", and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)
Come on over Baby (All I Want Is You)
"Come On Over Baby " is a song co-written by American pop singer Christina Aguilera, Paul Rein, Johan Aberg, Celebrity Status "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" is a song co-written by American pop singer Christina Aguilera, Paul Rein, Johan Aberg, Celebrity Status "Come On Over Baby (All I...
." Her sophomore and her debut Latin-pop album, Mi Reflejo
Mi Reflejo
Mi Reflejo is the first Spanish-language studio album by American pop singer Christina Aguilera. It was released on September 12, 2000. Most of the album was produced by Rudy Pérez and includes Spanish versions of five songs from her debut album Christina Aguilera, as well as six new songs...
(2000), a Christmas third studio album, My Kind of Christmas
My Kind of Christmas
My Kind of Christmas is the first Christmas album by American recording artist Christina Aguilera. It was released on October 24, 2000.- Background :...
(2000), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success, though she was displeased with her lack of input in her music and image. After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her fourth studio album, Stripped
Stripped (Christina Aguilera album)
Stripped is the fourth studio album by American pop recording artist Christina Aguilera. It was released on October 26, 2002. It reached the top two of the album charts in both the United States and United Kingdom and features two UK number-one hits: "Dirrty" which gained criticism and controversy...
(2002). The album's second single, "Beautiful
Beautiful (Christina Aguilera song)
"Beautiful" is a song written by Linda Perry and recorded by American singer Christina Aguilera for Aguilera's fourth studio album, Stripped...
," was a commercial success and helped the album's commercial performance amidst controversy over Aguilera's image. Aguilera followed up Stripped with the soul, jazz and blues inspired, Back to Basics
Back to Basics (Christina Aguilera album)
Back to Basics is the third studio album by American recording artist Christina Aguilera, first released on August 10, 2006 by RCA Records...
(2006), released to positive critical acclaim. The album had three commercially successful singles: "Ain't No Other Man
Ain't No Other Man
"Ain't No Other Man" is a song written by Christina Aguilera, Charles Roane, DJ Premier, Harold Beatty, and Kara DioGuardi for Aguilera's third studio album Back to Basics...
", "Hurt
Hurt (Christina Aguilera song)
"Hurt" is a power ballad written by Christina Aguilera, Linda Perry and Mark Ronson for Aguilera's third studio album, Back to Basics . The song's lyrical content describes how one deals with the loss of a loved one, and it has received praise from pop music critics...
" and "Candyman
Candyman (Christina Aguilera song)
"Candyman" is a swing jazz song written by Christina Aguilera and Linda Perry for Aguilera's third studio album, Back to Basics. It was released as the album's third and final American single in early 2007. It received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at 2008 Grammy...
". Four years later Aguilera released her sixth studio album, Bionic (2010), which incorporated aspects of R&B, electropop, and synthpop and was met with mixed reviews and low sales.
Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and image, musically, she includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music. Apart from her work in music, she has also dedicated much of her time as a philanthropist
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
for charities, human rights and world issues which include her work as a UN ambassador for the World Food Programme
World Food Programme
The World Food Programme is the food aid branch of the United Nations, and the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger worldwide. WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children...
. She made her feature film debut in the musical Burlesque
Burlesque (film)
Burlesque is a 2010 musical film directed and written by Steven Antin and starring Christina Aguilera and Cher. The film was released on November 24, 2010 in North America....
(2010), earning Aguilera a Golden Globe
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
nomination for Best Original Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.-1960s:...
and a Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
, four Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s and one Latin Grammy Award, amongst fifteen and three nominations respectively. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
ranked her number fifty-eight on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, ranking as the youngest and only artist on the list under the age of thirty. She was ranked the 20th Artist of the 2000–09 decade by Billboard and is the second top selling single artist of the 2000s behind Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
. Aguilera's albums sales are estimated at around 50 million units worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
1980–98: Early life and career beginnings
Aguilera was born in Staten IslandStaten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, New York, to Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera, a sergeant in the US Army at the time, and Shelly Loraine (née Fidler), a Spanish teacher. Aguilera's father was born in Guayaquil
Guayaquil
Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...
, Ecuador and her mother is of German, Irish, Welsh, and Dutch ancestry. Her father was stationed at Earnest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador
Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador
Stephenville is a Canadian town in Newfoundland and Labrador on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland....
and Japan. Aguilera lived with both her father and mother, up until their divorce when she was seven years old. Aguilera then lived with her mother, and her younger sister Rachel, at her grandmother's home in Rochester
Rochester, Pennsylvania
Rochester is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located northwest of Pittsburgh, it is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 4,014 at the 2000 census....
, Pennsylvania, a town outside Pittsburgh. According to both Aguilera and her mother, her father was very controlling, as well as physically and emotionally abusive
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
. In an interview with Rolling Stone Aguilera revealed, "there was so much domestic violence going on when I grew up with my dad travelling in the military. I think the reason that my drive was so strong and I was so passionate about music was because I grew up in an environment of domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
." She later sang about her difficult childhood in the songs "I'm OK" on Stripped, and "Oh Mother
Oh Mother
"Oh Mother" is the fourth single from Christina Aguilera's third studio album, Back to Basics . The single – penned by Christina Aguilera, Christophe Barratier, Bruno Coulais and Kara DioGuardi – was released as an international double A-side with "Slow Down Baby".-Background and composition:The...
" on Back to Basics. Even though he has made several attempts to reconnect with her, Aguilera ruled out any chance of a reunion. Since then, her mother has married a paramedic named Jim Kearns, and has changed her name.
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. She attended Rochester Area School District, Marshall Middle School
Marshall Middle School (Pittsburgh)
Marshall Middle School is one of three middle schools serving the North Allegheny School District. Located in Marshall Township, Pennsylvania, it is known for its high scholastic standards, and for 1999-2000 it was named a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence . This award was accepted by...
near Wexford and North Allegheny Intermediate High School
North Allegheny Intermediate High School
North Allegheny Intermediate High School is a suburban high school in the North Allegheny School District located in McCandless, Pennsylvania, a community north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is one of two high schools in the district and serves grades 9 and 10. The current principal is Mr....
. On March 15, 1990, she appeared on Star Search
Star Search
Star Search is a television show that was produced from 1983-95, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Alfred Masini. A relaunch was produced in 2003-04. The show was originally filmed at the old Earl Carroll Theatre at 6230 Sunset Blvd...
singing "A Sunday Kind of Love
A Sunday Kind of Love
"A Sunday Kind of Love" is a popular song composed by Barbara Belle, Anita Leonard, Stan Rhodes, and Louis Prima, published in 1946.The song has become a pop and jazz standard, recorded by many artists.- Notable recordings :...
", but lost the competition at number 2. Soon after losing on Star Search, she returned home and appeared on Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV, channel 2, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. KDKA-TV broadcasts from a transmitter located in the Perry North neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and its studios are located in downtown Pittsburgh at Gateway Center....
's Wake Up With Larry Richert
Larry Richert
-Education and career:Born in Millvale and raised in McCandless Township, Richert graduated from North Allegheny High School and Clarion University....
to perform the same song. Throughout her youth in Pittsburgh, Aguilera sang "The Star-Spangled Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
" before Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
hockey, Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
football and Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
baseball games, including during the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals
1992 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1992 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the Prince of Wales Conference and defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins and the Clarence Campbell Conference champion Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks were making their first appearance in the Final since...
. Her talent was kept a secret to avoid bullying of other children. Following her television appearances Aguilera experienced resentment and bullying including an incident in which her peers slashed the tires on her family's car. Following several incidents Aguilera was later home schooled. Aguilera recalls, "doing what I did and maybe being a little smaller, I was definitely picked on and bullied for the attention that I got. It was definitely unwanted attention and there was a lot of unfairness about it."
In 1991 Aguilera auditioned for a role on The Mickey Mouse Club; however, she did not meet the age requirements. Two years later, she joined the cast, performing musical numbers and sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
, until the show's cancellation in 1994. Her co-stars included Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
, Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
, Ryan Gosling
Ryan Gosling
Ryan Thomas Gosling is a Canadian actor and musician. He first came to public attention as a child star on the Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club and went on to appear in other family entertainment programmes including Are You Afraid of the Dark? , Goosebumps , Breaker High and Young Hercules...
and Keri Russell
Keri Russell
Keri Lynn Russell is an American actress and dancer. After appearing in a number of made-for-television films and series during the mid-1990s, she came to fame for portraying the title role of Felicity Porter on the series Felicity, which ran from 1998 to 2002, and for which she won a Golden Globe...
where they nicknamed her "the Diva
Diva
A diva is a celebrated female singer. The term is used to describe a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, and, by extension, in theatre, cinema and popular music. The meaning of diva is closely related to that of "prima donna"....
" for her performance style and voice. 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 international Golden Stag Festival
Golden Stag Festival
The Golden Stag Festival is an annual international music festival held in Braşov, Romania. The main organiser is Televiziunea Română, Romania's state-run television network. The festival has two main components: an international contest and guest performances by both Romanian and foreign stars...
with a two-song set. Aguilera entered talent contests on "teen night" at the Pegasus Lounge, a gay and lesbian nightclub in Pittsburgh, and later at Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair was a concert tour and travelling music festival, founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk Music Group's Dan Fraser and Terry McBride, and New York talent agent Marty Diamond. It took place during the summers of 1997 to 1999, and was revived in the summer of 2010. It...
. In 1998, Aguilera sent in a demo of her singing Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
's "Run to You" to Disney who were looking for a singer to record the song "Reflection" for their animated feature film Mulan (1998). The demo caught the attention of producer and label executive Ron Fair
Ron Fair
Ron Fair is a veteran A&R executive, record producer arranger, recording engineer and songwriter. In a career that has spanned over 30 years at major record labels he has produced and arranged hits for several artists, but he is best known as a "guru/mentor", guiding the careers of unknown artists...
who would later mentor her throughout her career and led to Aguilera earning a contract with RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
the same week. "Reflection" peaked within the top twenty on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart, and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for Best Original Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.-1960s:...
.
1999–01: Christina Aguilera, Mi Reflejo and new management
Under the exclusive representation of Steve Kurtz, Aguilera's self-titled debut album Christina AguileraChristina Aguilera (album)
Christina Aguilera is the self-titled debut studio album by American pop singer Christina Aguilera released on August 24, 1999 in the United States by RCA Records...
was released on August 24, 1999. It reached the top of the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
and Canadian album charts, shipping eight million copies in the US and over seventeen million copies worldwide. The album is also included in the Top 100 Albums of All Time list of The Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) based on US sales. Released during the teen pop
Teen pop
Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards teenagers. Teen pop copies genres and styles such as pop, dance, R&B, hip hop, country and rock....
era of 1999 the album was well received by several critics, Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
of AllMusic writes that Aguilera's debut "remains firmly within the teen-oriented dance-pop genre, but done right." Concluding that the album is "lightweight in the best possible sense – breezy, fun, engaging, and enjoyable on each repeated listen. Out of the deluge of teen-pop albums in 1999, this feels like the best of the lot." Her debut single, "Genie in a Bottle
Genie in a Bottle
"Genie in a Bottle" is the second single by American pop recording artist, Christina Aguilera, taken from her self-titled debut album. It was co-written by David Frank, Steve Kipner, and Pamela Sheyne, and produced by Frank and Kipner respectively...
" was an instant hit reaching No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and in several countries worldwide. Her follow-up singles "What a Girl Wants
What a Girl Wants (song)
"What a Girl Wants" is the second single performed by Christina Aguilera from her self-titled debut album. The song was released on November 28, 1999, which was ten days after Aguilera's nineteenth birthday. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 15, 2000 for two weeks,...
" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)
Come on over Baby (All I Want Is You)
"Come On Over Baby " is a song co-written by American pop singer Christina Aguilera, Paul Rein, Johan Aberg, Celebrity Status "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" is a song co-written by American pop singer Christina Aguilera, Paul Rein, Johan Aberg, Celebrity Status "Come On Over Baby (All I...
" topped the Hot 100 as well during 1999 and 2000 while "I Turn to You
I Turn to You (Christina Aguilera song)
"I Turn to You" is a pop song written by Diane Warren in 1996. The original version of the song was recorded that year by R&B quartet All-4-One for the soundtrack album to the Warner Bros. film Space Jam....
" reached number three. She is one of the few artists to have multiple No.1 singles from a debut album in Billboards history. She made a cameo appearance on an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
, performed on MTV's New Year's Special as MTV's first artist of the millennium, and the Super Bowl XXXIV
Super Bowl XXXIV
Super Bowl XXXIV featured the National Football Conference champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference champion Tennessee Titans in an American football game to decide the National Football League champion for the 1999 regular season...
halftime show. Aguilera wanted to display the range and audacity in her voice during the promotion of the album, and performed acoustic sets and appeared on television shows accompanied only by a piano. At the 42nd Grammy Awards Aguilera received a Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammy nomination for "Genie in a Bottle" and despite earlier predictions, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
In 2000, Aguilera began recording her first Spanish-language album with producer Rudy Pérez in Miami. Later in 2000, Aguilera, first emphasized her Latin
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
heritage by releasing her first Spanish album, Mi Reflejo
Mi Reflejo
Mi Reflejo is the first Spanish-language studio album by American pop singer Christina Aguilera. It was released on September 12, 2000. Most of the album was produced by Rudy Pérez and includes Spanish versions of five songs from her debut album Christina Aguilera, as well as six new songs...
on September 12, 2000. This album contained Spanish versions of songs from her English debut as well as new Spanish tracks. Though some criticized Aguilera for trying to cash in on the Latin music
Latin pop
Latin pop generally refers to pop music that has what may be perceived a Latin American influence...
boom at the time. According to Pérez, Aguilera was only semi-fluent, while recording. She understood the language, because she has grown up with her father, who is a native of Ecuador. He added "Her Latin roots are undeniable".
The album peaked at number twenty-seven on the Billboard 200 and went number one on the Billboard Latin
Billboard Top Latin Albums
Latin Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine and is labeled as the most important music chart for Spanish language, full-length albums in the American music market. Like all Billboard album charts, the chart is based on sales...
charts for a record 20 weeks. In 2001
Latin Grammy Awards of 2001
The winners of the Second Annual Latin Grammy Awards were announced during a press conference on October 30, 2001 at the Conga Room in Los Angeles, California. The conference, which was broadcast live on the internet, was hosted by Jimmy Smits and Paul Rodriguez. Alejandro Sanz was the big winner...
, it won Aguilera a Latin Grammy Award
Latin Grammy Awards
A Latin Grammy Award is an accolade by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. Unlike the regular Grammy Award which primarily honors music produced in the United States, the Latin Grammy honors works produced anywhere around the...
for Best Female Pop Vocal Album
Latin Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album, Female
The Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album is an honor presented annually at the Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence and creates a wider awareness of cultural diversity and contributions of Latin recording artists, in the United States and internationally...
. The album was later certified Gold in the U.S. Aguilera won the World Music Award and Billboard award as the best selling Latin artist that year. Aguilera also released a Christmas album, My Kind of Christmas
My Kind of Christmas
My Kind of Christmas is the first Christmas album by American recording artist Christina Aguilera. It was released on October 24, 2000.- Background :...
, on October 24, 2000 and performed "The Christmas Song
The Christmas Song
"The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by musician, composer, and vocalist Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer...
" at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
that year. The album's only single, "The Christmas Song" made Aguilera one of three artists to take the song into the top twenty on the Billboard Hot 100. The single and My Kind of Christmas were both certified Platinum in the U.S. Aguilera was Billboards top female artist for 2000.
Aguilera's first concert tour, Christina Aguilera: In Concert (also known as "Sears & Levis Tour ") began in the summer of 2000 in the US and ended early 2001 where she toured South America and Asia. A concert special aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
titled My Reflection
My Reflection
My Reflection is a concert DVD by Christina Aguilera, released in 2001. The concert early before being released on DVD was shown in a one-hour special on ABC in around Christmas time in 2000...
and was released to DVD and certified Gold in the US. Aguilera was rumored to have dated MTV VJ Carson Daly
Carson Daly
Carson Jones Daly is an American television host. He is the host of NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly, a late-night talk show that began airing on January 7, 2002. Before his role as host of that program, Daly was a VJ on MTV's TRL, and a DJ for the Southern California based radio station KROQ-FM...
. Rumors of their relationship were fueled after the release of Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
's song, "The Real Slim Shady
The Real Slim Shady
"The Real Slim Shady" is a hip hop song written by Eminem for his third studio album The Marshall Mathers LP . It was released as the lead single a week before the album's release...
" in which he also insinuated a romance between her and rocker Fred Durst
Fred Durst
William Frederick "Fred" Durst is an American musician, director, producer and actor, well known as the frontman of the band Limp Bizkit.-Early life:...
. Aguilera responded saying the lyrics were "disgusting, offensive and, above all, not true." Their feud ended two years later backstage at the Video Music Awards after Aguilera presented the rapper an award onstage. She dated Puerto Rican
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
dancer Jorge Santos. Santos appeared on her tour and music videos throughout 2000. They dated for nearly two years until the relationship ended on September 11, 2001. He remained her dancer well into 2002.
Ricky Martin
Ricky Martin
Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...
asked Aguilera to duet with him on the track "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely
Nobody Wants to Be Lonely
"Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" is the second single from Ricky Martin's second English album, Sound Loaded, released on January 9, 2001. Ricky Martin also recorded this single in Spanish entitled "Sólo Quiero Amarte". Another version of the song was recorded as a duet with Christina Aguilera...
" from his album Sound Loaded
Sound Loaded
Sound Loaded is the sixth album by the Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin, released by Columbia Records on November 14, 2000. The album has been credited with worldwide sales of over eight million copies and went Multi-Platinum in the United States and several other territories. This album is...
; released in 2001 as the album's second single. The single reached number one on the World Chart and top ten in several countries. In 2001, Aguilera, Lil' Kim
Lil' Kim
Kimberly Denise Jones , better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper and actress who was a member of the group Junior M.A.F.I.A.....
, Mýa
Mya
-A person:* Bo Mya , Chief Commander of the Karen National Union* Mýa , American R&B singer-songwriter and actress** Mýa , a 1998 album by Mýa-A code:* Burmese language, ISO 639-3 code is mya* Moruya Airport's IATA code...
, and Pink
Pink (singer)
Alecia Beth Moore , better known by her stage name Pink , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actress....
were chosen to remake Labelle
Labelle
Labelle is an American all female singing group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the Philadelphia/Trenton areas, the Ordettes and the Del-Capris, forming as a new version of the former group, later changing...
's 1975 single "Lady Marmalade
Lady Marmalade
"Lady Marmalade" was also covered by Italian pop star Sabrina. It was released in 1987 as the album's second single by Baby Records. In some countries, including France and the Netherlands, the song was known as "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? " and was released in 1988.-Track listings:7" maxi#...
" for the film Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 romantic jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. Following the Red Curtain Cinema principles, the film is based on the Orphean myth, La Traviata, and La Bohème...
and its soundtrack
Moulin Rouge! Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film
Moulin Rouge! Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film is a soundtrack album to Baz Luhrmann's 2001 film Moulin Rouge!. It was released on May 8, 2001. The album features most of the songs featured in the film. However, some of the songs are alternate versions and there are two or three major songs that are...
. The song peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks and was the most successful airplay-only single in history. It also reached number one in eleven other countries and earned all four performers a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Aguilera's appearance in the music video was compared to that of Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister is an American heavy metal band from Long Island. Musically, the band implements elements of traditional heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, along with a style that is similar to early glam metal bands...
frontman Dee Snider
Dee Snider
Daniel "Dee" Snider is an American singer-songwriter, screenwriter, radio personality, and actor. Snider is most famous for his role as the frontman of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister...
. The video won two MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year in 2001, where Aguilera accepted the award saying, "I guess the big hair paid off."
That same year, the single "Just Be Free" emerged into record stores which was one of the demos Aguilera recorded when she was around fifteen years old. When RCA Records discovered the single, they advised fans not to purchase it. Months later, Warlock Records
Warlock Records
Warlock Records is an independent record label based in New York City that was founded by Adam Levy in the late 1980s. Artists that once recorded for Warlock Records included C-Bo, the Jungle Brothers, and Todd Terry. In 1992, the label acquired the catalog of Sleeping Bag Records and its sub-label...
was set to release Just Be Free
Just Be Free
Just Be Free is a demo album released by Warlock Records featuring music recorded by American recording artist Christina Aguilera. The music was recorded when Aguilera was 15 and had met Roberts Alleca and Michael Brown, the pair gave Aguilera the opportunity to use a recording studio and they...
, an album which contains the demo tracks. Aguilera filed a breach of contract
Breach of contract
Breach of contract is a legal cause of action in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party's performance....
and unfair competition
Unfair competition
Unfair competition in a sense means that the competitors compete on unequal terms, because favourable or disadvantageous conditions are applied to some competitors but not to others; or that the actions of some competitors actively harm the position of others with respect to their ability to...
suit against Warlock and the album's producers to block the release. Instead, the two parties came to a settlement to release the album. Aguilera lent out her name, likeness and image for an unspecified amount of damages. Many of the details of the lawsuit remain confidential. When the album was released in August 2001, it had a photograph of Aguilera when she was fifteen years old.
Although Aguilera's debut album was commercially successful, she was dissatisfied with the music and image her management had created for her. Aguilera was marketed as a bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...
singer because of the genre's upward financial trend. She mentioned plans of her next album to have much more depth, both musically and lyrically. Aguilera's views of Steve Kurtz's influence in matters of the singer's creative direction, the role of being her exclusive personal manager and overscheduling had in part caused her to seek legal means of terminating their management contract. In October 2000, Aguilera filed a breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
against her manager Kurtz for improper, undue and inappropriate influence over her professional activities, as well as fraud. According to legal documents, Kurtz did not protect her rights and interests. Instead, he took action that was for his own interest, at the cost of hers. The lawsuit came about when Aguilera discovered Kurtz used more of her commissionable
Commission (remuneration)
The payment of commission as remuneration for services rendered or products sold is a common way to reward sales people. Payments often will be calculated on the basis of a percentage of the goods sold...
income than he was allotted, and had paid other managers to assist him. She also petitioned the California State Labor Commission to nullify the contract. She revealed while recording her then upcoming album, "I was being overworked. You find out that someone you thought was a friend is stealing money behind your back, and it's heartbreaking. I put faith in the people around me, and unfortunately, it bit me in the butt." Kurtz was terminated as her manager. After terminating Kurtz's services, Irving Azoff
Irving Azoff
Irving Azoff is an American personal manager, representing recording artists in the music industry such as Christina Aguilera, Journey, Jewel, the Eagles, X Japan, Bush, REO Speedwagon, Seal, David Archuleta, Alter Bridge, Van Halen, 30 Seconds to Mars, Neil Diamond, New Kids on the Block, Steely...
was hired as her new manager. Kurtz countersued later that month for breach of contract, claiming that the singer violated the same agreement she had sued to void. In the lawsuit, he included others close to Aguilera, alleging their intent to sabotage his business relationship with her. He also singled out Azoff for being in violation of the terms of Kurtz's contract.
2002–05: New image, Stripped and marriage
On October 26, 2002, Aguilera's fourth studio album, StrippedStripped (Christina Aguilera album)
Stripped is the fourth studio album by American pop recording artist Christina Aguilera. It was released on October 26, 2002. It reached the top two of the album charts in both the United States and United Kingdom and features two UK number-one hits: "Dirrty" which gained criticism and controversy...
, was released. The album sold more than 330,000 copies in the first week and peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. Unlike her previous work, the album showcased Aguilera's raunchier side. The majority of Stripped was co-written by Aguilera (who had recently signed a global music publishing contract with BMG Music Publishing), and was influenced by many different subjects and music styles, including contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
, gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, balladry, pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
, and hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
. The majority of the album was produced by Scott Storch
Scott Storch
Scott Storch is an American record producer. He produces a variety of music, particularly hip hop, reggaeton, and R&B. His label, Storch Music Company responsible for signing Brooke Hogan and Nox...
and singer-songwriter Linda Perry
Linda Perry
Linda Perry is an American rock musician, songwriter, and record producer. Once best known as the lead singer and primary songwriter of 4 Non Blondes, Perry has founded two record labels and has become a major songwriter and producer...
who produced her more personal records. Rockwilder
Rockwilder
Rockwilder is an American hip hop and R&B record producer, rapper, and R&B Singer. A long term friend of Def Jam rapper Redman, Rockwilder got his start producing for East Coast Hip Hop artists in the mid 1990s. In 1999 Rockwilder produced Method Man & Redman's hit single "Da Rockwilder"...
and singer Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...
also contributed a track each. Upon initial release, the album was very well-received by critics, although Aguilera's vocals were overlooked as she began to cultivate a more sexually provocative image. After the release of the album, she took part in photoshoots for magazines, many of these photographs featured her nude or semi-nude. Her cover for Rolling Stone, featured the singer only wearing boots and a well-placed electric guitar. It was during this time Aguilera referred to herself as "Xtina", even getting a tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
of her nickname on the back of her neck and several piercings.
Initially, the raunchy image had a negative effect on Aguilera in the U.S., especially after the release of her controversial "Dirrty
Dirrty
"Dirrty" is a song performed by American singer Christina Aguilera featuring rapper Reggie "Redman" Noble. The song was written by Aguilera and Redman along with Jasper Cameron, Balewa Muhammad, and Rockwilder for Aguilera's fourth studio album Stripped...
" music video. She denied that this change was a matter of publicity, claiming that the image better reflected her true personality than did the image she cultivated back in 1999. She defended the video stating it was about power and control adding, "I'm also at the forefront. I'm in the power position, in complete command of everything around me." While the video for "Dirrty" became very popular on MTV, it disappointed on the U.S. singles chart. However, the single was a hit worldwide, reaching number one in the UK and Ireland. The second single, "Beautiful
Beautiful (Christina Aguilera song)
"Beautiful" is a song written by Linda Perry and recorded by American singer Christina Aguilera for Aguilera's fourth studio album, Stripped...
" received critical praise. The classically
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
influenced ballad reached number one in several countries and peaked at No.2 in the US. "Beautiful" earned Aguilera the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Three more singles ("Fighter
Fighter (song)
"Fighter" is a song recorded by American recording artist Christina Aguilera. The song was written by Aguilera and Scott Storch, and produced by Storch for Aguilera's fourth studio album, Stripped. The song was released on June 3, 2003 as the third single. The song peaked at number twenty on the...
", "Can't Hold Us Down
Can't Hold Us Down
"Can't Hold Us Down" is a song written by Christina Aguilera, Scott Storch and Matt Morris for Aguilera's second album, Stripped, with production by Storch. Released on August 26, 2003 as the fourth single from the album, the single peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Aguilera's 10th...
" featuring Lil' Kim
Lil' Kim
Kimberly Denise Jones , better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper and actress who was a member of the group Junior M.A.F.I.A.....
, "The Voice Within
The Voice Within
"The Voice Within" is a song written by Christina Aguilera and Glen Ballard, with production by Ballard. It was released as the fifth and final single from Aguilera's second album, Stripped on December 23, 2003. The single peaked at #33 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Aguilera's seventh Top 40...
") were released in the following two years and were hits that helped the album stay on the charts for the next two years. Stripped stayed on the U.S. and UK album charts well into 2004, and went on to be certified four-times platinum in the U.S. with over thirteen million copies sold worldwide. It appeared at number ten on Billboards year-end album chart and Aguilera was the top female artist for 2003. Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Brianne Clarkson is an American pop rock singer-songwriter and actress. Clarkson came into prominence after becoming the winner of the inaugural season of the television series American Idol in 2002 and would later become the runner-up in the television special World Idol in 2003.In 2003,...
's second single "Miss Independent" was co-written by Aguilera, having been half-finished for Stripped.
Aguilera joined Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
that June on the final leg of his international Justified
Justified (album)
Justified is the debut album by American pop singer Justin Timberlake. Released during the hiatus of the group *NSYNC, the album signaled Timberlake's desire to craft a more mature image than that of a "boy band member". The album features guest performances by Timbaland, Clipse, Bubba Sparxxx, and...
tour, held in the US. This portion of the tour became a co-headliner called the Justified/Stripped Tour. In August, an overhead lighting grid collapsed from the ceiling of the Boardwalk Hall
Boardwalk Hall
Boardwalk Hall, formally known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is an arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States...
in Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
, New Jersey, causing major damage to the sound and video equipment below. Because the collapse occurred hours before the show, only a few stagehands were injured, but a few shows were cancelled or postponed. In the fourth quarter of that year, Aguilera continued to tour internationally without Timberlake, and changed the name of the tour to the Stripped World Tour
Stripped World Tour
The Stripped World Tour was the third concert tour by American singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera. The tour is a continuation of her Justified/Stripped Tour with Justin Timberlake. The tour was for her second studio album, Stripped and reached Europe, Asia, and Australia...
. She also dyed her hair black. It was one of the top-grossing tours of that year, and sold out most of its venues. Rolling Stone readers named it the best tour of the year. That same year she hosted the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards
MTV Europe Music Awards 2003
The UK hosted the Europe Music Award’s for the second time in 2003. Host Christina Aguilera changed costumes a whopping 12 times and opened the show in a Nun's habit...
and was a special guest performer with the Pussycat Dolls' dance troupe performing at the Roxy Theatre and Viper Room
Viper Room
The Viper Room is a nightclub located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. It was opened in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp until 2004. The club became known for being a hangout of Hollywood elite, and was the site where actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose on...
in Los Angeles. She also appeared on a Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
spread alongside them, her second Maxim cover that year set record sales for the issue making it the top selling issue to date. By the end of the year she topped the annual Hot 100 list saying, "we had fun working with certain clothes, or the lack thereof."
Aguilera's first DVD live-recording from a concert tour, Stripped Live in the U.K., was released in November 2004. In light of the tour's success, another U.S. tour was scheduled to begin in mid-2004 with a new theme. The tour however was scrapped because of the vocal cord injuries Aguilera suffered shortly before the tour's opening date. In a tribute to Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
's performance at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
, Aguilera performed a kiss with the singer-actress at the 2003 edition of the ceremony in August. The incident occurred during the opening performance of Madonna's songs "Like a Virgin
Like a Virgin (song)
"Like a Virgin" is a song by American singer Madonna from her second album of the same name. It was released on November 6, 1984 by Sire Records, as the first single from the album. The song appears on the greatest hits compilation albums The Immaculate Collection and Celebration...
" and "Hollywood" with fellow popstar Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
. Also in 2004, she hosted a Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
episode which included a Sex & The City skit where she portrayed Samantha Jones revealing to everyone she was a man the entire time.
Aguilera later decided to embrace a more mature image; this move was met with more praise than criticism, with articles using punch lines such as "From Crass to Class." She eventually dyed her hair cherry blonde and recorded a jingle, "Hello
Hello (Christina Aguilera song)
"Hello" is a song written by Christina Aguilera, Robert Hoffman, Heather Holley for promoting new car model of Mercedes-Benz A-Class, back in summer 2004....
", for a Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
ad. Shortly after, she dyed her hair flaxen blonde and cut it short, and took on a Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
look; she is one of the main proponents (along with Dita Von Teese
Dita Von Teese
Dita Von Teese is an American burlesque dancer, model, costume designer, author and actress.-Early life:...
, Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...
, and Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd is an American television and film actress, who has played lead roles in films including Ruby in Paradise, Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy, Where the Heart Is and High Crimes...
) in bringing back the 1920s–1940s Hollywood glamour look. In late summer 2004, Aguilera released two singles. The first, "Car Wash
Car Wash (song)
"Car Wash" is a 1976 soul music single by Rose Royce for MCA Records, the group's debut single and one of the most notable successes of the disco era. Written and produced by the band's main producer Norman Whitfield, "Car Wash", the theme of the 1976 film Car Wash, was Rose Royce's most successful...
", was a remake of the Rose Royce
Rose Royce
Rose Royce is an American soul and R&B band. The group is best known for several hit singles including "Car Wash," "I Wanna Get Next to You," "Wishing on a Star", "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" and "I'm Going Down".-Career:...
disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
song recorded as a collaboration with rapper Missy Elliott
Missy Elliott
Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott , is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actressA five-time Grammy Award winner, Elliott, with record sales of over seven million in the United States, is the only female rapper to have five albums certified platinum by the RIAA, including one...
for the soundtrack to the film Shark Tale
Shark Tale
Shark Tale is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation. In the story, a young fish named Oscar falsely claims to have killed the son of a shark mob boss to win favour with the mob boss' enemies and advance his own community standing...
. She voiced a small singing part in the film playing a Rastafarian
Rastafari movement
The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...
jellyfish
Jellyfish
Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. Medusa is another word for jellyfish, and refers to any free-swimming jellyfish stages in the phylum Cnidaria...
in the film's closing musical number. The second song was also a collaboration, but this time as a second single from one of Nelly
Nelly
Cornell Iral Haynes, Jr. , better known by his stage name Nelly, is an Grammy Award winning American rapper and actor. He has performed with the rap group St. Lunatics since 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in 2000 with his debut album...
's double-release albums, Sweat, titled "Tilt Ya Head Back
Tilt Ya Head Back
"Tilt Ya Head Back" is a single by rapper Nelly that features pop singer Christina Aguilera, released in 2004, from Nelly's album Sweat.-Background:...
". Both singles failed commercially in the US, but did considerably better in other parts of the world. Aguilera collaborated with jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
artist Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
on a cover of Leon Russell
Leon Russell
Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
's "A Song for You" recorded for Hancock's album Possibilities
Possibilities
Possibilities is the forty-fifth studio album by American jazz musician Herbie Hancock, released in the United States on August 30, 2005 by Vector Recordings. The album features a variety of guest musicians such as John Mayer and Carlos Santana...
, released in August 2005. Aguilera and Hancock were later nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals
Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals
The Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality pop songs on which singers collaborate...
. She helped open the 50th Anniversary
Happiest Homecoming on Earth
The Happiest Homecoming on Earth was the eighteen-month-long celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Disneyland theme park, which officially opened on July 17, 1955...
for Disneyland performing "When You Wish upon a Star
When You Wish upon a Star
"When You Wish upon a Star" is a song written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington for Walt Disney's 1940 adaptation of Pinocchio. The original version of the song was sung by Cliff Edwards in the character of Jiminy Cricket, and is heard over the opening credits and again in the final scene of the...
", and she also collaborated with Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli, is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident....
on the song "Somos Novios" for his album Amore. Aguilera began dating music marketing executive Jordan Bratman
Jordan Bratman
Jordan Bratman is an American music marketer. He is best known for his high-profile marriage to singer Christina Aguilera, with whom he was married from 2005 to 2011 and had a son.-Early life:...
in 2002. Their engagement was announced in February 2005, and they married on November 19, 2005, in a Napa Valley
Napa County, California
Napa County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is coterminous with the Napa, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The county seat is Napa....
estate.
2006–09:
Back to Basics, motherhood and greatest hits album Aguilera's fifth studio album, Back to BasicsBack to Basics (Christina Aguilera album)
Back to Basics is the third studio album by American recording artist Christina Aguilera, first released on August 10, 2006 by RCA Records...
was released August 15, 2006. The album debuted at No.1 in the US, the UK and eleven other countries. Aguilera described the double CD
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
as "a throwback to the 20s, 30s, and 40s-style jazz, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, and feel-good soul music, but with a modern twist." The album received generally positive reviews, although many critics commented on the album's length saying, "At one disc, this would have been nothing short of masterful." A review in AllMusic adds, "Back to Basics also makes clear that Stripped was a necessary artistic move for Christina: she needed to get that out of her system in order to create her own style, one that is self-consciously stylized, stylish, and sexy." The critically acclaimed lead single "Ain't No Other Man
Ain't No Other Man
"Ain't No Other Man" is a song written by Christina Aguilera, Charles Roane, DJ Premier, Harold Beatty, and Kara DioGuardi for Aguilera's third studio album Back to Basics...
" was a substantial success, reaching No.2 on the World Chart, No.6 in the US, and No.2 in the UK. Producers on the album included DJ Premier
DJ Premier
Christopher Edward Martin , better known by his stage name DJ Premier , is an American record producer and DJ, and was the instrumental half of the hip hop duo Gang Starr, together with emcee Guru...
, Kwamé, Linda Perry, and Mark Ronson
Mark Ronson
Mark Daniel Ronson is an English DJ, guitarist, music producer, artist and co-founder of Allido Records. He currently works with his band under the music alias of Mark Ronson & The Business Intl....
. The follow-up singles did very well in different regions, "Hurt
Hurt (Christina Aguilera song)
"Hurt" is a power ballad written by Christina Aguilera, Linda Perry and Mark Ronson for Aguilera's third studio album, Back to Basics . The song's lyrical content describes how one deals with the loss of a loved one, and it has received praise from pop music critics...
" in Europe and "Candyman
Candyman (Christina Aguilera song)
"Candyman" is a swing jazz song written by Christina Aguilera and Linda Perry for Aguilera's third studio album, Back to Basics. It was released as the album's third and final American single in early 2007. It received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at 2008 Grammy...
" in the Pacific. She co-directed
Music video director
A music video director is driven by a given music track. These are called music videos and are then used as promotional tools for popular music singles...
both music videos, the former with Floria Sigismondi
Floria Sigismondi
Floria Sigismondi is an Italian, naturalised Canadian, photographer and director.Apart from her art exhibitions, she is best known for writing and directing The Runaways, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning...
who directed her "Fighter" video, and the latter, "Candyman", with director/photographer Matthew Rolston
Matthew Rolston
Matthew Russell Rolston is an American photographer and music video director. Rolston is known for his signature lighting techniques and detailed approach to art direction and design, and has been repeatedly identified throughout his career with the revival and modern expression of Hollywood glamour...
which was inspired by The Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters were a highly successful close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews , soprano Maxene Angelyn Andrews , and mezzo-soprano Patricia Marie "Patty" Andrews...
. Back to Basics has sold 4.5 million units worldwide, with over 1.7 million sold in the US.
In late 2006 Aguilera collaborated with Sean "Diddy" Combs
Sean Combs
Sean John Combs , also known by his stage names Diddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. He has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, and his clothing line earned a Council of Fashion Designers of America award. He was originally...
on a track, titled "Tell Me
Tell Me (Diddy song)
"Tell Me" is the second single from Diddy's 2006 album, Press Play. The song features Christina Aguilera and is produced by Just Blaze. According to All Access, the single hit radio stations on November 7, 2006.-Background:...
", from his album Press Play. She also began the Back to Basics Tour
Back to Basics Tour
The Back to Basics Tour was the fourth concert tour by American recording artist Christina Aguilera. The tour supported her third studio album Back to Basics. It grossed over $90 million worldwide with 82 shows...
in Europe followed by a 41-date North American tour in early 2007. After this, she toured Asia and Australia, where it was supposed to end on August 3, however she canceled her dates in Melbourne and her final two in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
due to an illness. Her extravagant arena tour included cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
, three-ring circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
and juke joint
Juke joint
Juke joint is the vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African American people in the southeastern United States. The term "juke" is believed to derive from the Gullah word joog, meaning rowdy or disorderly...
sets and 10 piece costumes designed by Roberto Cavalli
Roberto Cavalli
Roberto Cavalli is an Italian fashion designer from Florence.-Biography:Roberto Cavalli was born in Florence, Tuscany. His grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, was a member of the Macchiaioli Movement, whose work is exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery. Cavalli decided to enroll at the local Art Institute,...
. She released her concert DVD Back to Basics: Live and Down Under
Back to Basics: Live and Down Under
Back to Basics: Live And Down Under is a concert tour DVD by American pop singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera.-Release:The DVD has been released February 4 in the UK and most of Europe while it hit stores on February 5 in the USA exclusively at Best Buy stores and BestBuy.com. The Australian...
the following year. The tour grossed nearly 50 million by the end of the year in North America and an additional 40 million worldwide in her Europe and Australia dates, grossing almost 90 million by the end of the tour. It was the most successful US tour by a female in 2007.
At the 49th Grammy Awards, Aguilera again won the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Ain't No Other Man". She made a noteworthy performance at the ceremony paying tribute to James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
with her rendition of his song "It's a Man's Man's Man's World
It's a Man's Man's Man's World
"It's a Man's Man's Man's World" is a song by James Brown and Betty Jean Newsome. Brown recorded it on February 16, 1966 in a New York studio and released it as a single later that year. It reached #1 on the Billboard Top R&B Singles charts and #8 in the Billboard Hot 100...
". In January 2007, she was named the 19th richest woman in entertainment by Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
, with a net worth of US$60 million. Aguilera performed "Steppin' Out With My Baby
Steppin' Out with My Baby
"Steppin' Out With My Baby" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin and introduced in the 1948 musical film Easter Parade. There it was sung by Fred Astaire as part of a dance number involving Astaire on stairs and three different dance partners....
" with Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
on his NBC special Tony Bennett: An American Classic and on Saturday Night Live. They performed at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards
59th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on September 16, 2007 and were televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EDT for the first time in high definition...
where both specials received Emmys. "Steppin' Out" was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards
50th Grammy Awards
The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, on February 10, 2008. Kanye West received the most nominations, with eight. Amy Winehouse was the big winner, winning a total of five awards. Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters won Album of the Year,...
.
Aguilera confirmed she was pregnant on November 4, 2007, though Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
accidentally revealed her pregnancy several weeks prior during a party Aguilera hosted. She gave birth to her son, Max Liron Bratman, in Los Angeles early the following year and held a bris for him with Bratman, who is of Jewish descent, where the baby was circumcised in accordance with Jewish practice. Aguilera was reportedly paid $1.5 million by People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
for her son's baby pictures—the sixth most expensive celebrity baby photos ever taken.
In 2008 Aguilera appeared in the Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
documentary Shine a Light
Shine a Light (film)
Shine a Light is a 2008 documentary film directed by Martin Scorsese documenting The Rolling Stones' 2006 Beacon Theatre performance on their A Bigger Bang Tour. The Scorsese film also includes archive footage from the band's career and marked the first utilisation by Scorsese of digital...
which chronicles a two day Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
concert in New York City's Beacon Theatre. The film features Aguilera performing "Live With Me
Live With Me
"Live with Me" is a song by the Rolling Stones from their classic album Let It Bleed, released in November 1969. The song is unique in a number of respects: It was one of the first recorded contributions by guitarist Mick Taylor, who joined the band in June, 1969...
" alongside Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
. Shine a Light premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and was released worldwide on April 4, 2008. She also had brief cameo in the comedy film Get Him to the Greek
Get Him to the Greek
Get Him to the Greek is a 2010 American comedy film written, produced, and directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. The film was released on June 4, 2010. Get Him to the Greek is a spin-off sequel of Stoller's 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, reuniting director...
, and appeared as a guest judge on the sixth season of Project Runway
Project Runway
Project Runway is an American reality television series on Lifetime Television, previously on the Bravo network, which focuses on fashion design and is hosted by model Heidi Klum. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted in time, materials and theme...
on Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...
. She and designer Bob Mackie
Bob Mackie
Robert Gordon Mackie is an American fashion designer, best known for his costuming for entertainment icons such as Judy Garland, Cher, Diana Ross, Liza Minnelli, Tina Turner, and Mitzi Gaynor...
were the inspiration for the challenge in which they had to design a stage outfit for Aguilera. To commemorate Aguilera's ten years in the music industry, RCA Records released, Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits
Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits
Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits is the first greatest hits album from American recording artist Christina Aguilera. The album was released on November 7, 2008 with the confirmation that a lead single named "Keeps Gettin' Better was released in September 9th 2008...
on November 11, 2008 exclusively at Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
stores in the US. The greatest hits
Greatest hits
A greatest hits album is a music compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular artist or band...
included her first three number one singles, and other songs released from her previous three albums. "Lady Marmalade" and several Spanish singles from Mi Reflejo were included in the worldwide releases. The album's only single, "Keeps Gettin' Better
Keeps Gettin' Better
"Keeps Gettin' Better" is a song by American recording artist Christina Aguilera, taken from her compilation album, Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits . The song was written by Aguilera, while additional writing and song production was done by Linda Perry. It was released as the first and only...
", was premiered at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards
2008 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2008 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 7, 2008 live from Paramount Pictures Studios , honoring the best music videos from the previous year. Nominations for a majority of the categories were announced on the MTV program FNMTV after being selected through viewer online voting at...
, and debuted and peaked at No.7 on the Billboard Hot 100, her highest debut on the chart. Following the greatest hits, Aguilera took over a year hiatus in 2009 working on her then upcoming album and film. She was one of Billboards Top 20 Artists of the Decade in their year-end charts.
2010–present: Bionic, Burlesque and The Voice
Aguilera's sixth studio album Bionic was released on June 8, 2010. The album's producers included Tricky Stewart, Samuel DixonSamuel Dixon
Samuel Dixon is an Australian record producer, songwriter and musician, based in London.He has frequently collaborated with fellow-Australian Sia Furler. His compositions have featured on her albums, Some People Have Real Problems, Colour the Small One and We Are Born...
, Polow da Don
Polow Da Don
Polow-Freache Jamal Fincher Jones , better known by known by professional name Polow da Don or Awesome Jones, is an American record producer, songwriter, rapper, and singer. His cousin is Atlanta singer Monica. He has produced for a variety of artists including Usher, Nelly, Christina Aguilera, T.I...
, Le Tigre
Le Tigre
Le Tigre is an American electroclash band, formed by Kathleen Hanna and Johanna Fateman in 1998. It also featured Sadie Benning from 1998 until 2001, and JD Samson for the rest of the group's run...
, Switch
Switch (DJ)
Switch is a UK-based DJ, songwriter, sound engineer and record producer. He is best known for his work with M.I.A. and Santigold.In the fidget house genre, Switch runs his own music label "Dubsided", as well as the label Counterfeet, established in 2006 with fellow producer Sinden...
, Ester Dean
Ester Dean
Ester Renay Dean is an American singer and songwriter, and record producer signed to Zone 4 Records/Interscope Records. She is most notable for her dual appearance on Rio: Music From The Motion Picture and her 2009 US hit single "Drop It Low", which featured singer Chris Brown...
, songwriters Sam Endicott
Sam Endicott
Sam Endicott is the lead singer of the The Bravery.- History :Endicott grew up in Brookmont a Washington, DC, suburb of Bethesda, Maryland...
, Sia Furler
Sia Furler
Sia Kate Isobelle Furler or simply Sia, is an Australian pop, downtempo, and jazz singer and songwriter. In 2000, her single, "Taken for Granted" was a top 10 hit in the United Kingdom. Her 2008 album, Some People Have Real Problems peaked in the top 30 on the Billboard 200...
, Claude Kelly
Claude Kelly
Claude Kelly is an American singer-songwriter. He has a prolific discography, well known for writing for artists such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, Jordin Sparks, Kelly Clarkson, Jay Sean, Adam Lambert, Jessie J and Charice.-Career:He began playing the piano...
, Linda Perry and collaborations with M.I.A.
M.I.A. (artist)
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam , better known by her stage name M.I.A. , is an English singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, painter and director of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Her compositions combine elements of hip hop, electronica, dance, alternative and world music. M.I.A...
, Santigold, Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj , better known by her stage name Nicki Minaj; ), is a Trinidadian-born American recording artist...
, and Peaches
Peaches (musician)
Merrill Beth Nisker , better known by her stage name Peaches, is a Canadian electronic musician and performance artist who lives in Berlin, Germany. Her songs are noted for disregarding traditional gender norms and their use of sexually explicit lyrics...
. Two of the album's three singles, "Not Myself Tonight
Not Myself Tonight
"Not Myself Tonight" is a song recorded by American pop singer Christina Aguilera. The song was written by Jamal Jones, Ester Dean, Jason Perry, and Greg Curtis, and produced by Polow da Don for Aguilera's sixth studio album, Bionic. The song was released on April 13, 2010 as the lead single from...
" and "You Lost Me
You Lost Me
"You Lost Me" is a song by American recording artist Christina Aguilera, taken from her sixth studio album, Bionic . Described by Aguilera as the "heart of the album", the song was written by Aguilera and Sia Furler, with the song's producer Samuel Dixon. The song lyrically talks about a cheating...
" peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
Charts but were unsuccessful elsewhere. "Woohoo
Woohoo
"Woohoo" is a song by American recording artist Christina Aguilera, featuring Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj. The song was written by Aguilera, Onika Maraj, Claude Kelly, Ester Dean and Jamal "Polow da Don" Jones, and produced by Polow da Don, for Aguilera's sixth studio album, Bionic...
", featuring rapper Nicki Minaj, was also released as the album's second single. Bionics material consisted of many mainstream and pop records along with electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
and dance
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
music. The album was released to mixed reviews from music critics, with Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
writing that the singer's new music direction "makes her sound as peer-pressured as a pop singer can be." Allison Stewart of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
described the album as being "noisy, robotic and overstuffed" adding that the disc's "greatest disappointments" is its "virtual abandonment" of Aguilera's voice. She concluded that Aguilera attempts "to do it all," which was to try to "revel in her newfound domesticity, to wrest her crown from Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
and to reestablish her sex kitten
Sex kitten
Sex kitten is a term that typically refers to a woman who exhibits a sexually provocative lifestyle or an abundant sexual aggression. The term originated circa 1958, and was used to describe French starlet Brigitte Bardot, who appeared in the 1956 film And God Created Woman.It has also often been...
bona fides." Dan Martin of the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
wrote, "Perhaps best of all is ‘Monday Morning.' Written with Santigold and The Bravery’s
The Bravery
The Bravery is an American rock band from New York City that consists of Sam Endicott , Michael Zakarin , John Conway , Mike Hindert , and Anthony Burulcich...
Sam Endicott, it’s a Day-Glo disco jam that sounds like Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...
doing "Borderline
Borderline (song)
"Borderline" is a song by American pop singer Madonna from her self-titled debut album. It was released on February 15, 1984 as the fifth single from the album, by Sire Records. Written and composed by producer Reggie Lucas, the song received remix treatment from Madonna's then boyfriend John...
". Sales of Bionic were underwhelming in the US compared to her previous releases selling 110,000 copies in its first week landing at No.3 and has sold 280,000 units in the US to date. Shortly after the album's release, further promotion ended and a scheduled summer tour for the album was cancelled due to "inadequate rehearsal time". "You Lost Me" was her first single to not chart the Hot 100 while Bionic was her first English studio album not to receive a Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nomination. Aguilera later responded in an interview saying, "I was really proud of that record. I think there was a lot of promotion issues, coming from a standpoint of how everything resulted. Nothing is ever a setback. If anything, it just motivates you for what’s next."
Aguilera announced that she and Bratman had separated, saying in a statement, "Although Jordan and I are separated, our commitment to our son Max remains as strong as ever." Aguilera filed for divorce from Bratman on October 14, 2010, seeking joint legal and physical custody of their son, and specifying September 11, 2010 as the date of separation. They later reached a settlement agreement and custody deal, details of their agreement were private. Their divorce was finalized on April 15, 2011. The following month, Aguilera appeared as herself on the Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...
season seven finale as a client/friend of Ari Gold
Ari Gold (Entourage)
Ariel "Ari" Gold is a fictional character on the comedy-drama television series Entourage. He was played by Jeremy Piven.-Biography:Ari Gold is Vincent Chase's neurotic movie agent. He is a product of the public school system. He was an undergrad at Harvard University before earning his J.D./M.B.A....
. On November 15, 2010, Aguilera received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
.
In November 2010, Aguilera appeared in her first feature film, the musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
Burlesque
Burlesque (film)
Burlesque is a 2010 musical film directed and written by Steven Antin and starring Christina Aguilera and Cher. The film was released on November 24, 2010 in North America....
. She portrayed a small town girl, Ali Rose, who finds love and success in a Los Angeles neo-burlesque
American burlesque
American Burlesque is a genre of variety show. Derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall and minstrel shows, burlesque shows in America became popular in the 1860s and evolved to feature ribald comedy and female striptease...
club. Aguilera performed eight of the musical numbers on the film's soundtrack
Burlesque (soundtrack)
Burlesque: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is a soundtrack album by Christina Aguilera and Cher from the film of the same name. It was released on November 22, 2010 by RCA Records. The first buzz single from the soundtrack "Express" was released on November 19, 2010. The other two singles from...
released on November 22, 2010 and co-wrote a number of the tracks working with producers and writers including Tricky Stewart, Sia Furler, Samuel Dixon, Linda Perry, Claude Kelly, Danja, and Ron Fair
Ron Fair
Ron Fair is a veteran A&R executive, record producer arranger, recording engineer and songwriter. In a career that has spanned over 30 years at major record labels he has produced and arranged hits for several artists, but he is best known as a "guru/mentor", guiding the careers of unknown artists...
. The remaining two tracks were sung by Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
, who co-starred alongside Aguilera. Distributed by Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
, the film was directed Steve Antin
Steve Antin
Steven Howard "Steve" Antin is an American actor, stunt man, screenwriter, producer, and director.-Early life:Antin was born in Queens, New York, the son of British Jewish immigrants...
who also wrote the script. Antin wrote the role of Ali specifically for Aguilera. Aguilera's co-stars also included Cam Gigandet
Cam Gigandet
Cam Joslin Gigandet is an American actor, whose roles have included Twilight, The O.C., Never Back Down, The Roommate, Burlesque and Priest.- Career :...
as her love interest, Eric Dane
Eric Dane
Eric Dane is an American actor. After appearing in television roles throughout the 1990s and 2000s, he became known for playing Dr...
, Kristen Bell
Kristen Bell
Kristen Anne Bell is an American actress. Although her first film role was an uncredited appearance in Polish Wedding, Bell previously acted in stage and musical productions. In 2001, she made her Broadway debut as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer...
and Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones...
. Several critics praised Aguilera's performance. A review in TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
states, "Aguilera might not be to your taste, or mine, but in terms of sheer power, she's impressive. If Ali were real, she'd have already been discovered on American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
." While Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
wrote, "Aguilera, while undeniably entertaining when her character is onstage, cannot spin the slight backstory into anything resembling a full-blooded person." Though Burlesque was released to mixed reviews from critics, the film received a Golden Globe
68th Golden Globe Awards
The 68th Golden Globe Awards was broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 16, 2011, by NBC. The host was Ricky Gervais....
nomination for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy and earned Aguilera, alongside co-writer Sia Furler and writer/producer Samuel Dixon, a nomination for Best Original Song for the track "Bound to You". Burlesque has grossed over $90 million worldwide.
Following the release of Burlesque, Aguilera collaborated with rapper T.I.
T.I.
Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr. , better known by his stage name T.I., is an American rap artist, film and music producer, actor and author. He is also the founder and co-chief executive officer of Grand Hustle Records....
on the track, "Castle Walls
Castle Walls
"Castle Walls" is a song by American rapper T.I., from his seventh studio album No Mercy. The song features Pop/R&B singer Christina Aguilera, and was produced by Alex da Kid....
" which is included on his album No Mercy. Aguilera performed the U.S. national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
", during the Super Bowl XLV
Super Bowl XLV
Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League champion for the 2010 season. The game was held at Cowboys Stadium in...
on February 6, 2011 and created embarrassment when she omitted a line of the anthem and messed up the song's lyrics. She later apologized, telling CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
that "I got so caught up in the moment of the song that I lost my place. I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through." The following week, Aguilera, alongside Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Kate Hudson is an American recording artist, actress and spokesperson. She came to prominence in 2004 as one of the finalists on the third season of American Idol coming in seventh place...
, Martina McBride
Martina McBride
Martina McBride is an American country music singer and songwriter. McBride has been called the "Céline Dion of Country Music" for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range....
, Yolanda Adams
Yolanda Adams
Yolanda Adams is an American Grammy- and Dove-award-winning Yolanda Adams is an American [[Grammy Awards|Grammy]]- and [[Dove Awards|Dove]]-award-winning...
, and Florence Welch
Florence Welch
Florence Leontine Mary Welch is an English singer-songwriter, best known worldwide as the lead singer of Florence and the Machine...
opened the 53rd Grammy Awards
53rd Grammy Awards
The 53rd annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prior to the telecast on February 11. Nominations were...
paying tribute to Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
.
Aguilera began dating musician and production assistant
Production assistant
A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production...
, Matt Rutler whom she met during the filming of Burlesque. Her personal life was the subject of scrutiny; and reports over out of control behavior, excessive drinking, and a reported confrontation with her co-star Julianne Hough
Julianne Hough
Julianne Alexandra Hough is an American professional ballroom dancer, country music singer and actress. She is most widely known for being a two-time champion of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. She earned a Creative Arts Primetime Emmy nomination in 2007 for choreography...
. On March 1, 2011, Aguilera was arrested for public intoxication
Public intoxication
Public intoxication, also known as "drunk and disorderly", is a summary offense in many countries rated to public cases or displays of drunkenness...
in West Hollywood
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
as her boyfriend was arrested for DWI. She was later released on bail and no charges were filed. Although the L.A. Sheriff's office stated Aguilera's mug shot
Mug shot
A mug shot, mugshot or booking photograph, is a photographic portrait taken after one is arrested. The purpose of the mug shot is to allow law enforcement to have a photographic record of the arrested individual to allow for identification by victims and investigators. Most mug shots are two-part,...
would not be released to the public, E! News
E! News
E! News, previously known as E! News Daily and E! News Live, is a nightly entertainment newsmagazine program airing on E!: Entertainment Television. The program debuted on September 1, 1991 and talks about Hollywood celebrities and gossip...
obtained the mug shot which circulated social networks and the media shortly after her release. Rutler's DWI charge was dismissed due to insufficient evidence, after his BAC
Blood alcohol content
Blood alcohol content , also called blood alcohol concentration, blood ethanol concentration, or blood alcohol level is most commonly used as a metric of alcohol intoxication for legal or medical purposes....
at the time of arrest was determined to be at .06%, below the legal limit in the state of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Aguilera signed to be a part of the John de Mol created singing competition The Voice
The Voice (U.S. TV series)
The Voice is an American reality talent show that premiered on April 26, 2011 on the NBC television network. Based on the reality singing competition The Voice of Holland, the series was created by Dutch television producer John de Mol. It is part of an international series...
which debuted on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in April. Aguilera, alongside other musicians Adam Levine
Adam Levine
Adam Noah Levine is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the front man and guitarist for the pop rock band Maroon 5. He is also a coach on the American talent show The Voice.-Early life:...
, Blake Shelton
Blake Shelton
Blake Tollison Shelton is an American country music artist. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". Released as the lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" went on to spend five weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts...
and Cee Lo Green serve as judges and coaches, with Carson Daly
Carson Daly
Carson Jones Daly is an American television host. He is the host of NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly, a late-night talk show that began airing on January 7, 2002. Before his role as host of that program, Daly was a VJ on MTV's TRL, and a DJ for the Southern California based radio station KROQ-FM...
as the show's host. The show's first episode was released to positive reviews making its debut at number one on the American rating list chart, delivering the strongest ratings for a series premiere on a major network since Undercover Boss
Undercover Boss
Undercover Boss is a television franchise series that has been released in multiple countries, originating in 2009 on the British Channel 4...
debuted after the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
in February 2010. The show became an instant hit for NBC following the its debut. Aguilera performed "Moves Like Jagger
Moves Like Jagger
"Moves Like Jagger" was written and produced by, Benjamin Levin and Shellback, while additional writing was done by Adam Levine and Ammar Malik. When asked about the song, Levine said, "It was one of those songs that was definitely a risk; it's a bold statement. We've never really released a song...
" on The Voice – the single with Maroon 5
Maroon 5
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. While they were in high school, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, bass guitarist Mickey Madden, and drummer Ryan Dusick formed a garage band called Kara's Flowers and released one album...
on which she is featured, off their album, Hands All Over (Deluxe Edition)
Hands All Over (album)
Hands All Over is the third studio album by the American pop rock band Maroon 5. Produced by veteran producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, the album was released by A&M/Octone Records on September 21, 2010. On July 12, 2011, the band re-released the album to include their summer hit "Moves Like...
. The song was an instant hit reaching No.2 in the UK, No.1 on the World Chart and earned Aguilera her fifth No.1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, a decade after her last No.1, "Lady Marmalade". The single became first 3 million-seller for both artists and marks the first time two former Best New Artist
Grammy Award for Best New Artist
The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967...
Grammy Award winners have collaborated on a Hot 100 hit. On November 30, 2011, "Moves Like Jagger" was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance is a new category in the annual Grammy Awards ceremony from 2012.It combines the previous categories for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals....
at the 54th Grammy Awards
54th Grammy Awards
The 54th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It will be broadcasted on CBS. Nominations were announced on November 30, 2011 on prime-time television as part of "The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live! – Countdown to Music's Biggest Night", a...
.
In May 2011, Aguilera stated that she is recording a new studio album in an interview at Live with Regis and Kelly
Live with Regis and Kelly
Live! with Kelly is a syndicated American television morning talk show, hosted by Kelly Ripa. The show has aired since 1983 in New York City and 1988 nationwide. Tony Pigg has been the show's announcer since its inception...
. Aguilera told RTL: "It's going to be a very heartfelt, deep-rooted and introspective record for me" and that she's hoping for release in spring or summer 2012.
Vocal ability
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
and has been referred to as the "voice of her generation" and a blue eyed soul singer. Aguilera also topped COVE's list of the 100 Best Pop Vocalists with a score of 50/50 and came fifth in MTV's 22 Greatest Voices in Music. Her rendition of "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" at the 49th Grammy Awards ranked third in the Grammy's Greatest Moments List behind Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
's performance of "My Heart Will Go On
My Heart Will Go On
"My Heart Will Go On" is the theme song/love theme of the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic. With music by James Horner, lyrics by Will Jennings, and production by Simon Franglen, James Horner and Walter Afanasieff ,, it was recorded by Céline Dion...
" and Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
's performance of "American Idiot
American Idiot (song)
"American Idiot" is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released as the first single from their album of the same name.Released in 2004, the single peaked at #61 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Green Day's first Billboard Hot 100 chart entry , helping revive the band's career...
". In an interview, Dion described Aguilera as "probably the best vocalist in the world." Rolling Stone ranked Aguilera at 58 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, the youngest singer on the list.
Describing Aguilera's voice
Voice
Voice may refer to:* Human voice* Voice control or voice activation* Writer's voice* Voice acting* Voice vote* Voice message-In film:* Voice , a 2005 South Korean film* The Voice , a 2010 Turkish horror film directed by Ümit Ünal...
, singing teachers Phyllis Fulford and Michael Mailler said, "The low register is light and tired, the belting register
Belt (music)
Belting refers to a specific technique of singing by which a singer produces a loud sound in the upper middle of the pitch range. It is often described as a vocal register although some dispute this since technically the larynx is not oscillating in a unique way...
is ample and full, but very scratchy because she screams; and head voice
Head voice
Head voice is a term used within vocal music. The use of this term varies widely within vocal pedagogical circles and there is currently no one consistent opinion among vocal music professionals regarding this term...
as well as whistle register
Whistle register
The whistle register is the highest register of the human voice, lying above the modal register and falsetto register...
are light, pure and bright. Her vocal range extends from G below middle C to C one octave above soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
high C (G3 – C7). She can belt to F one octave and a third above middle C (F5). She possesses a good-sized technical arsenal. Her trill
Trill (music)
The trill is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill....
is solid, she has a big mastery of melisma
Melisma
Melisma, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note.-History:Music of ancient cultures used...
s, and can sustain very long notes." Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
writer Margaret Wappler adds Aguilera can deliver "a well-executed legato
Legato
In musical notation the Italian word legato indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence...
." However, countertenor
Countertenor
A countertenor is a male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of a contralto, mezzo-soprano, or a soprano, usually through use of falsetto, or far more rarely than normal, modal voice. A pre-pubescent male who has this ability is called a treble...
Philippe Jaroussky
Philippe Jaroussky
Philippe Jaroussky is a French sopranist countertenor. He began his musical career with the violin, winning an award at the Versailles conservatory and then took up the piano before turning to singing...
said: "She has no breath support and often sings out of tune. People say she can cover four octaves, but it's not true because below A3, the low notes are forced, unsupported, her belting voice is throaty and forced, for her highest notes she doesn't use head voice but falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
or whistle register
Whistle register
The whistle register is the highest register of the human voice, lying above the modal register and falsetto register...
, they are disconnected registers. So, she can only hit good notes from A3 to B4. Her melismas are always show-off, they are almost never connected with the rhythm and the structure of the songs."
Since her debut in 1999 Aguilera has been compared to the likes of Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
and Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
. David Browne
David Browne
David Browne is an American journalist and author. He was the resident music critic at Entertainment Weekly between 1990 and 2006. He was an editor at Music & Sound Output magazine and a music critic at the New York Daily News before EW...
of The New York Times writes, "Aguilera has been one of the foremost practitioners of the overpowering, Category 5 vocal style known as melisma. Ms. Carey, Ms. Houston and Ms. Aguilera, to name its three main champions, are most associated with the period from the late ’80s through the late ’90s." A review in the Los Angeles Times compared Aguilera's vocal stylings to Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...
, and Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
adding, "Aguilera's Streisand-esque tendencies are a good thing; they're helping her figure out how to become the "great singer" she's been dubbed since she released her first single, the wise-beyond-its-years "Genie in a Bottle
Genie in a Bottle
"Genie in a Bottle" is the second single by American pop recording artist, Christina Aguilera, taken from her self-titled debut album. It was co-written by David Frank, Steve Kipner, and Pamela Sheyne, and produced by Frank and Kipner respectively...
", at 18." Although praised for her vocals, Aguilera has been labeled for oversinging
Oversinging
Oversinging describes the concept of "singing too much", or simply overdoing the singing.- The meaning :Oversinging is not a word found in common dictionaries, but it is a well known phenomenon...
in her songs and concerts. Longtime producer and writer, Linda Perry, commented on working on the record, "Beautiful", saying, "I tried to keep it straight. I told her to get rid of the finger waves. Every time she'd start going into "hoo-ha", I'd stop the tape. I'm like, 'You're doing it again.'" Perry ended up using the first take saying, "She had a hard time accepting that as the final track. It's not a perfect vocal – it's very raw. She knows her voice really well, and she knows what's going on. She can hear things that nobody else would catch."
Themes and musical style
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
, and grief. Aguilera has also written about her childhood in two of her records which dealt with domestic abuse. In an interview Aguilera admitted she feels responsible to reveal her most vulnerable feelings and to share the darker sides of her life adding "People that can relate might not feel as alone in the circumstance." She has been noted to constantly changing her sound in her music and lyrical content. Originally marketed as a bubblegum pop singer during the late 90s pop scene, she quickly departed into a broad range of musical genres for her follow-up album Stripped. A review states, "Clearly afflicted with Premature Serious Artist Syndrome, Aguilera wants to demonstrate the range of her interests – vampy soul, quasi-metal, piano-bar intimacy, quiet-storm R&B
Quiet storm
Quiet storm is a late-night radio format, featuring soulful slow jams, pioneered in the mid-1970s by then-station-intern Melvin Lindsey at WHUR-FM, in Washington, D.C. Smokey Robinson's like-titled hit single, released in 1975 as the title track to his third solo album, lent its name to the format...
, bounce-bounce hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, and semi-exotic rock, all of it dutifully accomplished."
The majority of the songs are characterized by Aguilera's loud vocals, though she has used breathy and soft vocals. Her 2006 release, Back to Basics included producer DJ Premier
DJ Premier
Christopher Edward Martin , better known by his stage name DJ Premier , is an American record producer and DJ, and was the instrumental half of the hip hop duo Gang Starr, together with emcee Guru...
. The New York Times exclaims, "Her decision to work with the low-key DJ Premier was also a decision to snub some of the big-name producers on whom pop stars often rely." Aguilera has often cited that she prefers working with producers that are not in popular demand, saying "I don't necessarily go to the main people that are the No.1 chart-toppers in music." The album included live instrumentation
Live instrumentation
In music, live instrumentation is the use of acoustic and electronic musical instruments in live music and recording rather than DJing, sampling, and other recording techniques....
and samples of past jazz and soul records. Some tracks on the album included non-traditional forms of pop music such as swing jazz and big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
, drawing comparisons to Madonna's I'm Breathless
I'm Breathless
I'm Breathless: Music from and Inspired by the film Dick Tracy is the second soundtrack album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on May 22, 1990, by Sire Records...
and the musical film Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
. Her first feature film, Burlesque
Burlesque (film)
Burlesque is a 2010 musical film directed and written by Steven Antin and starring Christina Aguilera and Cher. The film was released on November 24, 2010 in North America....
, influenced by Cabaret, featured mainstream producers Tricky Stewart and Danja on the soundtrack where several established songs were updated and worked into dance numbers, a style similar to 2001's Moulin Rouge! "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" is a song introduced by Carol Channing in the original Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes , which was written by Jule Styne and Leo Robin...
" was performed by Aguilera in the film, a musical number also performed by Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
in Moulin Rouge!
Influences
One of Aguilera's major influences and idol is blues singer Etta JamesEtta James
Etta James is an American blues, soul, rhythm and blues , rock and roll, gospel and jazz singer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer...
, whose classic song "At Last
At Last
"At Last" is a 1941 song written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the musical film Orchestra Wives, starring George Montgomery and Ann Rutherford. It was performed in the film and on record by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, with vocals by Ray Eberle and Pat Friday...
" has been covered by Aguilera throughout her career. Aguilera says, "Etta is my all-time favorite singer. I've said it for the last seven years – since I had my first debut record out – in every interview. I mean, all of Etta's old songs, countless songs I could name, I grew up listening to." The majority of her album, Back to Basics, pays tribute to James and other pop standard
Traditional pop music
Traditional pop or classic pop or standards music denotes, in general, Western popular music that either wholly predates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s, or to any popular music which exists concurrently to rock and roll but originated in a time before the appearance of rock and roll,...
singers who many originated from the 1950s
1950 in music
-Events:*January 3 – Sam Phillips launches Sun Records at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee.*August – Herbert Howells' Hymnus Paradisi is premiered at the Three Choirs Festival.*Malcolm Sargent becomes chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra....
. In her early years she listened to vintage jazz
Jazz Age
The Jazz Age was a movement that took place during the 1920s or the Roaring Twenties from which jazz music and dance emerged. The movement came about with the introduction of mainstream radio and the end of the war. This era ended in the 1930s with the beginning of The Great Depression but has...
, blues, and soul music. The album included an unreleased song, "Slow Down Baby
Slow Down Baby
"Slow Down Baby" is a song recorded by American singer Christina Aguilera. It was the fourth single released from her third album, Back to Basics . It was released as an international double A-side song with "Oh Mother". "Slow Down Baby" was released as a single in July 2007 in the Oceanian and...
", which sampled a Gladys Knight & the Pips
Gladys Knight & the Pips
Gladys Knight & The Pips were an R&B/soul family musical act from Atlanta, Georgia, active from 1953 to 1989. The group was best known for their string of hit singles on Motown's "Soul" record label and Buddah Records from 1967 to 1975, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight...
song. A review in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
declared, "Practically everything recorded before Aguilera was born blurs into one amorphous genre, which she categorises, somewhat inadequately, as "fun music". Aguilera has also named Madonna and Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
as two of her biggest influences "for being re-inventive and being brave as strong females, to explore whatever, even if they do get bad press. It's just like they were fearless." Her other musical influences include Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
.
Aguilera cites the musical The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music (film)
Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical...
and its lead actress, Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...
as an early inspiration for singing and performing. She mentioned the "Golden age of Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
" as another inspiration in which she says, "I'm referencing Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
, Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s...
, Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
, Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake was an American film actress and pin-up model. She received both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her role in Sullivan's Travels and her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, and was well-known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle...
". Ironically, her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located near Julie Andrews and is next to Greta Garbo. In her music video for "Ain't No Other Man
Ain't No Other Man
"Ain't No Other Man" is a song written by Christina Aguilera, Charles Roane, DJ Premier, Harold Beatty, and Kara DioGuardi for Aguilera's third studio album Back to Basics...
" she plays her alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
, "Baby Jane
Baby Jane Hudson
Baby Jane Hudson is a fictional character and the antagonist of Henry Farrell's 1960 novel What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? She was portrayed by Bette Davis in the 1962 film adaptation and by Lynn Redgrave in the 1991 made for TV remake...
" in reference to the film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (film)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a 1962 American psychological thriller film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The screenplay by Lukas Heller is based on the novel of the same name by Henry Farrell...
. The film's stars included actresses Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
and Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
. The third single off Back to Basics, "Candyman
Candyman (Christina Aguilera song)
"Candyman" is a swing jazz song written by Christina Aguilera and Linda Perry for Aguilera's third studio album, Back to Basics. It was released as the album's third and final American single in early 2007. It received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at 2008 Grammy...
" was inspired by the 1941 song, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
"Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" was a major hit for The Andrews Sisters and an iconic World War II tune. This song can be considered an early jump blues recording...
" by The Andrews Sisters which was played during World War II. She was also inspired by pin-up girl
Pin-up girl
A pin-up girl, also known as a pin-up model, is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as popular culture. Pin-ups are intended for informal display, e.g. meant to be "pinned-up" on a wall...
s and several paintings by Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas was a noted Peruvian painter of pin-up girls. He is often considered one of the most famous of the pin-up artists...
. Aguilera has expressed interest in cultural icons Nico
Nico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
, Blondie
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
and artists Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...
and Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
. She has often worked with photographer and close friend, David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle is a photographer and director who works in the fields of fashion, advertising, and fine art photography, and is noted for his surreal, unique, sexualized, and often humorous style.-Early life:...
who once worked with Warhol. Chapelle has shot many of Aguilera's music videos, magazine shoots and advertisements. She is also a fan of graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
artist
Street artist
A street artist is someone who creates and/or sells their art or craft in public for the pleasure of passers-by.Some people use the term 'street artist' more broadly and also refer to people involved in busking, such as musicians who sing and/or play instruments, acrobats, jugglers, living statues,...
Banksy
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...
. In 2006 she purchased three of Banksy's works during a private art exhibition, one of them included a pornographic picture of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
in a lesbian pose with a prostitute. She has mentioned in several interviews that she is a fan of actress Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
, and her Burlesque co-star, Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
. Fashion has also been a part of Aguilera's music career and image which she has used as a form of expression during performances and music videos. In 2003 she became the muse and inspiration for Donatella Versace
Donatella Versace
Donatella Versace is an Italian fashion designer and current Vice-President of the Versace Group, as well as chief designer. She owns 20 percent of the entire stock market assets of Versace. Her brother, Santo Versace, owns 30 percent...
's 2003 fall line. Versace
Versace
Gianni Versace S.p.A. , usually referred to as Versace, is an Italian fashion label founded by Gianni Versace in 1978.The first Versace boutique was opened in Milan's Via della Spiga in 1978, and its popularity was immediate. Today, Versace is one of the world's leading international fashion houses...
also designed pieces her tour the following year. Aguilera is also a fan of Roberto Cavalli, John Galliano
John Galliano
John Charles Galliano CBE, RDI is a Gibraltan-born British fashion designer who was best known as head designer of French haute couture houses Givenchy and Christian Dior , and his own self titled fashion house.-Family:He was born in Gibraltar to a Gibraltarian father, Juan Galliano, and a...
, Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for Marc Jacobs, as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, with more than 200 retail stores in 60 countries. He has been the creative director of the French design house Louis Vuitton since 1997...
, and Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen
Lee Alexander McQueen, CBE was a British fashion designer and couturier best known for his in-depth knowledge of bespoke British tailoring, his tendency to juxtapose strength with fragility in his collections, as well as the emotional power and raw energy of his provocative fashion shows...
whose designs she has worn throughout her career.
Other ventures
In 2000, Aguilera was the face for make-up line Fetish where she worked in choosing colors and packaging for the line. She ended her contract the following year. Throughout her career Aguilera has endorsed several brands, including SkechersSkechers
Skechers is an American shoe company headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, founded by CEO Robert Greenberg. Greenberg started Skechers in 1992 after he left LA Gear which he also founded. Skechers was started with his son as a distributor for Doc Martens; they launched their own shoe line...
, Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
, Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless
Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, is one of the largest mobile network operators in the United States. The network has 107.7 million subscribers as of 2011, making it the largest wireless service provider in America....
, and soft drink giants Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
in 2001, and Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
in 2006. She became the muse
Muse
The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
and model for fashion house Versace appearing in a campaign for the 2003 fall line. In 2004 Aguilera earned £200,000GBP
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
(about $300,000USD) for opening the summer sale at London's Harrods
Harrods
Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Brompton, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air...
store which took in record breaking profits during the four week period. In 2005 she was reportedly paid $3.6 million to sing a three song set for Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko
Andrey Melnichenko
Andrey Melnichenko is a Russian businessman and billionaire.He is best known for his energy and banking businesses.- Career :He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of EuroChem - one of Russia’s largest fertilizer companies with annual sales of 73.6 billion roubles US$2.5 billion) in 2009,...
's wedding. Aguilera signed a contract with European cell phone operator Orange
Orange SA
Orange is the brand used by France Télécom for its mobile network operator and Internet service provider subsidiaries. It is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world, with 210 million customers . The brand was created in 1994 for Hutchison Telecom's UK mobile phone network, which was...
to promote the new Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....
Walkman
Walkman
Walkman is a Sony brand tradename originally used for portable audio cassette, and now used to market Sony's portable audio and video players as well as a line of Sony Ericsson mobile phones...
phone during the 2006 World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
. In 2010, Aguilera was paid $1 million by investor Charles Brandes
Charles Brandes
Charles H. Brandes is one of the more closely followed value investors working today, as well being a disciple of the Benjamin Graham school of value investing. Brandes Investment Partners, which was started in 1974, currently has over $52.9 billion under management and is based in San Diego,...
to perform at a private party.
In 2008 jewelry designer Stephen Webster and close friend of Aguilera released "Shattered", a collection of sterling silver
Sterling silver
Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by mass of silver and 7.5% by mass of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925....
pieces, through Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus, formerly Neiman-Marcus, is a luxury specialty retail department store operated by the Neiman Marcus Group in the United States. The company is headquartered in the One Marcus Square building in Downtown Dallas, Texas, and competes with other department stores such as Saks Fifth...
and Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman is a luxury goods department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son Andrew Goodman....
. Aguilera, who inspired the collection, was featured as a Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
heroine saying, "Working together on this campaign and collection has been an incredible experience. I am honored to be a part of it all." They reprised their work together for Webster's 2009 spring line. In 2011, Aguilera attended São Paulo Fashion Week
São Paulo Fashion Week
The São Paulo Fashion Week is a fashion event, held at Ibirapuera Park, in São Paulo, notable as "Latin America's pre-eminent fashion event," according to one report. It began in 1996, when the event was known as Morumbi Fashion Brazil. It won the current name in January 2001. Today, the event is...
to premiere her new line of clothing for Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian department store C&A
C&A
C&A is an international chain of fashion retail clothing stores, with its European head offices in Vilvoorde , Belgium and Düsseldorf, Germany...
which launched in April.
Aguilera released two fragrances throughout Europe, the first one Xpose, was released in late 2004 and sold relatively well. Through Procter and Gamble Aguilera released her signature fragrance, Simply Christina in 2007. In Christmas 2007, the fragrance became the number one perfume in the UK, and later in 2009 it became the 4th best selling perfume in the UK, and Germany where it topped sales for the year. The perfume won as the people's choice for favorite celebrity fragrance at the annual UK Fifi Awards
The Fragrance Foundation
The Fragrance Foundation is the non-profit, educational arm of the international fragrance industry.-FiFi Awards:The FiFi Awards & Celebration is an annual event hosted by The Fragrance Foundation and honors creative excellence and achievement in the fragrance industry...
2008. She released her third fragrance, Inspire
Inspire (fragrance)
Inspire was Christina Aguilera's fourth Women's fragrance to be released worldwide, however only the first perfume to be released from the singer-songwriter in the United States. The perfume was created with Procter & Gamble and endorsed with Aguilera. The tagline for the fragrance was "Follow Your...
, accompanied with a body care collection, on September 1, 2008. The perfume hit shelves in the US, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Northern and Eastern Europe. It was Aguilera's first fragrance released outside of Europe. Her worldwide ad campaign included a television ad shot by David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle is a photographer and director who works in the fields of fashion, advertising, and fine art photography, and is noted for his surreal, unique, sexualized, and often humorous style.-Early life:...
and was released in the US through Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
department stores. The release coincided with Macy's 150th anniversary which featured Aguilera in commemorative photos. She released her fourth fragrance By Night in October, which became the third best selling fragrance in the UK in 2009. Both “By Day“ and “By Night“ were nomitated for Best Perfume of the Year in the Broad Appeal category at the FIFI Awards 2011. In 2010 the range was further augmented by Royal Desire her fifth fragrance, which won a 2011 Glammy Award for best perfume by German magazine Glamour. Aguilera announced she will be releasing a sixth fragrance later this year, Secret Potion.
Philanthropy
Throughout her career, Aguilera has been involved with several charities. She signed a letter from PETAPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
to the South Korean government asking that the country stop its alleged killing of dogs for food. During her 2007 tour she unknowingly wore a fur stole during the beginning of her tour, which designer Roberto Cavalli
Roberto Cavalli
Roberto Cavalli is an Italian fashion designer from Florence.-Biography:Roberto Cavalli was born in Florence, Tuscany. His grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, was a member of the Macchiaioli Movement, whose work is exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery. Cavalli decided to enroll at the local Art Institute,...
provided without informing Aguilera. After receiving a video from PETA Vice President Dan Mathews
Dan Mathews
Dan Mathews is the Senior Vice President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. He is known for heading PETA's most controversial and attention-getting campaigns, including the "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" ads, as well as campaigns involving celebrities such as Morrissey, Pamela...
on the treatment of foxes, she replaced the stole with faux fur for the remainder of her tour. Aguilera was reportedly upset adding, "I only ever wear fake fur". In 2010 Aguilera auctioned off tickets for her upcoming tour for Christie's
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
A Bid to Save the Earth. Proceeds benefit nonprofit environmental groups Conservation International
Conservation International
Conservation International is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, which seeks to ensure the health of humanity by protecting Earth's ecosystems and biodiversity. CI’s work focuses on six key initiatives that affect human well-being: climate, food security, freshwater...
, Oceana
Oceana (non-profit group)
Oceana is the largest international ocean conservation and advocacy organization. Oceana works to protect and restore the world’s oceans through targeted policy campaigns....
, Natural Resources Defense Council
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a New York City-based, non-profit, non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Beijing...
, and The Central Park Conservancy. Aguilera also supports Defenders of Wildlife
Defenders of Wildlife
Defenders of Wildlife is a United States-based, 501 non-profit organization founded in 1947, "dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities." The organization is active in political interventions and lobbying aimed at protection of wildlife, and...
, Missing Kids, National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations, Women's Cancer Research Fund, and Cedars-Sinai Women's Cancer Research Institute. She has also worked alongside nonprofit organization Do Something saying, "Every individual has the power to inspire young people across the country." In 2010 she was nominated for a VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
Do Something Award for her work with the organization and her efforts in the response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake
Humanitarian response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake
The humanitarian response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake included national governments, charitable and for-profit organizations from around the world which began coordinating humanitarian aid designed to help the Haitian people...
. She was featured in the campaign for photographer, Brie Childers with the goal of helping women of all ages, races and lifestyles feel beautiful and confident about themselves and the body and skin they were born with. Proceeds from benefit several women's charities nationwide. Aguilera is still a major contributor in her hometown of Pittsburgh contributing regularly to the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh
Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh
The Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh was founded in 1974 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and provides services for victims of domestic violence. It was one of the first six centers for domestic violence to be established in the United States...
. According to her official website, she toured the center and donated $200,000 to the shelter. She also has auctioned off front row seats and back stage passes for the Pittsburgh-based charity. She has continued her donations and visits to the shelter, and plans to open an additional one. She also supports the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Refuge UK. Since then she has worked with Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...
's 'End violence against women' campaign. Her work there included a public service announcement
Public service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...
which aired on the network and during her 2007 tour
Back to Basics Tour
The Back to Basics Tour was the fourth concert tour by American recording artist Christina Aguilera. The tour supported her third studio album Back to Basics. It grossed over $90 million worldwide with 82 shows...
.
Aguilera is a supporter of the LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
community and is considered a gay icon by many. She was honored at the GLAAD Awards for using gay and transgender images in her music video for "Beautiful". When accepting the award Aguilera said, "My video captures the reality that gay and transgender people are beautiful, even though prejudice and discrimination against them still exists." In 2005 she appeared on a compilation album titled, Love Rocks
Love Rocks
Love Rocks is a two-disc compilation album released February 8, 2005, by the Human Rights Campaign in collaboration with Centaur Entertainment...
, proceeds benefit the Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
, an organization dedicated to fighting for equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. In 2008 she publicly spoke out against California's Proposition 8
California Proposition 8 (2008)
Proposition 8 was a ballot proposition and constitutional amendment passed in the November 2008 state elections...
which eliminates same-sex marriage in California
Same-sex marriage in California
The status of same-sex marriage in California is unique among the 50 U.S. states, in that the state formerly granted marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but has discontinued doing so...
saying, "Why you would put so much money behind something [aimed at] stopping from people loving each other and bonding together? I just don't understand it. It's hard for me to grasp. But I would've been out there with my rally sign as well." In 2011 Aguilera was honored at The Abbey
The Abbey (club)
The Abbey is a bar and nightclub in West Hollywood, California.The bar originally opened in 1991 as a gay coffeehouse. Wanting more of an evening appeal, a bar area was made...
, a gay club in West Hollywood
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
, for her contributions to the gay community
Gay community
The gay community, or LGBT community, is a loosely defined grouping of LGBT and LGBT-supportive people, organizations and subcultures, united by a common culture and civil rights movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality...
as the first honoree on their Gay Walk of Fame joining Dame Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
in being immortalized forever.
Aguilera contributes in the fight against AIDS, by participating in AIDS Project Los Angeles' Artists Against AIDS "What's Going On?
What's Going On (song)
"What's Going On" is a song written by Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Al Cleveland, and Marvin Gaye. It was the title track of Gaye's groundbreaking 1971 Motown album What's Going On, and it became a crossover hit single that reached #2 on the pop charts and #1 on the R&B charts...
" cover project. In 2004, Aguilera became the new face for cosmetic company M·A·C and spokesperson for M·A·C AIDS Fund. Aguilera appeared in advertisements of the M·A·C's Viva Glam V lipstick and lipgloss, and was featured on Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
in recognition of her campaign work. In addition, Aguilera contributed to YouthAIDS by posing for a joint YouthAIDS and Aldo Shoes campaign for "Empowerment Tags" in Canada, the U.S. and the UK. She was featured with one of three ubiquitous slogans, "Speak No Evil?" and stated, "HIV is something that people don’t want to talk about, hear about, or face." Singer Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
featured Aguilera in his charity book titled "Four Inches" benefiting the Elton John AIDS Foundation
Elton John AIDS Foundation
Elton John AIDS Foundation is one of the world's leading nonprofit organizations that was established by Sir Elton John in 1992 in the US * and 1993 in the UK * supporting innovative HIV/AIDS prevention, education programs, direct care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS.EJAF has...
. Elton also hand-picked Aguilera, for his annual "Fashion Rocks" charity concert which accompanies music and fashion to benefit the fight against AIDS/HIV.
In the run-up to the 2004 United States presidential election
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
, Aguilera was featured on billboards for the "Only You Can Silence Yourself" online voter registration drive run by the nonpartisan
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
, non-profit campaign "Declare Yourself
Declare Yourself
Declare Yourself is a campaign initiated during the 2004 United States presidential elections to encourage young people to register to vote. It began as the "Declaration of Independence Road Trip", a 50-city cross-country tour of a rare Dunlap broadside of the Declaration of Independence lasting ...
". In these political advertisements, shot by David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle is a photographer and director who works in the fields of fashion, advertising, and fine art photography, and is noted for his surreal, unique, sexualized, and often humorous style.-Early life:...
, Aguilera was shown with her mouth sewn shut, to symbolize the effects of not voting. She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
to discuss the importance of voting. In late 2007 Aguilera became the spokesperson for "Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote is a non-profit organization in the United States of America whose mission is to engage and build the political power of young people....
" where she urged young people to vote in the 2008 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
. In partnership with "Rock the Vote", she appeared in a public service announcement which aired in summer 2008. The advert showed Aguilera with her son, Max Bratman, wrapped in an American flag
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...
, while singing "America the Beautiful
America the Beautiful
"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and the music composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward....
".
In November 2005, all of her wedding gifts were submitted to various charities around the nation in support of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
victims. That year she also performed at "Unite of the Stars" concert in aid of Unite Against Hunger in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa and at the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund
Nelson Mandela Children's Fund
The Nelson Mandela Children's Fund is a charitable organization founded by Nelson Mandela, based in South Africa. Its mission is to help individuals from birth to age 22, particularly orphans of the AIDS crisis.-History:...
at the Coca-Cola Dome. In March 2007 Aguilera took part in a charity album (remaking Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
's "Mother
Mother (John Lennon song)
Mother is a song by British musician John Lennon, first released on his 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. An edited version of the song was issued as a single in the United States on Apple Records, catalogue 1827, about three weeks after the album. The single runs about fifteen seconds...
"), proceeds benefit Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
's efforts to end genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
in Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
. The album titled, Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur
Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur
Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur is a compilation album of various artists covering songs of John Lennon to benefit Amnesty International's campaign to alleviate the crisis in Darfur...
, was released June 12, 2007 and featured various artists. In 2008 she headlined London's Africa Rising charity concert at Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
which raises awareness for finding substantial issues facing the continent. Later that year she appeared on the Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
version of Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which was the Dutch Miljoenenjacht produced by Dutch producer Endemol. It is played with up to 26 cases with certain sums of money...
"Var mısın? Yok musun?
Var misin? Yok musun?
Var mısın? Yok musun? is a Turkish adaptation of the game show Deal or No Deal. Produced by Acun Ilıcalı for Show TV, the show has been aired between September 10, 2007 and October 31, 2009 and in the second half of 2010...
", where she won $180,000. Proceeds were donated to a charity program for orphan
Orphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
s.
In 2009 Aguilera became the global spokesperson for World Hunger Relief appearing in advertisements, online campaigns and a public service announcement. Aguilera and her husband traveled to Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
with the World Food Programme
World Food Programme
The World Food Programme is the food aid branch of the United Nations, and the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger worldwide. WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children...
to bring awareness to issues such as the high malnutrition
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
rate in that country. She met with families of the villages and some of the beneficiaries of WFP's nutrition programs. Aguilera adds, "The people of WFP do such a great job helping hungry children and mothers. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be part of such a wonderful project." Since becoming a global spokeswoman Aguilera has helped raise over $22 million which helped provide over 90 million meals. She was honored at Varietys annual "Power of Women" luncheon in late 2009 alongside other women in entertainment for her contribution to philanthropic and charitable causes. In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake
2010 Haiti earthquake
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...
, Aguilera donated a signed Chrysler 300
Chrysler 300
The Chrysler 300 is a full-size upscale car first shown at the 2003 New York Auto Show as a concept car. Sales in the U.S. began in the spring of 2004 as an early 2005 model year car. Designed by Ralph Gilles, the new 300 was built as a high-end sedan while the SRT-8 model was designed to be the...
which was auctioned for relief efforts. She was one of the many artists who appeared on the Hope for Haiti
Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief
Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief was a charity telethon held on January 22, 2010 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time . The telethon was the most widely distributed telethon in history...
telethon on January 22, 2010, donations directly benefited Oxfam America
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
, Partners In Health
Partners In Health
Partners In Health is a Boston, Massachusetts-based non-profit health care organization dedicated to providing a "preferential option for the poor". It was founded in 1987 by Dr. Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl, Thomas J. White, Todd McCormack, and Dr...
, Red Cross
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human...
and UNICEF. She later appeared on a second public service announcement alongside sports icon Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
to raise funds for the World Food Programme's efforts to bring food to survivors of the earthquake. Later that year Aguilera made her first visit to Haiti as an ambassador against hunger where she visited two schools in the town of Léogâne
Léogane
Léogâne is a seaside town in Ouest Department, Haïti. It is located in the eponymous arrondissement, the Léogâne Arrondissement. The port town is located about West of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. The town was at the epicenter of the 12 January 2010 earthquake, and was catastrophically...
. During her time there she assisted in the ongoing efforts to help the badly damaged town where she served meals and highlighted reconstruction efforts in the country. That year, Aguilera was appointed UN ambassador
United States Ambassador to the United Nations
The United States Ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is more formally known as the "Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, with the rank and status of Ambassador...
for the WFP.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Shark Tale Shark Tale Shark Tale is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation. In the story, a young fish named Oscar falsely claims to have killed the son of a shark mob boss to win favour with the mob boss' enemies and advance his own community standing... |
Cameo appearance | |
| 2008 | Shine a Light Shine a Light (film) Shine a Light is a 2008 documentary film directed by Martin Scorsese documenting The Rolling Stones' 2006 Beacon Theatre performance on their A Bigger Bang Tour. The Scorsese film also includes archive footage from the band's career and marked the first utilisation by Scorsese of digital... |
Herself | Documentary |
| 2010 | Get Him to the Greek Get Him to the Greek Get Him to the Greek is a 2010 American comedy film written, produced, and directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. The film was released on June 4, 2010. Get Him to the Greek is a spin-off sequel of Stoller's 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, reuniting director... |
Herself | Cameo appearance |
| 2010 | Burlesque Burlesque (film) Burlesque is a 2010 musical film directed and written by Steven Antin and starring Christina Aguilera and Cher. The film was released on November 24, 2010 in North America.... |
Alice Marilyn "Ali" Rose | Film debut |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993– 1995 |
The Mickey Mouse Club | Herself/various roles | Season 6–7 |
| 1999 | Beverly Hills, 90210 Beverly Hills, 90210 Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise... |
Herself | "Let's Eat Cake" |
| 2000– 2006 |
Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture... |
Herself/various roles | Host, musical guest, 4 episodes |
| 2009 | Project Runway Project Runway Project Runway is an American reality television series on Lifetime Television, previously on the Bravo network, which focuses on fashion design and is hosted by model Heidi Klum. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted in time, materials and theme... |
Herself | Guest Judge, "Sequins, Feathers and Fur, Oh My!" |
| 2010 | Entourage Entourage (TV series) Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons... |
Herself | "Lose Yourself" |
| 2011– present |
The Voice The Voice (U.S. TV series) The Voice is an American reality talent show that premiered on April 26, 2011 on the NBC television network. Based on the reality singing competition The Voice of Holland, the series was created by Dutch television producer John de Mol. It is part of an international series... |
Herself | Coach and judge Returning series |
Discography
Studio albums- Christina AguileraChristina Aguilera (album)Christina Aguilera is the self-titled debut studio album by American pop singer Christina Aguilera released on August 24, 1999 in the United States by RCA Records...
(1999) - Mi ReflejoMi ReflejoMi Reflejo is the first Spanish-language studio album by American pop singer Christina Aguilera. It was released on September 12, 2000. Most of the album was produced by Rudy Pérez and includes Spanish versions of five songs from her debut album Christina Aguilera, as well as six new songs...
(2000) - My Kind of ChristmasMy Kind of ChristmasMy Kind of Christmas is the first Christmas album by American recording artist Christina Aguilera. It was released on October 24, 2000.- Background :...
(2000) - StrippedStripped (Christina Aguilera album)Stripped is the fourth studio album by American pop recording artist Christina Aguilera. It was released on October 26, 2002. It reached the top two of the album charts in both the United States and United Kingdom and features two UK number-one hits: "Dirrty" which gained criticism and controversy...
(2002) - Back to BasicsBack to Basics (Christina Aguilera album)Back to Basics is the third studio album by American recording artist Christina Aguilera, first released on August 10, 2006 by RCA Records...
(2006) - Bionic (2010)
- TBA (2012)
Compilation albums
- Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of HitsKeeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of HitsKeeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits is the first greatest hits album from American recording artist Christina Aguilera. The album was released on November 7, 2008 with the confirmation that a lead single named "Keeps Gettin' Better was released in September 9th 2008...
(2008)
Soundtrack albums
- BurlesqueBurlesque (soundtrack)Burlesque: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is a soundtrack album by Christina Aguilera and Cher from the film of the same name. It was released on November 22, 2010 by RCA Records. The first buzz single from the soundtrack "Express" was released on November 19, 2010. The other two singles from...
(2010)
Tours
Headlining- Christina Aguilera: In Concert (2000–01)
- Stripped World TourStripped World TourThe Stripped World Tour was the third concert tour by American singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera. The tour is a continuation of her Justified/Stripped Tour with Justin Timberlake. The tour was for her second studio album, Stripped and reached Europe, Asia, and Australia...
(2003) - Back to Basics TourBack to Basics TourThe Back to Basics Tour was the fourth concert tour by American recording artist Christina Aguilera. The tour supported her third studio album Back to Basics. It grossed over $90 million worldwide with 82 shows...
(2006–07)
Co-headlining
- Justified/Stripped Tour (2003) (with Justin TimberlakeJustin TimberlakeJustin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
)
See also
- List of Christina Aguilera tours
- List of best-selling music artists
- List of artists who reached number one in the United States
- List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
- List of awards and nominations received by Christina Aguilera
- Honorific nicknames in popular music
External links
- ChristinaAguilera.com – Christina Aguilera official website
- Twitter – Official Twitter account