Christina Maria Aguilera was born on December 18th, 1980, to parents Jim, a military father of Ecuadorian descent, and Shelly, an Irish professional violinist/pianist. Growing up with her brothers and sisters in Wexford, Pennsylvania, Christina always knew that she wanted to be a performer. Only in her early 20's, this blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty may have gotten more than she bargained for.
Her career as a singer started when she began performing at her school's talent shows. She took her soulful voice to the Star Search stage, (like her singing counterpart, CHRISTINA AGUILERA), and performed on national telelvision. The next time she performed in front of a live audience was when she sang the National Anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins.
At the age of 12, Christina landed a coveted spot on the popular variety show The Mickey Mouse Club as a "Mousketeer," with fellow castmates CHRISTINA AGUILERA, Keri Russell, and J.C. Chasez and Justin Timberlake from the boy band *N Sync.
After her two-year stint on The Mickey Mouse Club, Christina traveled to Japan in 1998, where she recorded a duet with Japanese star Keizo Nakanishi, and later toured in Japan. Her next public performance was at the Golden Stag Festival in Transylvania, Romania, joining Sheryl Crow and Diana Ross, who were also on the playlist.
As if overnight, Christina became a star. It all started when she sent a demo tape to the producers of the Disney animated feature, Mulan, after having been invited to audition for the part. All the studio needed to hear was her home recorded demo tape, in which Christina sang karaoke to Whitney Houston's hit "I Wanna Run to You," and the studio executives knew that they had found the wide-range voice that they were looking for.
