Anna Louise Golden - Christina Aguilera: An Unauthorized Biography

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Once again, and forever, Im completely indebted to a wonderful agent, Madeleine Morel. Weve worked together on a number of books now, and shes always there, on my side and relentless. With her there, I feel like the luckiest writer in America.

Jennifer Weis, my editor on this book, has given superb support, as has her assistant, Joanna Jacobs. Im extremely grateful to them both for the work theyve put into this. We might not have worked together before, but I hope this is the start of a long association.

A writer might work alone, but theres always a network of family and friends whose help is invaluable. My mum and dad are always brilliant, and its lovely to receive the e-mails every day and know whats going on back home. Lee and Greg (happy 18th, Greg!), Kevin, Kevan, and a whole host of others who have indirectly contributed to this work. Last, but never least, a million kisses to L&G for always being a part of me.

The following pieces were very helpful in the creation of this book: Teen Genie, by Janet Weeks, in TV Guide; Genie Behind Bottle by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times; Christina Aguilera, by Larry Flick, Billboard; From Mickey to Genie, YM; Uncorking the Genie, by Sophronia Scott Gregory and Hayes Ferguson, People, Sept 27, 1999; The Magic Touch, by Marc Ehrman; Christinas World, by David E. Thigpen, Time, August 16, 1999; One Talented Teen, by Andy Smith, Providence Journal; MTV News interview; Ex-Mouseketeer a Hit in Rat Race, by Arlene Vigoda, USA Today, February 1999; Bottle Rocket, by Chris Willman, Entertainment Weekly, September 17, 1999; Christina Aguilera, by Lori Majewski, Teen People, November 1999.

Introduction

The genie is out of the bottle, and theres no way shes ever going back in. Not now, when shes had a Number One single and an album that debuted at the top of the Billboard charts. Theres no going back.

The genie, of course, is Christina Aguilera. The first thing you notice, of course, is hair, so blond, so cool and then big blue eyes, so huge and sweet. Shes nineteen and lovely, but more to the point, she has all the talent in the world in her voice. People have compared her to Mariah Carey, and its a very fair comparison, even if Christina doesnt get as carried away in her high range. The girl can definitely sing.

From Staten Island to Pennsylvania to Disney, Japan, and Transylvania (yes, honestly), she made a name for herself all over the globe before coming home and making it so real on the charts. The song she sang in Mulan, Reflection, was the kind of ballad she loves, and it helped her break through to the big time in America. Anyone who heard it couldnt fail to be moved by it.

It was certainly enough to make record companies perk up their ears, and chase after Christinas signature. And the result was the kind of thing dreams are made of.

Im so excited that my head is spinning! she says now, and its perfectly understandable. When youve had your first single spend five weeks at Number One, and your debut album enter right at the top of the charts, the world simply cant be quite the same place anymore.

Of course, all that is a major cause for rejoicing. But its only the tip of the iceberg. The simple fact is that, with such a voice, Christina Aguilera is going to be around for a long, long time. This is the start of what will be a huge career. In a few years the people say Christina who? when you mention her name will have her records and know the words to her songs. Shell be a household name, the way Whitney and Mariah are now.

For now, though, what shes accomplished in 1998 is more than enough. Its quite the achievement for a new artist, although Christina has paid her dues to get where she is. Shes been working toward this for ten whole years, since she was eight and first appeared on Star Search. But even before that there were school talent shows and home.

From there it was just up and up. At that time, Christina was living in Wexford, one of the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and becoming very well known around town by singing everywhere and anywhere she could. She sang the National Anthem at football games and hockey games. She knew she had talent, and so did her parents. They believed in her, and encouraged her to make the most of her gifts.

By the time she was twelve, she was more than ready for the next step. There was little else she could do around Wexford that she hadnt already done. She needed new challenges, something to push her harder. And she found it in Mickey Mouse.

The original Mickey Mouse Club, in the 1950s, was a television show familiar to millions. It had eventually gone off the air, but to a generation, the Mouseketeers were like family. It was a feeling Disney was keen to resurrect, and so The New Mickey Mouse Club was born. When it started, Christina was much too young to even think of auditioning. But by 1992 she had age and plenty of experience, and landed a partwhich meant a move to Orlando, Florida, where the studio was based.

The New Mickey Mouse Club would prove to be an amazing incubator of young talent. Not only was Christina a part of the cast, there was also Britney Spears, who would reach her own fame and fortune the same year as Christina; Keri Russell, who found a television home playing the title role in Felicity; and Justin Timberlake and JC Chase, whod both become massive stars all over the world as part of N Sync.

Christina was part of the gang at Disney for two years, which gave her ample opportunity to sharpen her singing and entertaining skills. But, great as it was to be working there, and wonderful as the rest of the cast was, eventually she needed to be able to push herself harder, and to concentrate on her singing.

That chance came not in America, but in Japan. The professionalism shed learned in Orlando helped when she joined Japanese pop star Keizo Nakanishi to record a duet, All I Wanna Do. Christina was also featured in the songs video, and toured with Nakanishi, performing to large crowdshardly surprising, since the song was a major hit over there.

But 1995 didnt only see her becoming big in Japan. On the strength of the song, she was booked to appear at the Golden Stag Festival in Transylvania, Romania. She wasnt pursued by vampires, or even villagers with stakes, but she did manage to cause a riot.

One thing artists rarely do at a festival is go into the crowd. Yes, its asking for trouble, but it also blurs the line between performer and audience. Christina, though, had no qualms about meeting her fanswhile she was singing, which was pretty impressive, since she was only due to perform two songs. And by doing it, she upstaged people with a lot more experience than her, like Sheryl Crow and Diana Ross, who both had to follow her, and try and calm the crowd whod become so excited when this girl joined them.

As a performer, it was something of a high point for Christinaat least so far. She was still basically an unknown, but shed managed to get 10,000 people eating out of her handnot bad when youre only fifteen.

From there, it was back to a relatively normal life, or as normal as life can get for someone with a remarkably mature voice and the ambition to do something with it. Her manager was trying to put together deals, but at that point the record industry wasnt interested in teenagers, not realizing the teen revolution that was about to break.