Biography

Britney Spears, the name responsible for bringing in a new life to the pop culture of America is idolized by teenage girls in many parts of the world. Such is the extent of her fame that The RIAA ranked her as the sixth best-selling female artist in American music history. With over 83 million records sold worldwide from just 5 studio albums and 2 compilation albums to date in the span of just 10 years, Britney has marked her own niche in the eccentric world of boy bands and male singer fanatic world.

Britney Spears was born on December 2, 1981, in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana as a Southern Baptist. Her parents are Lynne Irene a former elementary school teacher, and Jamie Parnell Spears, a building contractor. Spears's brother Bryan works as a manager for the Spears family interests and her sister Jamie Lynn is an actress and singer.

Since an early age she has been enticed by the world of music and dance. In fact, she used to compete in state level competitions held for gymnasts at the age of 9 and was a regular at church choirs.

Career in Movies

With a series of talent and fair shows behind, Britney soon tried her luck at "The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989 TV series) [1989-1994]"when she turned 8, she was however refused on the grounds of being too young. Instead, Britney, her mother and baby sister moved to New York where she starred in several TV adverts and an off broad-way play "Ruthless", as the under-study of Natalie Portman. 2 years later she again auditioned for a part in Mickey Mouse and this time won the part along with her present day counterparts Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake. She was with the show from 1993 to 1994, until she turned 13. Later, when the show ended, Spears returned to Kentwood and attended high school for a year.

By the year 1997, she was associated with an all girl pop band Innocence and had already started distributing her music tapes to record companies like Sony and Mercury which rejected her initially. She was later signed on by Jives record company who released her first debut album in 1998 with the smash hit single “Hit me baby one more time” which whisked to number one position on all music charts including the Billboard Hot 100. As a matter of fact, Britney holds the record of selling 25 million copies of her debut album as a teenager which hasn’t been broken yet.

The album also won her four Billboard Music Awards, including Female Artist of the Year. She took home the Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist award at the American Music Awards in 1999 and also received two nominations in the categories of Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2000 Grammy Awards.

Her second album, "Oops!… I Did It Again”, in 2000 became a top ten hit in the U.S. and other countries and won her many awards respectively. The sales record for this album too was like the earlier one which elevated her to the top of success mantle.

By this time, Britney’s personal life was gaining more popularity than her professional one. Her rollercoaster relationship with Justin Timberlake, her inclination towards extra exposure and use of animals in one of her performances and above all her claims to remain virgin till marriage were beginning to make teenage girls parents worried over the effect she was having on their children.

Her third album, Britney came out in November 2001. Although not as successful as her previous albums, she assumed some creative control by co-writing five of the album's tracks. It surpassed Michael Jackson's album Invincible when it made a successful debut at number one in the U.S. by selling 745,744 units during its first week. The album's success made her the only female artist in music history to have her first three albums debut at number one.
In November 2003, Spears released her fourth studio album, In the Zone, which further led the downfall of her career that started sloping down with her third album.This was the time when Britney got married to childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander in 2004 on a spree and shocked the world with annulling the marriage just after 55 hours.

She later got engaged and later married to Kevin Federline, and geared up for her fifth studio album Blackout. November 2004 saw the release of her first greatest hits collection, Greatest Hits: My Prerogative. And she soon decided to take a career break to start a family.

She took up tours around the world for the promotion of this record. And in November 2005, Spears released her first remix album, B in the Mix: the Remixes. Meanwhile, her personal life was going havoc with her filing for divorce in November, 2007 and the ugly turn in her children’s custody case. Her breakdown few months later compelled the court to hand in the custody of her children to her ex husband.

Despite her staying in rehab and the rather controversial events in her life, Britney Spears is still famous among her ardent fans and one hope that she will bounce back soon to the same heights as before.