Christina Aguilera

The daughter of an Ecuador-born US Army sergeant and a Spanish teacher, Christina Aguilera had a troubled childhood growing up in Rochester, Pennsylvania after her parents' divorce. She dreamed of being a singer, entering various talent contests before coming to the attention of the American public as a 10-year-old in 1990 on the Star Search TV show. In 1993, she landed a slot on the Disney Channel series The New Mickey Mouse Club and went on to sing a track, Reflection, in the 1998 movie Mulan and the following year she released her self-titled debut album. It turned her into a sensation, producing three Number 1 US singles Genie In A Bottle, What A Girl Wants and Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You). Her raunchy image, a mixture of Hollywood glamour and Madonna flamboyance, caused notoriety while her driving techno pop made her a dance floor icon, with hits like Dirrty, Beautiful and Lady Marmalade.