Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears (born on December 2, 1981 and raised in Kentwood, United States) is a Grammy-winning multi-platinum American pop singer, songwriter, dancer and occasional actress. She debuted in 1998 with her single Play…Baby One More Time. Having sold more than 100 million records worldwide, she is one of the most influential and popular post-2000 icons of music, with five #1 albums on the Billboard 200 and The United World Chart. Spears is by far the most successful musician of her generation and one of the few young musicians to appear on lists of best selling music acts of all-time. She also holds several world records.
She has released nine albums to date:”…Baby One More Time” (1999), “Oops!…I Did It Again” (2000), “Britney” (2001), “In the Zone” (2003), “Greatest Hits: My Prerogative” (2004), “B in the Mix: the Remixes” (2005), “Blackout” (2007), “Circus” (2008), and “The Singles Collection” (2009).
As a child, Spears performed as a cast member of The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to 1994, along with Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera.
In July 2004, Spears became engaged to back-up dancer Kevin Federline. She and Federline were married on September 18 that same year. She also released a fragrance in September 2004, entitled Curious, and another, Fantasy, the following year. In early 2006, she released the limited edition fragrance In Control Curious. She released two more fragrances in 2007 and 2009 : Believe and Hidden Fantasy.
In 2005, she won her first Grammy award for ‘Best Dance Recording’ for her song “PlayToxic”. On September 14, 2005, Spears gave birth to her first child, a boy, named Sean Preston.
She appeared as a guest on Will and Grace in 2006. During an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman in May 2006, she announced that she was expecting once again. On September 12, 2006 Spears gave birth to her second child, a son named Jayden James.
On November 6, 2006 Spears filed for divorce from husband Kevin Federline. The divorce was finalized on July 30, 2007. During 2007, Britney continually lost more and more custody of her children, until her mental breakdown, which resulted in her taking Jayden hostage in a bathroom for over three hours, in Jan 08 stripped her of any visitations whatsoever for over a month. Visitations after the month were heavily monitored. Britney now shares 50/50 custody and will take her sons on tour with her.
On September 7, 2008, Spears opened the MTV Video Music Awards for the third time. Although having not performed, a skit with Jonah Hill was pre-taped, as well as an introduction speech to the official opening of the show. Spears won Best Female Video, Best Pop Video and Video Of The Year for “Piece of Me”.
MTV signed a deal with Spears and Jive records to release a documentary titled ‘For the Record’, which aired on November 30, 2008, two days before the release of Circus. The documentary was shot over three months and featured Britney discussing her personal life as well as her career.
In September 2009, Britney won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Pop Video for Womanizer.
In September 2009, Britney sang a cover of Alanis Morrisette’s “You Oughta Know” live. This was the first time Spears had sung live in over five years.