Early life and career beginning

Christina María Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York, in December 18, 1980 to parents Fausto Xavier Aguilera and Shelly Loraine (née Fidler), a soldier in the United States Army and a violinist and pianist, respectively. Her father is Ecuadorian, while her American mother is of German, Irish, Welsh, and Dutch ancestry. Throughout her father's service in the Army, her family moved to various locations, including New Jersey, Texas, New York, and Japan. Her parents divorced when Aguilera was six years old. She, her mother, and her younger sister Rachel then lived at her grandmother's home inRochester, Pennsylvania, a town outside Pittsburgh; her mother later remarried. According to both Aguilera and her mother, her father was very controlling, as well as physically and emotionally abusive, while she used music as an escape from the abuses. Even though he has made several attempts to reconnect with her, Aguilera ruled out any chance of a reunion. Since then, her mother has married again and has changed her name.

As a child, Aguilera aspired to be a singer. She was known locally as "the little girl with the big voice", singing in local talent shows and competitions. At the age of 8, Aguilera won her first talent show performing Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". On March 15, 1990, she appeared on Star Search singing "A Sunday Kind of Love", but lost the competition at number 2. Soon after losing on Star Search, she returned home and appeared on Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV's Wake Up With Larry Richert to perform the same song. Throughout her youth in Pittsburgh, Aguilera sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, Pittsburgh Steelers football and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games, including during the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals. She attended Rochester Area School District and Marshall Middle School near Wexford. Her talent was kept a secret to avoid bullying from other children. Following her television appearances Aguilera experienced resentment and bullying including an incident in which her peers slashed the tires on her family's car. She attended North Allegheny Intermediate High School briefly until she was home schooled following several incidents. Aguilera recalls, "doing what I did and maybe being a little smaller, I was definitely picked on and bullied for the attention that I got. It was definitely unwanted attention and there was a lot of unfairness about it."

In 1991, Aguilera auditioned for a role on The Mickey Mouse Club; however, she did not meet the age requirements. Two years later, she joined the cast, performing musical numbers and sketch comedy, until the show's cancellation in 1994.Her co-stars included Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Ryan Gosling and Keri Russell where they nicknamed her "the Diva" for her performance style and voice. At the age of fourteen, Aguilera recorded her first song, "All I Wanna Do", a hit duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi. In 1997, she represented the United States at the international Golden Stag Festival with a two-song set. Aguilera entered talent contests on "teen night" at the Pegasus Lounge, a gay and lesbian nightclub in Pittsburgh.In 1998, Aguilera sent in a demo of her Whitney Houston's "Run to You" cover to Disney who were looking for a singer to record the song "Reflection" for their animated feature film Mulan (1998). The demo caught the attention of producer and label executive Ron Fair who would later mentor her throughout her career and led to Aguilera earning a contract with RCA Records the same week. "Reflection" peaked within the top twenty on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.