Christina María Aguilera (/ˌæɡɪˈlɛərə/, Spanish: [aɣiˈleɾa];[1] born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, one Latin Grammy Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Aguilera ranked at number 58 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time in 2008, and was included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013. With estimated sales of 100 million records, she is one of the world's best-selling music artists.[2]
Born in Staten Island of New York City and raised in Pennsylvania, Aguilera appeared on television shows in her early years before signing a recording contract with RCA Records in 1998. Her self-titled debut album, released in 1999, reached number one in the US and spawned three US number-one singles: "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants", and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)". While recognized as a prominent figure in the contemporary teen pop scene, Aguilera sought to assume artistic control with Stripped (2002) and its lead single "Dirrty", which displayed her sexuality. The second single from the album, "Beautiful", received favorable response for its empowering lyrics and became an anthem for the LGBT community.
Aguilera scored her second US number-one album with Back to Basics (2006), which drew inspiration from early 20th-century jazz, soul, and blues, and spawned the top-ten singles "Ain't No Other Man", "Hurt", and "Candyman". Her next three albums, Bionic (2010), Lotus (2012), and Liberation (2018), all experimented with various musical styles and reached the top ten in the US. Besides solo materials, Aguilera earned chart-topping entries with collaborations including "Lady Marmalade", "Moves like Jagger", "Feel This Moment", "Say Something" and "Hoy Tengo Ganas de Ti". Alongside her music career, Aguilera starred in the film Burlesque (2010) and was a coach on six seasons of the singing competition television series The Voice from 2011 to 2016.
Aguilera has credited blues singer Etta James as her main influence and inspiration, elaborating, "Etta is my all-time favorite singer. I've said it for the last seven years – since I had my first debut record out – in every interview".[181] Following James' death in 2012, Aguilera was asked to perform "At Last" at James' funeral.[182] Prior to the performance, Aguilera revealed, "There's a line in this song that says 'I found a dream that I could speak to.' And for me that dream, all my life, has been Etta James".[183] Other classic artists, including Billie Holiday, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, and Ella Fitzgerald, also influenced Aguilera; her fifth studio album Back to Basics, which was inspired by those artists' vintage jazz, blues and soul music records
