Britney's A Bonafide Pop Phenomenon

Britney Jean Spears was born on December 2, 1981. She is a Grammy Award-winning pop artist. Though she has had acting and writing credits, she is primarily known for her studio albums, music videos, chart-topping pop songs, and provocative stage performances. Her first single hit, “…Baby One More Time,” hit #1 in 1998.

Born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, Spears was an accomplished gymnast competing in state-level competitions before breaking out into the music scene. Spears earned public renown when she joined the New Mickey Mouse Club in the early 90’s. In 1992, she would win the first round of Star Search, but would lose in the second round. After the show ended, Spears took a five year break before storming the music scene. Spears’ debut album, “Baby One More Time” sold over 28 million copies worldwide, propelled by its lead single, “…Baby One More Time”, as well as the follow up hit single, “(You Drive Me) Crazy”. Spears’ sophomore album, “Oops!...I Did It Again” would go on to sell 24 million units worldwide, led by hit singles such as “Opps!...I Did It Again”, “Lucky”, and “Stronger”. By the early 2000’s, she had gained huge commercial success and public appeal, inking deals with big companies such as Pepsi.

In late 2001, Spears released her third album, “Britney”, which would go on to sell over 746,000 copies in its first week in the U.S. The success of Spears’ third album debut made her the only female ever in SoundScan history to have her first three albums debut at #1 on the charts. The “Britney” album would go on to sell 15 million copies worldwide. The following year, Britney would star in a movie, Crossroads, which would reach second place on U.S. box-office charts in its opening weekend. The film, however would not last long in the top ten. Her highly-publicized relationship with former ‘N Sync front man and former Mouseketeer, Justin Timberlake, ended in March of 2002.

In November 2003, Spears released her fourth album, “In the Zone,” which would become her fourth album to debut at the top of the album charts. To date, “In the Zone” has sold about 10 million units worldwide. In 2004, Spears would debut with her first perfume, “Curious,” which would net more than $100 million in sales in its first year of sales. In late 2004, Spears’ first greatest hits album, “Greatest Hits: My Prerogative” was released. The album would go on to sell a total of 8 million copies worldwide. That same year, Spears married dancer and hopeful rapper Kevin Federline, with whom she had her first child. She is currently pregnant with the couple’s second child, which is due in September.

In September 2005, Spears released her second fragrance, “Fantasy,” which also became a top-selling perfume. During the spring of 2005, Spears and Federline launched their own five-episode reality show, Britney and Kevin: Chaotic, which premiered on UPN to sub-par ratings and reviews by critics. In late 2005, Spears released a remix album, B in the Mix: The Remixes. The album, which received minimal promotion, debuted outside the top 100, but to date has sold over a million units worldwide. In February 2006, Spears joined the cast of NBC’s Will & Grace as a guest star and released limited edition perfume, “In Control”. In May 2006, Spears would announce her second pregnancy on The Late Show with David Letterman. Spears, most recently sat down with Matt Lauer in an interview with Matt Lauer aired on The Today Show. In the interview, Spears made public that she would not release a studio album for at least one more year. One June 20, 2006, Spears released on her official website, the chorus to a new song from her, entitled “Rebellion”. Three days later, a 50 second clip of the song was posted.