Britney Spears

Occupation: Singer

Britney Spears was born in Kentwood, Louisiana, U.S.A. on December 2nd 1981. "Even as a little baby, Britney was a real darling…she was always being noticed." Says Lynne Spears, Britney's Mom. Lynne has even said that Britney was dancing around at the early age of two. In fact, Britney's parents believed in her abilities so much that Lynne would drive two hours everyday just so Britney could attend gymnastics classes. Although gymnastics was a fun pastime for Britney--the uneven bars and floor exercise were her favorites--she found that she wasn't nearly as strong as the other girls and although she practiced over three hours a day, the moves didn't come near as easy to her. Giving up on gymnastics was a total loss, however, as Britney soon found out that it had developed her skills as a dancer. Changing her goals, the future queen of pop performed at her first talent show at the early age of six. By the time she was nine, she was already traveling around to different dance competitions performing in the jazz lyrical dancing category. Gymnastics and dancing at an early age wasn't the only preparation she did for her future career--Lynne has said that Britney could be found singing all the time. The song "What Child is This" was her first key to stardom--she sang it at her kindergarten graduation. It wasn't until later that Lynne realized that Britney could have a future in singing, when Britney was bouncing around on the trampoline. On top of Britney's singing and dancing as a young child, she also competed in beauty pageants. At five she won first place in the Kentwood Dairy Festival; at seven, she was awarded silver first-prize for Miss Talent USA. And that's not all--the Spears' home is filled with other trophies Britney has
collected over the years.

Her first real lead was in a comedy called Ruthless. In 1992, Britney left Ruthless and landed a spot on Star Search. She won the first round, but was beaten by another contestant in the second. This setback didn't deter Miss Spears, who knew in her heart that she was destined for greater things. Finally, Britney returned to audition for the MMC again; except this time she was offered a job! Along with Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Christina Aguilera, and Kari Russell, Britney rapped, sang, and danced through over 110 skits on the show. After two years, in 1994, MMC was canceled, leaving Britney to wonder what was next.

hortly after, Jive went to work on Britney's first album. The eleven tracks on her freshmen album were recorded all over the world: from Sweden at Max Martin's studio to New Jersey, where she worked with Eric Foster White. After the production on her CD was finished, Jive set forth on promoting their newest artist. Months before her album came out Britney's name was on teenager's lips everywhere. She even embarked on a mini-tour throughout malls in the US to promote her yet-to-be released CD. Britney then landed the coveted spot as *N Sync's opening act on their 1998 tour. But, that was only the edge of the iceberg for Britney. Her fifth studio album, Blackout, was released in October 2007. It debuted at the top of charts in Canada and Ireland, number two in the U.S. Billboard 200,—held off from the top spot by Eagles's Long Road out of Eden— France, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom and the top ten in Australia, Korea, New Zealand and many European nations. In the United States, Spears became the only female artist to have her first five studio albums debut at the two top slots of the chart.

On January 3, 2008, Spears refused to relinquish custody of her sons to Federline's representatives. She was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, after police that arrived at her house noted she appeared to be under the influence of an illicit substance. The following day, Spears's visitation rights were suspended at an emergency court hearing, and Federline was given sole physical and legal custody of the children. On January 31, 2008, Spears was committed to the psychiatric ward of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and put on 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold. She released her second greatest hits album, The Singles Collection in November 2009. "3" became her third number one single in the US, and was the first song to debut at the top of the charts in three years. Later that month, she released an application for iPhone and iPod Touch titled "It's Britney!".In May 2010, Spears's representatives confirmed she was dating her agent Jason Trawick, and that they had decided to end their professional relationship to focus on their personal relationship.[Spears designed a limited edition clothing line for Candie's, which was released in stores in July 2010.On September 28, 2010, she made a cameo appearance on a Spears-themed tribute episode of American TV show Glee, titled "Britney/Brittany". Spears approved of the episode, although her appearances received mixed reviews from critics.The episode drew Glee's second largest audience, as well as the show's highest ratings ever. pears' public image was dealt more blows in early 2008 when she lost custody of her children, made several court appearances, and was placed on involuntary psychiatric hold two times in one month. Blackout nevertheless won several MTV-sponsored awards, including Album of the Year from the Europe Music Awards in November 2008. That same fall, the leadoff single from Spears' next record, "Womanizer," became her first number one single in nearly a decade. The full-length Circus arrived in December, featuring a mix of syrupy ballads and uptempo dance numbers that were designed to fuel Spears' comeback. In 2009, the single "3" followed "Womanizer" to the top, and appeared on her career-spanning compilation The Singles Collection. In 2011, Spears returned with the studio album Femme Fatale, featuring the single "Hold It Against Me." Steve Huey, Rovi