Britney Jean Spears (born
December 2,
1981) is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in
McComb, Mississippi, and raised in
Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as
a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She
signed with
Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album
...Baby One More Time in 1999, which
became the best-selling album by a teenage solo artist.
[2]
During her first decade in the music industry, she became a prominent figure in
mainstream popular music and popular culture, followed by a much-publicized
personal life. Her first two albums established her as a pop icon and broke
sales records, while title tracks "
...Baby One More Time" and "
Oops!... I Did It Again" became
international number-one hits. Spears was credited with influencing the revival
of
teen pop
during the late 1990s, and became the 'best-selling teen aged artist of all
time' before she turned 20,
[3]
garnering her the honorific title of "
Princess of Pop".
[4]
In 2001, she released her third studio album
Britney
and expanded her brand, playing the starring role in the film
Crossroads. She assumed creative control
of her fourth studio album,
In the Zone
(2003), which yielded chart-topping singles "
Me Against the Music", "
Toxic"
and "
Everytime".
After the release of two compilation albums, Spears experienced personal
struggles and her career went into hiatus. Her fifth studio album,
Blackout, was released in 2007
and despite receiving little promotion, it spawned hits "
Gimme More"
and "
Piece
of Me". In 2008, her erratic behavior and hospitalizations caused her
to be placed in a
conservatorship. The same year, her sixth studio
album
Circus was released, with the
global chart-topping lead single "
Womanizer", and hits such as "
Circus"
and "
If U Seek Amy". She embarked on her
highest-grossing global concert tour,
[5]
The Circus Starring Britney Spears,
in 2009. In October of the same year, she released a chart-topping single,
"
3",
which became her third single to reach number one on the
Billboard Hot
100. Her seventh studio album
Femme Fatale, released in
2011, has become the first of her albums to yield three top ten singles in the
United States, "
Hold It Against Me", "
Till the World Ends" and "
I Wanna Go".
The same year, she also gained her fifth number one single when she featured on
the remix of "
S&M" alongside
Rihanna.
Spears work has earned her
numerous
awards and accolades, including a
Grammy
Award, 6
MTV Video Music Awards including the
Lifetime Achievement Award, 9
Billboard Music Awards, and a star on
the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2009,
Billboard
ranked her as the 8th overall Artist of the Decade,
[6]
and also recognized her as the best-selling female artist of the first decade
of the 21st century, as well as the fifth overall.
[7]
The
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
also recognized Spears as the eighth
top-selling
female artist in the United States, with 33 million
certified albums.
[8] Nielsen
SoundScan ranked Spears the tenth best-selling digital artist of the
country, with more than 28.6 million digital singles as of January 2012.
[9]
She has sold over 100 million albums worldwide, making her one of the
best-selling music artists of
all time.
[10]
Rolling
Stone recognized her instant success as one of the Top 25 Teen Idol
Breakout Moments of all time,
[11]
while
VH1 ranked her
eleventh on their "100 Greatest Women in Music" list in 2012.
[12] Forbes also
revealed that Spears was the sixth most powerful celebrity, and the third best
paid musician of 2011-12, having topped the list back in 2002.
[13]
In Fall 2012, Spears will serve as a judge in the
second season of the
American version of
The X Factor.
[14]
Contents
Biography
1981–97: Early life, and career beginnings
1998–2000: ...Baby One More Time, and Oops!...
I Did It Again
2001–03: Britney, Crossroads, and In
the Zone
2004–07: Compilation albums, motherhood, personal
struggles, and Blackout
2008–10: Conservatorship, and Circus
2011–present: Femme Fatale and The X
Factor
Artistry
Musical
style, and performance
Following her debut, Spears was credited with leading the revival of
teen pop in
the late 1990s.
The Daily Yomiuri reported that "[m]usic
critics have hailed her as the most gifted teenage pop idol for many years, but
Spears has set her sights a little higher-she is aiming for the level of
superstardom that has been achieved by Madonna and
Janet
Jackson."
[188]
Rob Sheffield of
Rolling Stone wrote: "Britney Spears carries on
the classic archetype of the rock & roll teen queen, the dungaree doll, the
angel baby who just has to make a scene."
[189]
Rami Yacoub who co-produced Spears's debut album with lyricist Max Martin,
commented, "I know from
Denniz Pop and Max's previous productions, when we do
songs, there's kind of a nasal thing. With N' Sync and the Backstreet Boys, we
had to push for that mid-nasal voice. When Britney did that, she got this kind
of raspy, sexy voice."
[190]
Following the release of her debut album, Chuck Taylor of
Billboard
observed, "Spears has become a consummate performer, with snappy dance
moves, a clearly real-albeit young-and funkdified voice ... "
(You Drive Me) Crazy", her third
single ... demonstrates Spears's own development, proving that the
17-year-old is finding her own vocal personality after so many months of
steadfast practice."
[191]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic referred to her music as a "blend of
infectious, rap-inflected dance-pop and smooth balladry."
[192]
Spears later commented, "With
...Baby One More Time, I didn't get to
show my voice off. The songs were great, but they weren't very
challenging".
[193]
Influences
Throughout her career, Spears has drawn frequent comparisons to Madonna and
Janet Jackson, in terms of vocals, choreography and stage presence, citing both
as influences in her work. She has also named
Michael
Jackson as a source of inspiration.
[214]
According to Spears: "I know when I was younger, I looked up to people...
like, you know, Janet Jackson and Madonna. And they were major inspirations for
me. But I also had my own identity and I knew who I was, you know."
[215]
In the 2002 book
Madonnastyle by Carol Clerk, she is quoted saying:
"I have been a huge fan of Madonna since I was a little girl. She's the
person that I've really looked up to. I would really, really like to be a
legend like Madonna."
[216]
Discography
Filmography
|
Films
|
|
Year
|
Title
|
Role
|
Notes
|
|
2000
|
|
Flight attendant
|
Cameo appearance
|
|
2002
|
|
Herself
|
Cameo appearance
|
|
2002
|
|
Lucy Wagner
|
|
|
2004
|
|
Herself
|
|
|
Television
|
|
Year
|
Title
|
Character
|
|
1993–1994
|
|
Various Roles (Series regular)
|
|
1999
|
|
Herself
|
|
1999
|
|
Herself
|
|
1999
|
|
Herself
|
|
1999
|
|
Herself
|
|
1999
|
Médico de familia
|
Herself
|
|
1999
|
|
Herself
|
|
2000
|
|
Herself
|
|
2000
|
|
Herself
|
|
2002
|
|
Herself
|
|
2002
|
|
Donner (voice)
|
|
2002
|
|
Herself (host)
|
|
2003
|
|
Herself
|
|
2004
|
|
Herself
|
|
2006
|
|
Amber-Louise (1 episode)
|
|
2008
|
|
Abby (2 episodes)
|
|
2008
|
|
Herself
|
|
2010
|
|
Herself
|
|
2012
|
|
Judge
|
Tours
