Encyclopedia
Britney Jean Spears is a Grammy Award-winning artist and an
American pop singer,
dancer, and occasional
actress, author, and songwriter. She is best known for her studio albums, music videos, and pop songs such as "...Baby One More Time", "
Oops!...I Did It Again" and "Toxic".
Spears has sold over seventy-six million records worldwide according to
TIME magazine. Having thirty-one million
RIAA-certified albums sold in the U.S., Spears ranks as the eighth best-selling female artist in American music history and the best-selling artist in her label
Jive Records.
Spears first came to fame as a member of the
The New Mickey Mouse Club in the early 1990s, after which she took a five-year break from entertainment. She subsequently emerged at the forefront of the
pop music scene in late 1998, thanks to her chart-topping debut album,
...Baby One More Time, which was crafted by producer-songwriter
Max Martin. Her second album,
Oops!...I Did It Again is the second studio album [i] from American [i] pop music [i] ...
, which was released the following year, was a similarly huge hit.
In the early 2000s, Spears' success as a singer led her way to high-profile
advertising deals, most notably for
Pepsi, as well as forays into other forms of media, including
film and
reality television. Along with her highly-publicized relationship with
*NSYNC's
Justin Timberlake, her third and fourth albums were released during this era and included more artistic input from Spears, but yielded lower sales. In 2004, she married dancer and aspiring
rap artist
Kevin Federline and the following year she gave birth to their son, Sean Preston. On September 12, 2006, she gave birth to her second son, Sutton Pierce Federline.
Biography
Childhood and discovery
Spears was born and raised
Southern Baptist in
Kentwood,
Louisiana. Her parents are James Parnell Spears, a building contractor, and Lynne Irene Bridges , a former grade school
teacher. Spears's brother, Bryan , is one of her managers, and her sister, Jamie-Lynn , is an
actress and singer. Her maternal grandmother, Lillian Woolmoore , was an
English war-bride, who met Spears's maternal grandfather, Barnett O'Field Bridges , in England during WWII, and subsequently moved with him to the U.S. Her paternal grandparents were June Austin Spears and Emma Jean Forbes ; Spears claims to have some
Native American heritage.
Spears was an accomplished gymnast, attending
gymnastics classes until age nine and competing in state-level competitions. She performed in local dance revues and her local Baptist church choirs, and was auditioning for the
Disney Channel's
The New Mickey Mouse Club by the time she was eight. Although she was considered too young to join the series at the time, a producer on the show introduced her to a
New York agent. Spears subsequently spent three summers at NYC's Professional Performing Arts School and also appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions, including 1991's
Ruthless!. In 1992, she landed a spot on
Star Search, and though she won the first round, she lost in the second . Spears then returned to the Disney Channel for a spot on the
New Mickey Mouse Club and was accepted. She was featured in the 1993–1994 seasons from the ages of 11–13. She performed several backflips for the
New Mickey Mouse Club, which she would later repeat for the "...Baby One More Time" video. Other performers on the show included
Justin Timberlake, future boyfriend of Spears, and
Joshua Chasez , Keri Russell , fellow pop singer
Christina Aguilera, and actor
Ryan Gosling. A few years later, Spears recorded a demo, which landed in the hands of a
Jive Records executive. She was signed to their label and began touring American venues for a series of concerts sponsored by American teen magazines, before joining
*NSYNC and becoming their opening act.
1998–2000: Early commercial success
Towards the end of 1998, Spears' debut single "...Baby One More Time" began to appear on radio stations and music television networks. Led by a music video that featured the 1.63 m brown-eyed bottle blonde in a
schoolgirl outfit, the song became an international success, earning platinum sales and going to number one in both the U.S. and
UK, among several other countries. Released in early 1999, her debut album
...Baby One More Time topped the charts in several countries, including the U.S. .
Spears was featured on the cover of
Rolling Stone is an American [i] magazine [i] devoted to music [i], politics [i] and popular culture [i] ...
magazine in April 1999. The photo shoot triggered widespread speculation that the still-seventeen-year-old had opted to have
breast implants. That summer, she kicked off her first headlining tour, the
...Baby One More Time Tour. By late 1999, Spears had become one of the year's biggest stars, a claim backed-up by the amount of award nominations she received that season. In December, she took home four Billboard Music Awards including one for Female Artist of the Year, and the next month won for Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist at the American Music Awards. At the
Grammy Awards, held in February 2000, Spears received two nominations, including one for Best New Artist, losing out to
Christina Aguilera.
Following the short-lived
Crazy 2K Tour, the lead single from Spears' second album, "
Oops!... I Did It Again", was released. The song broke a record for most radio station adds in a single day and quickly became a U.S. top ten hit and number one single in other countries. Released in May 2000, the album
Oops!... I Did It Again is the second studio album [i] from American [i] pop music [i] ...
debuted at number one in the U.S., where it sold over 1.3 million units during its first week . Concerning both musical content and sales, the album was very similar to Spears' debut, although it fared better with critics. "Oops..." also had input from country queen
Shania Twain, who penned the track
Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know with husband Mutt Lange. Twain, arguably the most successful female in terms of album sales and exposure in the late 90s, contributed her adult-40 brand of country-crossover infusion to the record. The lyrics of the song also pay homage to fellow blonde superstar Madonna, as in "come on baby, come on darling," an obvious ode to Madonna's "Borderline."
Spears kicked off her first world tour in the summer of 2000, and co-wrote the book
Britney Spears' Heart-to-Heart is a 2000 book [i] written by pop music [i] singer [i] Britney Spears [i] ...
with her mother, Lynne. During a performance at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, she ripped off a black suit to reveal a provocative nude-colored and crystal-adorned outfit that generated controversy due to her young age. In late 2000, she won two Billboard Music Awards, and in early 2001, she was nominated for two American Music Awards. At the Grammys, one of her two nominations was for
Oops!... I Did It Again in the category of Best Pop Vocal Album, but again she did not win.
2001–2003: Career development
In early 2001, Spears struck a
USD$7–8 million promotional deal with the soft drink giant
Pepsi. In September of the same year, she performed at the MTV Video Music Awards, and in addition to criticism for being scantily clad, she angered animal rights organization PETA for the use of animals, including an albino
python, in her performance.
In November, she released her third album
Britney. It debuted at number one on both the U.S. and Canadian charts, selling over 740,000 units during its first week in the U.S. The success of this album made Spears the only female artist in SoundScan history to have her first three albums debut at number one. Although four million copies of the record have been sold in the U.S. , it was a decline from the sales of her first two albums, and the lead single "
I'm a Slave 4 U" was the album's only hit in the U.S.
Britney was the first album on which Spears assumed some creative control; she co-wrote five of the album's tracks. To help promote the album, Spears embarked on the
Dream Within a Dream Tour during the same year.
In 2001,
Fort Worth,
Texas KEGL-FM DJs Kramer and Twitch on created a panic for her fans when they falsely reported that she and her then-boyfriend, 'NSYNC's Justin Timberlake, were in a car accident involving a pretzel truck and that she had died in the crash. In reality, they were both alive and well and had not been in any car wreck. Later, in October 2001, a website spoofing CNN also stated that she had been killed in a car crash.
In February 2002, Spears had her first starring role in the film,
Crossroads. The next month, Spears' four-year relationship with
Justin Timberlake ended. The break-up was publicized, with rumors circulating that Spears had been unfaithful. Timberlake himself left the impression that she had cheated on him through his song "Cry Me a River", and its subsequent music video. In response to this, Spears later said, "I'm not technically saying he's wrong, but I'm not technically saying he's right, either."
Afterward, despite Spears' claims that she had remained a
virgin ? and wished to remain one until marriage ? Timberlake insisted they had
sex during their relationship. Spears later acknowledged this to be true, saying, "It was two years into my relationship with Justin, and I thought he was the one. But I was wrong!"
In June 2002, Spears branched out as a restaurateur with the opening of a
New York City eatery, NYLA, which was named for its mix of
New York and
Louisiana cuisine. It was not a success and closed the following year. Soon after these failures, Spears took a break from the spotlight, and in 2003 many music industry critics speculated her career was in decline. That same year,
Forbes named Spears the most powerful celebrity in the world.
Spears returned to the spotlight in August 2003 when she performed at the MTV Video Music Awards with her idol Madonna, pop singer
Christina Aguilera and rapper
Missy Elliott. Spears and Aguilera performed Madonna's song "
Like a Virgin", danced suggestively and each locked lips with Madonna . Spears' kiss with Madonna attracted publicity that lasted several months.
In 2003, Britney Spears began studying
Jewish mysticism, also called
Kabbalah, and became a member of the Kabbalah Centre after having been introduced to Jewish mysticism by friend and mentor Madonna. Soon after joining, Britney's mother Lynne became a member, and Britney had a
Hebrew tattoo inked onto her neck representing one of the seventy-two names of
God in Kabbalah. Britney previously had a Kabbalah-inspired Hebrew tattoo inked onto her neck that was proved to be meaningless in an incident that was her second tattoo-related mishap; in the first, she had Japanese characters inked onto her leg that she thought to mean "mysterious" - it actually said "strange."
November 2003 saw the release of Spears' fourth studio album,
In the Zone. Jettisoning the
Max Martin-produced
synthpop of her earlier releases, the album took in lesser-known producers such as RedZone and big names including
Moby and
R. Kelly. Spears co-wrote nine of the album's thirteen songs and co-produced some of her material for the first time.
In the Zone went to the top of the U.S. charts in its debut week, selling over 609,000 copies. This made Spears the only female in music history to have her first four albums debut at number one. The album spawned the international number one and U.S. top ten hit, "Toxic", which won Spears her first Grammy in the category of Best Dance Recording.
On January 3, 2004, Spears married her childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander at The Little White Wedding Chapel on the
Las Vegas Strip in
Las Vegas, Nevada. Spears wore jeans and a baseball cap and the bellhop walked her down the aisle. An
annulment was promptly arranged and was granted on January 5, ending their fifty-five hour marriage. The annulment request stated that Spears "lacked understanding of her actions to the extent that she was incapable of agreeing to marriage because before entering into the marriage the Plaintiff and Defendant did not know each others likes and dislikes, each others desires to have or not have children, and each others desires as to State of residency." Spears later explained, "Honestly, I really wanted to see what it was like to be married."
In 2004, Spears embarked on her fourth world tour,
The Onyx Hotel Tour. The tour grossed over US$34 million and was seen by over 600,000 fans in
North America and
Europe, but the remaining dates were cancelled in June, after Spears injured her knee during the filming of the video for the single "
Outrageous". She was taken to an undisclosed hospital, where she received an
MRI that showed floating cartilage in her knee. The following thirty-seven stops on the tour were canceled, costing Spears US$750,000 to US$1,000,000 a night in guaranteed fees from concert promoters.
In July 2004, Spears announced her
engagement to
dancer
Kevin Federline, three months after they met at a club in
Hollywood. Their whirlwind romance sparked criticism due to the fact that Federline had very recently been in a relationship with
actress Shar Jackson, who was still pregnant with their second child. On the night of September 18, 2004, Spears married Federline before twenty-seven guests in a surprise, non-denominational ceremony at a residence in Studio City, California. The legitimacy of the marriage was initially questioned, but on November 18, 2004, a representative of the Los Angeles County registrar's office confirmed Spears and Federline had successfully filed their
marriage license with the county within ten days of their ceremony, and were therefore legally married. Initially, Spears refused to sign a prenuptial agreement with Federline but her family and manager Larry Rudolph forced her to sign the prenup. A short time after the wedding, Spears fired Rudolph for allegedly interfering with her maritial affairs. After initially spending their honeymoon in Spears' hometown of
Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears wrote on her official site that, "Unfortunately, we couldn't take our honeymoon right after the wedding because of the closing on our new house." In October 2004, they flew to
Fiji.
2004–present: Career hiatus and family
During the latter half of 2004, Spears announced she would be taking another career break in order to start a family. Immediately after her marriage to Federline, she had told
People, "I want to be a young mom. Next year, at 23, I'm so there." Although she made few public appearances, the 'Britney Spears industry' continued to run itself.
Spears publicly declared her trust in
President George W. Bush, as reported in an interview on
Crossfire and featured in the film
Fahrenheit 9/11 is an award-winning and controversial documentary film [i] by American [i] ...
by
Michael Moore: "Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens." However, news leaked in the press that top U.S. politicians banned her from appearing at the Republican Convention in August 2004 stating "We are a serious political party, and really don't need the likes of Britney to promote us. Besides, with the headlines she's been recently attracting, we think she'd do more harm than good. We don't get what Britney has to offer our cause."
In September 2004, Spears released her first
fragrance, "Curious", for which she earned a reported US$12 million. After one year of sales, the product netted more than US$100 million.
Following the success of "Curious", Spears released her next
Elizabeth Arden fragrance, "Fantasy", in September 2005.
Spears' first hits collection,
, was released in late 2004. The album debuted at number four on the U.S. charts. In addition to her biggest hits, it featured three new songs, including "
My Prerogative" and "
Do Somethin'". During the spring of 2005, Spears'
reality show with husband Kevin Federline,
, premiered on
UPN in the U.S. The five-episode series credited Spears and Federline as executive producers.
Chaotic was panned by most critics, and ratings were not as high as expected. The series was later released on
DVD in September. The DVD included a bonus music disc which featured her newest single and music video at that point in her career, "Someday ".
Spears announced her
pregnancy via her official website in April 2005. That month she was rushed to a hospital in
Destin,
Florida, where she spent forty-eight hours under a doctor's surveillance. Spears later told
People, "There was just a little bit of bleeding, but we went there, and everything was fine." Despite her eagerness to have a baby, she admitted to
ELLE magazine that, "I have a feeling I'm going to have an operation. I don't know why. But I hope so. I don't want to go through the pain." On September 14, 2005, 6 lb. 11oz. baby boy Sean Preston Federline was born in the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center in
Santa Monica,
California, by a scheduled
caesarean section. Two days later, Spears and her son were released from the hospital and back at home in their 9,000-sq.-ft.
Malibu, California mansion.
The birth of Spears' son was the inspiration behind a
statue by
Daniel Edwards,
Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston, which was unveiled in March 2006. The statue features an idealised Spears giving birth in a provocative pose while hunched on all fours and clutching a bearskin rug. Controversy was further stoked by it being partly supported by the Manhattan Right to Life Committee. The statue has in no way been recognized by Spears and is therefore unofficial. It has also sparked controversy as Spears gave birth by
caesarean section, unlike the natural birth depicted in the statue.
Since the birth of her first child, Spears' career had remained relatively low-profile. In late 2005, Jive released a remix album entitled
. It lacked promotion of any kind in the U.S. and debuted outside the top one hundred, with less than 15,000 copies sold in its first week of release. The remix album spawned the international and
U.S. Hot Dance Airplay hit single, "And Then We Kiss".
Spears made a guest appearance on
Will & Grace was a popular Emmy Award [i]-winning American [i] television situation comedy [i]...
in March 2006. In May 2006, she announced her second pregnancy with a surprise appearance on
The Late Show with David Letterman is an hour-long weeknight comedy [i] talk show [i] broadcast by CBS [i]...
.
Spears appeared on
Dateline NBC in June 2006 to discuss
tabloid rumors about an impending divorce from her husband, future career plans, her emotional state and motherhood. In response to the controversy over her driving with her infant son unrestrained in her lap, Spears told
The Today Shows
Matt Lauer that, "I did it with my dad. I'd sit on his lap and I drive. We're country." She also addressed the concerns over her parenting skills, saying, "I know I'm a good mom." It was confirmed in the interview that she will not release a studio album for at least another year, saying that she would like to wait until her children get older. She also confirmed a new
baby clothes line, entitled "Baby's All Rock 'n' Roll".
Following
Dateline NBC, Spears posed
nude for the August 2006 cover of
Harper's Bazaar is a well-known US [i] fashion [i] magazine [i], published as Har ...
. In the interview with the magazine, Spears stated that she is not ready to retire from performing, saying, "I can't wait to do that again." Spears also plans to get back in shape after the birth of her second child, saying, "After this baby, I'm going to get really intense with it." In the August 28, 2006 issue of
People, Spears confirmed that her next studio album is due in 2007 and described it as "cooler than ever—fun, upbeat, and sexy." then she also recorded cover version of Crystal Waters' classic dance hits "Gypsy Woman " , "100% Pure Love" and Stevie V's house/dance classic song "Dirty Cash " however, In the article Spears also commented that her impending
childbirth, a second scheduled
caesarean section, "will be a piece of cake." On August 20, 2006, Spears introduced her husband,
Kevin Federline, at the
Teen Choice Awards. This was her first appearance at an awards show in almost two years. Britney will also release a new fragrance in late fall or early winter; it will be her fourth fragrance in all. Britney and her husband Kevin Federline also appeared via satellite at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards that were held in New York to present the award for Best R&B Video. They performed a quick skit kicking back at what the media portray them as, even as far as pretending to misplace their child. This however was not seen to be in good humour, as the UK's Daily Mirror commented on September 2 that their joke went down like a lead balloon. In fact, in subsesquent replays of the VMA's on MTV, the skit is completely edited out and goes right from Jack Black introducing Spears and Federline to them announcing the nominees.
Spears has also been confirmed by Dionne Warwick on her website, that she will appear on Warwick's upcoming 2007 album of duets to celebrate Warwick's 45th year in music. Spears has also been announced to appear on her husband,
Kevin Federline's upcoming album,
Playing With Fire. The track she is featured on is entitled "Crazy".
On September 12 2006, just two days before the first birthday of Sean, Britney gave birth to their second son just before 2 a.m. at the
UCLA Medical Center in
Santa Monica, again by scheduled
caesarean section. People magazine has reported that the couple has named the baby boy, "Sutton Pierce Federline."
On September 15 2006, three days after the birth of her second son, Britney's official website was taken down and replaced by a flash opening that features a tiger's picture, a growling noise, and heavy breathing. "BRITNEY SPEARS: New Official Website Coming Soon" appears upon entrance. This almost comfirms Britney's 2007 release will be named "Tiger" or themed after the beasts.
Acting career
In February 2002, Spears starred in a film,
Crossroads, which reached number two on the
box-office charts in its first weekend, but quickly dropped out of the top ten. Songs from the album
Britney appeared in the film. The movie, along with Spears' performance in it, was poorly received by critics and she netted herself a
Razzie Award for Worst Actress. The film won the
Razzie for the Worst Original Song "
I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman".
Spears has made cameo appearances on the films
Austin Powers in Goldmember is a 2002 [i] comedy film [i].
...
as herself, and
Longshot as a Flight Attendant. She also appeared on a
Documentary titled
Guest List Only which focused on the Los Angeles Club Scene.
For the film
Chicago, producer
Harvey Weinstein wanted Spears for the role that eventually went to
Lucy Liu. She was considered for the part of Allie Hamilton in
The Notebook, but was beat out by
Rachel McAdams.
She auditioned for the role in
I ? Huckabees that went to
Naomi Watts.
Spears initially expressed interest in the role of
Daisy Duke in
The Dukes of Hazzard but lost interest in playing the character following her marriage and plans for a family. The role went to fellow pop singer and reality television star
Jessica Simpson.
As for theatre, in her youth Spears had a role in the off-Broadway play,
Ruthless!, in which
Natalie Portman was an understudy. In 2005 she was offered the title role in the Broadway musical
Sweet Charity. Producers of the musical began eyeing Spears for the role of the unlucky-in-love dancer Charity after
Christina Applegate announced she would no longer be returning as the character. Spears seriously considered taking that part, but decided that she did not want to move her family to New York City to appear in the musical.
She was asked to appear in the
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American television series that originally ran from March 10 [i], 1997 [i] ...
episode "I Was Made to Love You," but turned down the role due to scheduling conflicts. This is similar to what happened in her scheduled guesting for the show
Dawson's Creek.
In March 30 2006, Spears was a guest-star on an episode of NBC's television show
Will & Grace was a popular Emmy Award [i]-winning American [i] television situation comedy [i]...
titled "Buy, Buy Baby". Britney played "Amber-Louis", a closeted democrat lesbian posing as a conservative Christian and right wing-republican who is to cohost with
Jack McFarland on his talk show "JackTalk" after a large corporation takes over "OutTv", the shows network. This marked her debut on a scripted primetime television show playing someone other than herself. NBC received criticism from conservative Christian groups for the episode.
In addition, she has appeared on
Saturday Night Live is a weekly late night 90-minute American [i] comedy [i]-variety show [i] ...
twice as host and musical guest: once on May 13, 2000, then again on February 2, 2002. On October 18, 2003, she appeared as musical guest with
Halle Berry as host. At 18, she was the youngest person in SNL History to host and musical guest the same time. Spears is also the only female to host and perform in the same episode more than once. She was set to host a third time in December 18, 2004 but cancelled due to her knee injury.
Britney Spears was listed by to play
Drew Heart in the movie
In The Pink which has had a status of "Pre-Production" since 2005. In the summer of 2006, she dropped out due to her second pregnancy and was replaced with
Queen Latifah who had long been attached to the film.
Public image
Britney Spears' personal life has attracted considerable media attention. Some people feel that she has courted it by cultivating, in her early years at least, a chaste, God-fearing and "wholesome" image. It was somewhat at odds, not only with the traditional pressures, temptations and opportunities of "pop 'n' roll," but with the increasingly sexualized content of her own image and songs. Spears' kiss with Madonna at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards received much media attention, as have her romantic relationships.
It began in April 1999 when a then 17 year-old Spears was featured on the cover of
Rolling Stone is an American [i] magazine [i] devoted to music [i], politics [i] and popular culture [i] ...
magazine in a sexually suggestive
Lolita is a novel [i] by Vladimir Nabokov [i], first published in 1955 [i]. ...
-themed photo shoot which triggered widespread speculation that the singer had opted to have
breast implants.
In August 2003 the artist reached more controversy with a photoshoot by photographer Michael Thompson which appeared on
W Magazine. The photos display Britney in a heavy dominatrix inspired shoot, and sexually suggestive poses. In the interview by Rob Haskell which accompanied the photos, Spears admitted to having lost her virginity to
Justin Timberlake two years into their relationship. She also stated that she in fact smokes, and she did kiss
Colin Farrell but had no relationship with him.
The sexualized public image of Spears once again became a topic of debate as a result of her November 2003 semi-
nude photo spread for the men's magazine,
Esquire is a magazine [i] for men [i] owned by the Hearst Corporation [i].
...
. Prompted by this,
Playboy is an American [i] adult [i] entertainment [i] magazine [i], fo ...
reportedly offered the star over one million USD to pose nude for their magazine, but Spears publicly declined. In an interview with Diane Sawyer, she was asked if she had ever gone further than she wished she had with the sexualized photo shoots. Spears responded, "No, I don't think so, no." After the
Esquire photos were held up in front of her, she said, "Okay. Now those are a little much. Yeah, those are a little much. That's one picture, I must say, that I felt kind of weird about, yeah."
The 2004
Onyx Hotel Tour brought new criticism. While Spears and her on-stage dancers performed her songs "Touch of My Hand" and "Breathe on Me", they were seemingly nude and were performing routines simulating gay sex,
orgies and
masturbation. As there were underage fans in the audience, there was some outrage at the alleged lack of decency of the performances, as well as reports of adult chaperones angrily storming out with children they brought to the concert. Spears has responded to parents' concerns by stating she is "not their babysitter. It's the parents' responsibility. If you don't like it, turn the TV off. The only person I want to be a role model to is my sister, Jamie Lynn."
In December 2005, Spears sued
US Weekly for a story the magazine published in the column "HOTstuff" of their October 2005 publication. The column, with the headline
"Brit & Kev: Secret Sex Tape? New parents have a new worry: racy footage from 2004." claimed that Spears and her husband had made a
sex video and feared it would be distributed. Spears denies the existence of any such tape while the magazine claims to have a credible source, which they failed to mention in the article.
On June 28, 2006, after her televized
Dateline 
