Background
Spears was born on December 2, 1981, in McComb, Mississippi, the second child of Lynne Irene Bridges and James Parnell Spears. Her siblings are Bryan James and Jamie Lynn.
2017
Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation Britney Spears Campus, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Children from the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation surround Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation President and CEO Jeff Gordon and Britney Spears and Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak as they cut a red ribbon during the grand opening of the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation Britney Spears Campus on November 4, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
1988
Los Angeles, California, United States
Britney Spears in Los Angeles on September 6, 1998.
1999
Preparing to go on stage in a white crop top and pants at the 1999 Teen Choice Awards.
2001
New York City, New York, United States
Britney Spears performing with a snake at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards in New York.
2001
Michael Jackson and Britney Spears in Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration (2001).
2003
Britney at 2003 TRL Awards
2003
New York City, New York, United States
Britney Spears and Madonna kiss on stage during a performance at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City.
2004
Britney Spears With Kevin Federline at the 2004 Billboard Music Awards on December 8, 2004.
2007
Britney Spears shaves her head and gets two tattoos February 16, 2007
2007
Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Britney Spears performs "Gimme More" on stage at the 2007 Video Music Awards at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on August 9, 2007.
2008
Oberrheinhalle, Offenburg, Germany
Britney Spears in the press room at the Bambi Awards 2008 at the Oberrheinhalle in Offenburg, Germany.
2009
Spears performing "Boys" at The Circus Starring Britney Spears on March 5, 2009.
2010
Los Angeles, California, United States
Britney Spears at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on January 31, 2010.
2013
Kiss FM studios, London, England, United Kingdom
Britney Spears visits Rickie, Melvin and Charlie In The Morning at the Kiss FM studios on October 16, 2013 in London, England.
2015
Britney at Teen Choice Awards - 2015
2016
T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Honoree Britney Spears, recipient of the Millennium Award, poses in the press room during the 2016 Billboard Music Awards at T-Mobile Arena on May 22, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
2016
Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Britney Spears performs at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on Feb. 26, 2016 in Las Vegas.
2016
Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, United States
Britney Spears performs onstage during the 102.7 KIIS FM's Jingle Ball 2016 at Staples Center on December 2, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.
2017
Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation Britney Spears Campus, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Children from the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation surround Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation President and CEO Jeff Gordon and Britney Spears and Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak as they cut a red ribbon during the grand opening of the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation Britney Spears Campus on November 4, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Britney Spears
NYC Professional Performing Arts School
1 Baby One More Time (1999)
4 In The Zone (2003)
Spears's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
dancer Entertainer singer actress songwriter record producer
Spears was born on December 2, 1981, in McComb, Mississippi, the second child of Lynne Irene Bridges and James Parnell Spears. Her siblings are Bryan James and Jamie Lynn.
At the age of three, she started attending dance lessons in her hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana, and was selected to perform as a solo artist at the annual recital. Spears made her local stage debut at age five, singing "What Child Is This?" at her kindergarten graduation. During her childhood, she also attended gymnastics and voice lessons, and won many state-level competitions and children's talent shows. She said about her ambition as a child, "I was in my own world, [...] I found out what I'm supposed to do at an early age".
At age eight, Spears and her mother Lynne traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to audition for the 1990s revival of The Mickey Mouse Club. Casting director Matt Casella rejected her as too young, but introduced her to Nancy Carson, a New York City talent agent. Carson was impressed with Spears's singing and suggested enrolling her at the Professional Performing Arts School; shortly after, Lynne and her daughters moved to a sublet apartment in New York. pears was hired for her first professional role as the understudy for the lead role of Tina Denmark in the Off-Broadway musical Ruthless!. She also appeared as a contestant on the popular television show Star Search and was cast in a number of commercials. In December 1992, she was cast in The Mickey Mouse Club alongside Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, and Keri Russell. After the show was canceled in 1996, she returned to Mississippi and enrolled at McComb's Parklane Academy. Although she made friends with most of her classmates, she compared the school to "the opening scene in Clueless with all the cliques. [...] I was so bored. I was the point guard on the basketball team. I had my boyfriend, and I went to homecoming and Christmas formal. But I wanted more."
After the show's cancellation in 1995, Spears focused on developing her musical career. She eventually landed a contract with Jive Records. In September 1998, Spears released her first single, "...Baby One More Time." The catchy tune reached the top of the pop charts at the end of January 1999, propelled in part by a music video in which the singer danced in a skimpy version of a Catholic schoolgirl uniform. Although the racy outfit drew sharp criticism from the parents of her young fans, Spears claimed to be a sweet, innocent Southern girl at heart.
The "...Baby One More Time" album hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts that same year, and went on to sell more than 25 million copies worldwide. At the 1999 Billboard Music Awards, Spears picked up four awards, including for female artist of the year and best new artist. Her smashing success made her a headliner of the teen pop music wave that included fellow Mickey Mouse Club alumnae Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson.
Building upon her meteoric rise, Spears released Oops!... I Did It Again in 2000. The recording was an instant No. 1 hit on the album charts, selling more than 1 million copies in its first week. The singer's personal life was also receiving more scrutiny, as rumors circulated that she was dating Justin Timberlake, then part of the hit pop group *NSYNC.
With 2001's Britney, Spears made the first move toward shedding her innocent image, while also taking her sound in a different direction. The single "I'm a Slave 4 U" sounded more like a Prince track than her bubblegum pop of the past. "I'd get bored singing the same type of songs all the time. I still love my old stuff, but you have to extend yourself and grow," she explained to Entertainment Weekly. Performing "I'm a Slave 4 U" at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, Spears made heads turn by dancing with a seven-foot albino python around her neck and wearing a barely-there costume.
Around this same time, Spears took a leading role in the feature film Crossroads. The coming-of-age drama received a drubbing from critics after its February 2002 release, but it ended up grossing more than $60 million worldwide. Later that spring, Spears experienced another disappointment: she and Timberlake announced that they had broken up.
The following year, Spears created some headlines for her actions at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. She and fellow former Mouseketeer Christina Aguilera shared a kiss with pop superstar Madonna during a performance. Some saw this dramatic stage moment as another way for Spears to present the latest version of her more sexualized public persona. Spears acknowledged around this time that Madonna was an important influence on her. "I remember being in my living room and watching her on TV. I'd dance around in my short tops and sing and dream about being her," Spears told Newsweek.
Spears's next album, In the Zone, which included vocals from Madonna on the "Me Against the Music" track, hit stores that November. The album's top single, "Toxic," earned Spears her first Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording.
By January 2004, Spears appeared to be rebelling again - this time, against her intense work schedule. She married her childhood friend Jason Alexander in Las Vegas, but the union was annulled two days later. She then got involved with backup dancer Kevin Federline. At the time, Federline's girlfriend was pregnant with their second child. Spears's relationship with Federline only intensified with the media's scrutiny of her private life.
Spears experienced some troubles in her professional life around this time. She had to undergo surgery to correct a knee injury, forcing her to cancel the last part of her tour. Spears and Federline married on September 18, 2004, in Studio City, California.
Shortly after her wedding, she released Greatest Hits: My Prerogative. Spears covered the Bobby Brown hit "My Prerogative," which seemed to be her way of talking back to her critics and lashing out about the media frenzy that continually surrounded her. The recording sold more than 5 million copies, although it wasn't as successful as In the Zone.
In September 2006, Spears and Federline had a new addition to their young family with the birth of their son Jayden James. But Spears made a surprising move two months later when she filed for divorce, claiming "irreconcilable differences." After her separation, Spears frequented the club scene for a time, partying with socialite Paris Hilton, among others. She reportedly checked in and out of rehabilitation, and then shaved her head in a California beauty salon while the paparazzi took pictures in February 2007. She told the salon owner that "my mom is going to freak." The following month, Spears spent time at a treatment center in California.
By the summer, Spears and Federline were in the midst of a difficult custody battle for their two sons, with Spears also estranged from her mother. Despite her personal challenges, she moved forward musically with the album, Blackout. The single "Gimme More" was released in September and received a warm reception from the public and critics. But Spears's performance of the song at that year's MTV Video Music Awards was a disaster. She appeared nervous on stage, sluggishly dancing and poorly lip-synching. A few days later, Spears was charged in connection to a hit-and-run incident in a parking lot.
Only a few weeks after her personal crisis, Spears enjoyed a well-received guest appearance on the popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother. That summer she made a triumphant return to the MTV Video Music Awards, bringing home three awards for the single "Piece of Me."
In late 2008 Spears released her next album, Circus, which rose to the top of the charts thanks in large part to the success of her No. 1 single "Womanizer." Rolling Stone critic Caryn Ganz heralded the album as "clubby, adventurous pop." The singer's fans agreed, sending the singles "Circus" and "If U Seek Amy" into the Billboard Top 10 and Top 20, respectively.
Spears proved she could still make powerful pop music in 2011 with Femme Fatale, which featured such hits as "I Wanna Go" and "Till The World Ends." The recording climbed to the top of the charts, becoming her sixth No. 1 album. In addition to all of this commercial success, Spears seemed happier in her personal life. She and then-boyfriend Jason Trawick got engaged in December 2011, though they later split in early 2013.
In 2012, Spears took on a new challenge: She joined the judges' panel of the popular singing-competition show The X Factor in its second season, embracing the role of the difficult-to-please critic. Fellow judge Simon Cowell described Spears as "very unpredictable," according to People magazine. "You never know what is going to happen. She has taken this very seriously and she's surprisingly quite mean." Despite the initial enthusiasm, Spears left the show after one season.
In late 2013, Spears made headlines with the release of her eighth studio album, Britney Jean, which the songstress called her "most personal album ever" in a post on her Twitter page. The album's lead single, "Work Bitch," had been released ahead of the album; other tracks included "Alien," "Perfume" and "Passenger." Britney Jean received mixed reviews, with some critics calling it "introspective" and "mature," and others deeming it "forgettable."
In 2015, Spears teamed up with female rap star Iggy Azalea for the single "Pretty Girls." They performed it together at the Billboard Music Awards in May, but the song topped out at a relatively modest No. 29 in the U.S. Later in the year, Spears announced she was working hard on another album. She released Glory, her ninth studio album the following year.
In November 2017, the pop star oversaw the opening of the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation’s Britney Spears Campus, an effort made possible through the donation of $1 million from her ticket sales. Further demonstrating her attachment to the Las Vegas area, she donated a painting for an auction to support victims of the October 2017 shooting massacre, with famed TV personality Robin Leach splurging $10,000 for the piece.
Britney was born in the Bible Belt, where socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a particularly strong religious influence. She was baptized into the Southern Baptist Convention, but later in life studied Kabbalist teachings. She announced she no longer studied Kabbalah in June 2006, explaining, "my baby is my religion."
Although she's never been explicit about her political views, speculation has abounded over the years over whether Britney Spears is a Republican, especially after making statements supporting President George W. Bush during the early years of the Iraq War, the Washington Times reported in March 2012.
Britney, self-proclaimed nerd and fan of Einstein, strives to better herself and be educated in every area of her life, even if it’s outside of her comfort zone.
Quotations:
"I don't like defining myself. I just am."
"With love, you should go ahead and take the risk of getting hurt... because love is an amazing feeling."
"The cool thing about being famous is travelling. I have always wanted to travel across seas, like to Canada and stuff."
"Onstage I'm the happiest person in the world."
"Sundance is weird. The movies are weird - you actually have to think about them when you watch them."
"Just because I look sexy on the cover of Rolling Stone doesn't mean I'm naughty."
"I know not everyone will like me, but this is who I am so if you don't like it, tough!"
"I wish my hair was thicker, and I wish my feet were prettier. My toes are really ugly. I wish my ears were smaller. And my nose could be smaller too."
"Everyone now, they look back and they're like, "What happened to your sweet image that you used to be?" And I'm like, then when you came out you thought I was too provocative. It's like you can never win. No matter what you do, at the end of the day you can't please everybody, you know. I'm not here to please..."
"About shocking. You know I feel comfortable in my skin. I think it's an okay thing to express yourself."
"I'm so blessed with my baby. And I want the most normal life possible for him. And I'll manage, I will create that."
"I look back and think I'm a smart person! What the hell was I thinking?"
Talking about being called a sex symbol, Spears said: "I don't see myself like that at all. I don't know why. To me, someone who is sexy is someone with confidence, who carries themselves properly and is comfortable in their own skin."
Describing herself as a "perfectionist", the singer added that she is always trying to improve her body. "I always strive for things to be better," she said. "I think you can be happy with the person on the inside but on the outside you're always striving for more. But that's how you end up driving yourself crazy."
For a huge star, her ambitions for herself are remarkably modest. Her love of her own family and emotional closeness to all its members have given her a longing for traditional family life that seems to have survived all the pressures and experiences of stardom. Far from the jet-set lifestyle dreams of many young stars, partying with royalty, skiing in Switzerland, surrounded by an entourage of flunkeys, Britney’s dream is to build a house next to her Mom’s in Kentwood, and raise a family close to her childhood friends.
Physical Characteristics: Britney has naturally “brown” hair, but dyed them “blonde” while starting her pop career.
Quotes from others about the person
Chuck Taylor of Billboard: "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."
Barbara Ellen of The Observer: "Spears is famously one of the 'oldest' teenagers pop has ever produced, almost middle aged in terms of focus and determination. Many 19-year-olds haven't even started working by that age, whereas Britney, a former Mouseketeer, was that most unusual and volatile of American phenomena — a child with a full-time career. While other little girls were putting posters on their walls, Britney was wanting to be the poster on the wall. Whereas other children develop at their own pace, Britney was developing at a pace set by the ferociously competitive American entertainment industry."
Adam Markovitz of Entertainment Weekly: "We don't ask a whole lot from Britney Spears as an entertainer...we'll still send her straight up the charts simply because she's Britney. She's an American institution, as deeply sacred and messed up as pro wrestling or the filibuster. Musically, though, Spears will always have to measure up to her own gold standards of pop euphony: the operatic slither of 2004's 'Toxic' and the candied funk of 2000's 'Oops!...I Did It Again.' Spears is no technical singer, that's for sure. But backed by Martin and Dr. Luke's wall of pound, her vocals melt into a mix of babytalk coo and coital panting that is, in its own overprocessed way, just as iconic and propulsive as Michael Jackson's yips or Eminem's snarls."
Lady Gaga: "Spears taught us all how to be fearless, and the industry wouldn't be the same without her."
She was married to Kevin Federline (20 September 2004 - 5 April 2007). From that marriage she has two sons: Sean Preston Federline Spears and Jayden James Federline Spears.