Christina Aguilera

About the artist

A leader in the parade of "Mickey Mouse Club" veterans who stormed pop at the turn of the millennium, Christina Aguilera was the sexy, brassy diva of the bunch -- the Rolling Stones to Britney Spears' Beatles, as it were. Initially, it was difficult to see Christina outside of the prism of Britney, whose 1999 success launched the new millennium's teen pop boom, but Christina's big hits of 1999 -- Genie in a Bottle, What a Girl Wants, Come on Over -- more than held their own with Baby One More Time, while revealing a vocalist with considerably more power and range than her erstwhile rival. Soon, Aguilera distanced herself from the rest of the teen pop pack beginning with her carnal sophomore set, Stripped, a heavy R&B album from 2002 that found its greatest success with the ballad Beautiful. Christina may have overemphasized her sexual side with singles like Dirrtty, but by the time of 2006's Back to Basics, it was clear that Aguilera was the most musically ambitious, and reliable, pop diva of the boom.

Born on Staten Island on December 18, 1980, Aguilera spent her early childhood in Pittsburgh, PA. By age six, she began performing regularly in local talent shows, working her way to an appearance on the nationally televised competition Star Search. This was the true beginning of Aguilera's professional career, leading her to joining Disney Channel's reboot of The Mickey Mouse Club in 1992. Christina joined a cast that also featured future stars Britney Spears, Ryan Gosling, Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, and Keri Russell. The New Mickey Mouse Club lasted for two years and after its cancellation, Aguilera began working behind the scenes of the pop machine, cutting a duet with Japanese pop singer Keizo Nakanishi called All I Wanna Do, then representing the U.S. three years later in the Golden Stag International Festival. Her first big break arrived in 1998, when she recorded Reflection for the soundtrack of Disney's Mulan, a performance that lead to a contract with RCA Records.

RCA released Christina Aguilera late in the summer of 1999, several months after Britney's Baby One More Time began the teen pop boom. Christina's debut reached the top of the U.S. charts on the momentum of the number one single Genie in a Bottle, which was followed in short order by another chart-topper in What a Girl Wants, which happened to be the first number one of 2000. Aguilera racked up recognition in a number of ways, playing the Superbowl halftime show and winning the Grammy for Best New Artist, as Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You) gave her a third number one single. Aguilera kept new product flowing, too, releasing the Spanish-language Mi Reflejo -- she didn't speak the language, so she learned lyrics phonetically -- and My Kind of Christmas by the end of the year, while other labels attempted to cash in on her success via an unauthorized collection of old demos called Just Be Free. Christina Aguilera drifted down the charts in 2001 but she stayed in the spotlight via her participation of a remake of Labelle's Lady Marmalade for the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge.

When Aguilera resurfaced with new material in 2002, she began using the appellation Xtina, which was not the only X on her sophomore effort, Stripped. A carnal collection of risqué R&B largely produced by Scott Storch, Stripped was a defiant break from her teenybopper past, and Aguilera promoted it by flashing lots of skin on the covers of her album, "Rolling Stone", and "Maxim". Such striking sexuality earned mixed reviews and the lead single Dirrty failed to replicate her early success, but she straightened the ship with Beautiful, a ballad that turned into an anthem of sorts and peaked at number two on the Top 100.

Aguilera took another left turn for her next album, 2006's Back to Basics. The title suggested something simple but the album was anything but, spilling out over two discs and running the gamut from brassy swing to modern dance. Its lead single, Ain't No Other Man, was another blockbuster and Grammy winner for Christina, and the tour was her most ambitious to date. In 2008, Aguilera released her first hits collection, Keeps Gettin' Better, which was available exclusively via Target in the U.S. After a four-year break, Aguilera returned with her fourth album, Bionic, in the spring of 2010. Bionic proved to be Aguilera's first flop, earning decidedly mixed reviews, generating no hits, and failing to go gold. It was followed by a second stumble in Burlesque, Aguilera's first starring role on the big screen which was greeted to mediocre reviews and lackluster box office.

These were sudden unexpected setbacks, but Aguilera's comeback came just as quickly, arriving in the form of NBC's televised singing competition "The Voice". As one of the four celebrity judges -- the others being Maroon 5's Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, and Blake Shelton -- Christina found herself on a hit show that elevated her profile and gave her another hit single as Levine's duet partner on Maroon 5's 2011 chart-topper "Moves Like Jagger." "The Voice" retained its popularity in its second season in early 2012, and Aguilera spent much of the year prepping her fifth album, Lotus, which was released in November 2012.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

	Top songs	Album
1	Just A Fool	Lotus (Deluxe Version)	4:13	1
2	Beautiful	Stripped	3:58	1
3	Fighter	Stripped	4:05	1
4	Bound To You (Burlesque Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	Burlesque (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	4:23	1
5	Dirrty	Stripped	4:58	1
6	Show Me How You Burlesque (Burlesque Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	Burlesque (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	2:59	1
7	Hurt	Back To Basics	4:03	1
8	Genie in a Bottle	Christina Aguilera	3:37	1
9	Express (Burlesque Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	Burlesque (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	4:20	1
10	Candyman	Back To Basics	3:14	1

Albums

Lotus

Christina Aguilera

On a quest to redeem herself after the 2010 flop Bionic, Christina Aguilera puts her powerful pipes back to work on Lotus. ''Spin around in circles on my middle finger," Aguilera taunts on the chorus of "Circles," and she stays in defense mode for much of the album, from "Army of Me" to ''Make the World Move,'' a duet with fellow Voice coach Cee Lo Green on which she demands "turn down the hate." Empowerment anthems aside, it's when Xtina lets her guard down, like on the sexy lead single "Your Body" and the Sia-penned ballad "Blank Page," that her vocals start to soar.

Lotus (Deluxe Version)

Christina Aguilera

Laura Checkoway, Google Play

Lotus

Christina Aguilera

Laura Checkoway, Google Play

Lotus (Deluxe Version)

Christina Aguilera

Laura Checkoway, Google Play

Bionic

Christina Aguilera

Bionic (Deluxe Version)

Christina Aguilera

Subtlety not being part of Christina Aguilera’s vocabulary, she trades the retro-swing of Back to Basics for the future-pop of Bionic, receiving assists from a roster that reads like a who’s-who of progressive pop in 2010: M.I.A., Le Tigre, Peaches, and John Hill & Switch, known for their work with Santigold. But like the half-cyborg/half-diva illustration of the album cover, this revamp is only partial. Aguilera hedges her bets by adding a ballad from old friend Linda Perry, gets Tricky Stewart to produce a trio of cuts, drafts Polow da Don and Focus… to produce some heavy and slow R&B, respectively, letting enough air into the machines to reassure hesitant fans that she hasn’t abandoned her roots. All this hesitancy means that for as many risks as it takes, Bionic doesn’t feel daring. Apart from the stuttering opener of the title track and glassy chill of “Elastic Love,” notably the two Hill & Switch productions, this never delivers the future shock it promises, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because the robot-diva hybrids are often interesting even when they stumble, as they do on “WooHoo,” its incessant title loop piercing like a dental drill. Exhibit A in Xtina’s curious tin ear for sex, “WooHoo” doesn’t work as temptation, not when the chorus come-on is “licky licky yum yum,” but her crassness is no longer alienating as it was on Stripped; it’s simply part of her persona, just like her shameless narcissism, showcased on the closing “Vanity,” where she gets her kid to confirm that she’s the greatest of them all. This triumphant self-possession comes so naturally to Christina that it’s hard not to wish that she acted so boldly throughout Bionic, letting the entirety of the record be as distinctly odd as its best moments. Frankly, the deluxe edition of Bionic does suggest what the album could have been: it’s supplemented by four bonus songs that are wildly imaginative, whether it’s the clattering, chanting “Bobblehead,” the cool synth glide of “Birds of Prey,” the perfect new wave pop of “Monday Morning,” or Sia’s mournful ballad “Stronger Than Ever.” In their place on the album proper are competent, relatively colorless club odes to fashion and fabulousness and Perry’s boring inspirational “Lift Me Up,” songs that play to Aguilera’s persona without inhabiting it. The rest of Bionic -- not just the hipster flirtations and Sia’s trio of richly ruminative AAA ballads, but the tracks directly within Aguilera’s wheelhouse, like Tricky Stewart’s wildly successful, slinky “Desnudate,” and the sultry slow burner “Sex for Breakfast” -- find Christina not playing to expectations but simply acting as a natural diva and is all the more compelling for it. [A deluxe edition, featuring five bonus tracks, was released in 2010.]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Bionic

Christina Aguilera

Subtlety not being part of Christina Aguilera's vocabulary, she trades the retro-swing of Back to Basics for the future-pop of Bionic, receiving assists from a roster that reads like a who's who of progressive pop: M.I.A., Le Tigre, Peaches, and John Hill and Switch, known for their work with Santogold. But like the half-cyborg/half-diva illustration of the cover, this revamp is only partial. Aguilera hedges her bets by adding a ballad from old friend Linda Perry, gets Tricky Stewart to produce a trio of cuts, and drafts Polow da Don and Focus to produce some heavy and slow R&B, letting enough air into the machines to reassure hesitant fans that she hasn't abandoned her roots. All this hesitancy means that for as many risks as it takes, Bionic doesn't feel daring.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Back To Basics

Christina Aguilera

When Christina Aguilera released her garish, sexually charged sophomore effort, Stripped, in 2002, it seemed that she pushed her obsessions with tweaking taboos just a little too far. Sure, she could still sing, but her music was now driven entirely by skeletal club grooves and explicit carnality. It was a bold break from the teenybopper persona she was desperate to shed, but it was overcorrective steering, taking her a little bit too far down the road toward a grotesque caricature, particularly in her ugly video for the album's lead single, "Dirrty." All this grandstanding provoked an intense reaction, not just among fans but among her collaborators, who also wondered if Christina was going a little too far, but she managed to keep from sinking largely on the strength of the ballad "Beautiful," an empowering statement of self-love that managed to dampen "Dirrty"'s impact even if it didn't erase it. It also set the stage for the next phase of her career: as an outright old-fashioned diva, much like Madonna or Cher. Smartly, she followed this path for her third album, the sprawling, deliriously entertaining double-disc Back to Basics.

The title alone on Back to Basics is an allusion that perhaps Christina herself thinks she might have gone a little too far with Stripped; she stops short of offering an apology -- she even has a song where she proclaims she's "Still Dirrty" -- but this album's emphasis on songs and singing, along with the fixation with the big-band era, does suggest that Aguilera is ready to be once again seen as a world-class vocalist. Nevertheless, Back to Basics also makes clear that Stripped, for as flawed as it is, was also a necessary artistic move for Christina: she needed to get that out of her system in order to create her own style, one that is self-consciously stylized, stylish, and sexy. As the endless series of pinup photos in the album's booklet illustrates, Christina is obsessed with earning credibility through association: she dresses up as a big-band vamp and drops allusions to Etta James, Billie Holiday, and Aretha Franklin, all under the assumption that listeners will think of Ms. Aguilera as the heir to that throne. While she may have the vocal chops to pull it off to a certain extent, Back to Basics doesn't quite feel like it belongs to the classic soul and R&B tradition, even if the second disc is designed to be an old-fashioned jazzy R&B album, complete with bluesy torch songs and occasionally live instrumentation. Aguilera's instincts are too modern to make the album sound classic. She remains stubbornly autobiographical -- she disses departed producer Scott Storch on "F.U.S.S.," again addresses the abuse inflicted on her mother by her father, spends much of the album detailing her love for her new husband, Jordan, and always filters everything through a very personal filter that makes this seem like a journal entry à la Alanis Morissette (even "Thank You," subtitled as her dedication to her fans, isn't about the fans; it's about how Christina has inspired them, saved their life, or kept them going while stationed in Iraq -- all stories recounted in the voicemail that runs throughout the track). Her lyrics remain bluntly direct, particularly when she talks about sex: "Candyman" makes her cherry pop and her panties drop, while the "Nasty Naughty Boy" will receive "a little taste of the sugar below my waist." That combined with the slick, precise computerized production means that even when Christina tries to sound classic, she winds up sounding like the present.

But that's what's good about Back to Basics -- even though she strives hard to be a classic soul singer here, she can't help but sound like herself, and surely there is no other big-budget pop album in 2006 that bears the stamp of its auteur so clearly. As she did on Stripped, she has gotten to indulge herself here, but where she was more concerned with sound than structure last time around, on Back to Basics she spends just as much time on song and structure, often coming up with strong, memorable ballads and dance tunes on both the dance-oriented first disc and the slow-burning second. Of course, she reveals more than she intended through her indulgence. Try as she may to sound like a classic singer from the '40s, she really seems to have learned all of her moves from Madonna in Dick Tracy; whether she's shaking her hips to a canned brass section or breathing heavily into a microphone, every move seems to have been copped from Breathless Mahoney -- and that's not just on the campily retro "Candyman" (which sounds like a rewrite of "Hanky Panky"), but it's also true on the deliberately modern numbers like "Ain't No Other Man," whose stabs of sampled brass sound straight out of early-'90s jazz-rap. When Aguilera does stray from the Madonna template here, it's to wander into Fiona Apple territory on the second disc -- with its loping piano, "Mercy on Me" is a dead ringer for anything from When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King. There are hints of a couple other artists here -- some echoes of Norah Jones on the torch songs -- but the fusion of Madonna and Fiona Apple is so inspired and unexpected, it sounds original because nobody else would have thought of it, or put it together in such wildly weird ways as Christina does here. Sure, Back to Basics is way too long at two discs and some of it doesn't work quite as well as the rest, but it has far more hits than misses and it holds together as an artistic statement (certainly more so than any other album made by one of her teen pop peers). It may be all about style, it may be a little crass and self-centered, but it's also catchy, exciting, and unique. It's an album to build a career upon, which would be a remarkable achievement by any measure, but coming after the near career suicide of Stripped, it's all the more impressive.

Stripped

Christina Aguilera

According to Christina Aguilera, the title of her second album, Stripped, refers to her emotions and not her body, but the topless photograph of her on the cover suggests otherwise. Most things about Stripped suggest sex, actually, since Xtina -- as she calls herself in a handful of interviews accompanying the release of the album -- never hesitates to put her body, her piercings, and recently liberated sexual beliefs on display throughout her hyper-sexual, convoluted sophomore effort. Like any diva, Christina believes her trials and tribulations are inherently more fascinating than anybody else's and, like any diva, she has an inflated sense of self-importance, defiantly strutting on the "Stripped Intro" that she's "sorry you can't define me/sorry I break the mold." What she's referring to is anybody's guess, since she hasn't exactly defied expectations since her last album -- releasing a Christmas album and a Spanish-language record of your debut ain't exactly breaking the mold: it "is" the mold. Plus, Stripped clearly has its origins in the sound of two of Christina's teen pop contemporaries -- the teasing sexiness of Britney Spears and the wonderful, gonzo dance-rock confessionals of Pink, who truly did break the mold with M!ssundaztood. Since Aguilera spent so much time working on the album, tearing through a seemingly countless number of producers, she seems desperate to not just catch-up with these two, but surpass them in the sex and confessions, breaking it down so they become the same thing, while adding a strong hip-hop undercurrent throughout all the songs. And the end result is utterly bizarre, surpassing Mariah Carey's Glitter as the modern-day standard for musical immolation while rivaling The Teaches of Peaches in its sheer carnality. Where Peaches always is in control of her sexuality, using it as a weapon and a joke in equal measures, Christina is overwhelmed by the reaction of others to her sexuality, putting it on equal ground with her voice, which remains a remarkably powerful instrument, especially since she's toned down the scale-running histrionics from her debut. If she's mastered her vocals, she's still desperately searching for her artistic voice, placing too much emphasis on club and street-level R&B, which fit her poorly (why was "Dirrty," a non-song that requires less range than the slinky sexiness of "I'm a Slave 4 U," the first single?), when she needs full-blown songs. There are some here, though, most notably the Linda Perry collaboration "Beautiful," which was rush-released as a second single, but the ceaseless 70-minute running time and seemingly endless 20 songs mean that individual moments are lost and the big picture remains. And that big picture is that of an artist who has grown up too fast, while the sound is that of an artist who's given too much freedom too early and hasn't yet figured out what to do with it.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Mi Reflejo

Christina Aguilera

When Christina Aguilera's eponymous debut reached multi-platinum status in the summer of 1999, the charts were also ruled by the Latin pop explosion, headed by Ricky Martin. Since Aguilera had Ecuadoran heritage, recording a Latin pop album was appropriate, even if she didn't know how to speak the language. Besides, a Latin album was an easy way to buy time for an artist waiting to produce an eagerly awaited sequel to a blockbuster album. So, she knocked out the record that became Mi Reflejo in 1999 and 2000, between tours and video shoots. She learned the words phonetically, but she already knew most of the melodies, since the bulk of the album was Spanish-language versions of songs on the debut album. In other words, it was a mirror image of the debut -- her Spanish reflection, as it were. This results in an album that is just a little too familiar, even if it's classy and well-produced and spiked with a couple of new tunes that hold their own with the holdovers. Even so, it's hard to view Mi Reflejo as anything other than a bit of a pleasant holding pattern; it's enjoyable as it spins, but it doesn't add anything new to her music, since it's just the old music in new clothing.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Similar Artists

Britney Spears

More than any other single artist, Britney Spears was the driving force behind the return of teen pop in the late '90s. The blockbuster success of the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys certainly paved the way for her own commercial breakthrough, but Spears didn't just become a star -- she was a bona fide pop phenomenon. Not only did she sell millions of records, she was a media fixture regardless of what she was (or wasn't) doing; among female singers of the era (many of whom followed in her footsteps), her celebrity star power was rivaled only by Jennifer Lopez. From the outset, Spears' sex appeal was an important part of her image. The video for her debut single, "...Baby One More Time," outfitted her in full Catholic-school regalia and sent her well on the way to becoming an international sex symbol. Yet Spears' handlers seemed to be trying to have it both ways -- there was a definite tension between the wholesome innocence Spears tried to project for her female audience, and the titillating sexuality that enticed so many male fans. Those marketing tactics made Spears a somewhat controversial figure, the subject of endless debates concerning appropriate role models for teenage girls. Early on, Spears tried to defuse the controversy by preaching abstinence until marriage, and even denied that she was consciously cultivating such a sexualized image. Of course, the more provocative and revealing her on-stage wardrobe became, the less plausible that claim seemed. But apart from her ability to tiptoe the line between virginal coquette and brazen tart, Spears had a secret weapon in Swedish pop mastermind Max Martin, who had a hand in the vast majority of her hits as a writer and/or producer. With Martin crafting the sort of contemporary dance-pop and sentimental ballads that made stars of the Backstreet Boys, Spears kept on delivering the goods commercially, as her first three albums all topped the charts.

Britney Jean Spears was born December 2, 1981, in the small town of Kentwood, LA, and began performing as a singer and dancer at a young age. With a nationally televised appearance on "Star Search" already under her belt, Spears auditioned for the Disney Channel's "The New Mickey Mouse Club" at age eight. The producers turned her down as too young, but one of them took an interest and introduced her to an agent in New York. Spears spent the next three years studying at the Professional Performing Arts School, and also appeared in several television commercials and off-Broadway plays. At 11, she returned to "The New Mickey Mouse Club" for a second audition, and this time made the cut. Although her fellow Mouseketeers included an impressive array of future stars -- *NSYNC's Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez, Christina Aguilera, and "Felicity" actress Keri Russell -- the show was canceled after Spears' second season. She returned to New York at age 15 and set about auditioning for pop bands and recording demo tapes, one of which eventually landed her a deal with Jive Records.

Spears entered the studio with top writer/producers like Eric Foster White (Boyzone, Whitney Houston, Backstreet Boys) and Max Martin (Ace of Base, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC). In late 1998, Jive released her debut single, the Martin-penned "...Baby One More Time." Powered by its video, in which Spears and a troupe of dancers were dressed as Catholic-school jailbait, the single shot to the top of the Billboard charts. When Spears' debut album of the same title was released in early 1999, it entered the charts at number one and stayed there for six weeks. Once the ubiquitous lead single died down, the album kept spinning off hits: the Top Ten "(You Drive Me) Crazy," the near-Top 20 ballad "Sometimes," and the Top 20 "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart." By the end of 1999, ...Baby One More Time had sold ten million copies, and went on to sell a good three million more on top of that. Its success touched off a wave of young pop divas that included Christina Aguilera, P!nk, Jessica Simpson, and Mandy Moore. Spears was a superstar, drooled over in countless magazines, including a Rolling Stone cover that prompted immediate speculation about the still 17-year-old having received breast implants.

By the time ...Baby One More Time finally started to lose steam on the singles and album charts, Spears was ready to release her follow-up. Oops!...I Did It Again appeared in the spring of 2000, and the title track was an instant smash, racing into the Top Ten. The album itself entered the charts at number one and sold over a million copies in its first week of release, setting a new record for single-week sales by a female artist. Follow-up singles included "Lucky," the gold-selling "Stronger," and "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know," which was co-written by country diva Shania Twain and her producer Mutt Lange. A year after its release, Oops!...I Did It Again had sold over nine million copies. Rumors that Spears was dating *NSYNC heartthrob (and fellow ex-Mouseketeer) Justin Timberlake were eventually confirmed, which only added to the media attention lavished on her.

For her next album, Spears looked ahead to a not-so-distant future when both she and much of her audience would be growing up. Released in late 2001, Britney tried to present the singer as a more mature young woman, and was accompanied by mild hints that her personal life wasn't always completely puritanical. It became her third straight album to debut at number one, although this time around the singles weren't as successful; "I'm a Slave 4 U," "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman," and "Overprotected" all missed the Top Ten. In early 2002, Spears' feature-film debut, "Crossroads", hit theaters, but its commercial performance was somewhat disappointing; moreover, her romance with Timberlake fizzled not long after. Spears next made a cameo appearance in Mike Myers' "Austin Powers: Goldmember", and contributed a remix of "Boys" to the soundtrack. Meanwhile, sales of Britney stalled at four million copies, perhaps in part because a new breed of teenage female singer/songwriters, like Michelle Branch and Avril Lavigne, was emerging as an alternative to the highly packaged teen queens. Spears took a break from recording and performing for several months, and began work on a new album in early 2003. The results, In the Zone, reflected a wish to be taken seriously as a mature (though still highly sexualized) adult. Predictably, it topped the charts and launched several singles into orbit, including the musically adventurous "Toxic," "Everytime," and "Me Against the Music."

In the Zone hit number one on the Billboard 200, and "Toxic" snagged a Grammy for Best Dance Recording. But by 2004, there were no longer any illusions of Britney's personal life being all wholesome candy canes and kisses. First there was the star's bizarre two-day marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander, followed by the controversial, highly sexualized "Onyx Hotel" tour, which was eventually canceled (allegedly because of a knee injury) despite positive financial numbers. Starbucks and cigarettes were Britney's constant accessories in the endless paparazzi photos, and the revelation of her relationship with former backup dancer Kevin Federline made the tabloids even more ravenous. Spears and Federline married in September and were tabloid regulars in the months after the ceremony. (A photo of a barefoot Britney leaving a dingy gas station bathroom made the Internet rounds.) The couple also starred in "Chaotic", a UPN reality show consisting mostly of their own home videos that was met with howls from the critics and blogs.

The year 2005 was no less eventful for Spears. She released Greatest Hits: My Prerogative that January, but it was the announcement of her pregnancy that really garnered the headlines. Sean Preston Federline was born in September, and a bidding war ensued for first rights to the baby photos. As the hubbub surrounding Sean's birth continued, Britney released a remix album just in time for the holiday season. In 2006, Spears discovered she was pregnant again; shortly after the birth of her second son, Jayden James Federline, she divorced Federline, thus sparking a long string of custody battles that were eventually settled in Federline's favor. Following another headline-grabbing incident in early 2007 (in which Spears spontaneously shaved her head at a salon in Tarzana, California, much to the delight of nearby photographers), Spears sought help at Malibu's Promises Treatment Center. After leaving the center, she began working on her comeback album and performed a few small shows at House of Blues locations in Los Angeles, San Diego, Anaheim, and Las Vegas that May. Despite ongoing turmoil in her life that summer and fall -- including a disastrous performance at MTV's Video Music Awards -- Blackout arrived in October 2007. It proved to be her least successful album to date, charting three Top 40 hits but failing to achieve platinum certification within its first year of release.

Spears' 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 lead-off 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," which became her fourth single to top the Billboard Hot 100. The second single, the Ke$ha co-written "Till the World Ends," didn't top the charts but it was a bigger hit, going double platinum in the US.

Britney supported Femme Fatale with an international tour that ran until the end of 2011; at the end of the year, the home video Live: The Femme Fatale Tour was released. Spears made a splashy return to television in 2012 when she signed to be one of the celebrity judges on the second season of the U.S. version of Simon Cowell's "The X Factor". The show returned in the fall of 2012.

Steve Huey, Rovi

Jennifer Lopez

Actress/singer Jennifer Lopez was born in the Bronx, New York, on July 24, 1969; after starting out in musical theater as a child, she made her film debut at age 16 in the little-seen "My Little Girl", but her career then stalled until she was tapped to become one of the dancing "Fly Girls" on the television sketch comedy series "In Living Color". A recurring role on the TV drama "Second Chances" followed before Lopez was thrust into the limelight co-starring with Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson in the 1995 feature film "Money Train"; smaller roles in pictures including "My Family/Mi Familia", "Jack", and "Blood and Wine" followed before she landed the title role in 1997's "Selena", portraying the slain Tejano singer. Co-starring opposite George Clooney in 1998's acclaimed "Out of Sight", Lopez (part of a Puerto Rican family) became the highest-paid Latina actress in Hollywood history; the following summer, she returned to her musical roots with her debut pop album, On the 6, scoring a major hit with the infectious single "If You Had My Love."

Lopez didn't waste time perfecting a sophomore effort, the appropriately titled J.Lo, which was issued in early 2001. The following year, Lopez released J to tha L-O!: The Remixes and This Is Me...Then, which spawned another hit single, "Jenny from the Block." Although her high-profile romance with Ben Affleck created more headlines than her recording career, her follow-up, 2005's Rebirth -- released just after she married singer Marc Anthony -- was anticipated enough to debut at number two on the Billboard 200 album chart. The Spanish-language album Como Ama una Mujer followed in 2007, peaking at number ten on the Billboard 200 chart while remaining at the top of the Latin chart for seven consecutive weeks. In October of that same year, Lopez put out a more "traditional" pop album, Brave, followed by an accompanying tour. Love?, another pop album, was released in April 2011, a few months after Lopez debuted alongside Randy Jackson and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler as one of the judges on "American Idol".

Love? proved Lopez's biggest hit in years, no doubt benefitting from her role as "American Idol" judge. Lopez lasted two seasons with "American Idol", departing after the 2012 season. Just as the news of her departure arrived, so too did news of her divorce from Marc Anthony, and her first hits collection, Dance Again...The Hits, which appeared in July of 2012.

Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Kelly Clarkson

The winner of Fox TV's first "American Idol" competition during the summer of 2002, Kelly Clarkson went from an anonymous talent to a nationally known singer in a matter of months, performing for an audience of millions. One of the show's most naturally gifted singers, the affable Texan then went on to enjoy a successful pop career, with only Carrie Underwood rivaling her as "American Idol"'s most commercial export.

Clarkson was born in Fort Worth and raised in Burleson, Texas, and her vocal talents were discovered in seventh grade, when a music teacher heard her voice and urged Clarkson to join the school choir. After high school, she opted to skip college and went to Hollywood to make her name; she appeared as an extra on an episode of "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch", but no other opportunities materialized. Upon returning to Burleson, Clarkson worked at a movie theater, promoted Red Bull energy drinks, and ultimately worked as a cocktail waitress at a comedy club before entering the "American Idol" contest.

One of 10,000 aspiring singers, Clarkson distinguished herself not only with her big, surprisingly mature voice, but also with her down-to-earth charm and sense of humor; at one of her auditions, she switched places with judge Randy Jackson, who did an impromptu version of R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly." Over the course of the 13-week show, her consistently strong performances of songs like "Respect," "Natural Woman," "Stuff Like That There," and "Without You" earned Clarkson enough audience votes to claim one of the contest's two finalist positions. After singing "A Moment Like This" and "Before Your Love," both of which were written for the show, Clarkson won the "American Idol" contest with 58 percent of the audience's votes. In addition to the show's prize of one million dollars and a recording contract with RCA, Clarkson secured a deal with Creative Artists Agency and several bookings, including the national "American Idol" tour and a performance of the national anthem at the September 11 commemoration at Washington, D.C.'s Lincoln Memorial.

Despite her newfound fame, Clarkson opted to remain in Texas rather than move to New York or Los Angeles. Her first single, "A Moment Like This," was released just two weeks after she won the contest and quickly earned platinum sales. Clarkson's debut full-length, Thankful, was released in spring of 2003, just in time to coincide with the second season of "American Idol" (and right before the "American Idol" movie, "From Justin to Kelly"). Breakaway followed in late 2004 and was a huge success, selling over five million copies (making it the third best-selling album of 2005) and spawning the hit singles "Because of You," "Behind These Hazel Eyes," and the enormously popular "Since U Been Gone." That song and Breakaway earned Grammys for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album, respectively, at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards in early 2006. Clarkson continued her busy touring schedule into the summer and announced plans for her third album.

Clarkson released My December, the studio follow-up to Breakaway, in 2007. Notable as Clarkson's first foray into songwriting, My December featured a darker, more rock-oriented edge than its predecessor and even featured a guest appearance by punk icon bassist Mike Watt. However, label exec Clive Davis openly disapproved of the album's direction, claiming that it lacked the commercial appeal of Breakaway. A public feud ensued, and Clarkson was dealt another blow when poor ticket sales resulted in the cancellation of her upcoming tour. The leadoff single "Never Again" nevertheless became a Top Ten pop hit, and My December climbed its way to platinum status by the year's end.

Kelly Clarkson returned to the top of the charts in early 2009, when the sugary single "My Life Would Suck Without You" set a record for the largest leap to number one. Composed by songwriting vets Max Martin, Lukasz Gottwald, and Claude Kelly, the song also set the stage for her fourth album, All I Ever Wanted, whose pop-minded material was mostly produced by OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder. While touring in support of All I Ever Wanted, Clarkson announced that she had begun work on material for her follow-up. Eventually, she collaborated with a handful of writers and producers, including Claude Kelly and Howard Benson as well as Jason Halbert, Rodney Jerkins, and others. In 2011 Clarkson released the resulting album, Stronger. Her fifth studio effort, the album featured the single "Mr. Know It All."

Heather Phares, Rovi

The Pussycat Dolls

Founded by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995, the Pussycat Dolls began as a burlesque dance revue based in Los Angeles, spawned a second revue in Las Vegas, grew into an A-list phenomena with a revolving cast of guest celebrities, and eventually became a recording act with a number one dance hit. It wasn't long after launching its revue that the troupe began attracting actresses and models who wanted to become a Pussycat Doll for a night. Christina Aguilera, Pamela Anderson, Kelly Osbourne, P!nk, Britney Spears, Carmen Electra, and Gwen Stefani are just some of the names who donned lingerie and pinup costumes and joined the Dolls for their flirtatious shows. An appearance in the 2003 film "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" was followed by numerous television appearances, most with Carmen Electra. Capitalizing on the nationwide attention and the addition of former Eden's Crush member Nicole Scherzinger as lead singer, the single "Don't Cha" with special guest Busta Rhymes appeared at the beginning of 2005 and climbed to number two on the pop chart, number one on the dance chart. With help from the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am and producer Timbaland, the Pussycat Dolls recorded their full-length debut. The A&M label released PCD, a Top Ten hit, in the summer of 2005. In 2008 member Carmit Bachar left to pursue a solo career while the Interscope label announced that a solo album from Scherzinger was being put on hold after four teaser singles failed to climb the charts. Continuing on as a five-piece, the Dolls released both the single "When I Grow Up" and the album Doll Domination that same year. "When I Grow Up" reached the Top Ten in 16 countries. Following the release of Doll Domination, rumors began to swirl regarding tension between the members of the Dolls and Scherzinger. Subsequently, by 2010, original Doll members Jessica Sutta, Kimberly Wyatt, Melody Thornton, and Ashley Roberts had left the group.

David Jeffries, Rovi

P!nk

Although initially viewed as another face in the late-'90s crowd of teen pop acts, Pink (professionally known as P!nk) quickly transcended and outgrew that label with her combination of pop songcraft and powerhouse, rock-influenced vocals. Born Alecia Moore on September 8, 1979, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Pink received her nickname as a child, years before she dyed her hair accordingly. She grew up in a musical family and was a regular on the Philadelphia club scene by the age of 13, first as a dancer and then as a backing vocalist for the local hip-hop group Schoolz of Thought. At 14, she began writing her own songs; the same year, a local DJ at Club Fever began inviting her on-stage to sing a song every Friday.

Pink was spotted one night by an executive for MCA Records, who asked her to audition for an R&B group called Basic Instinct. Although Pink's strong vocals landed her the gig, the group imploded not long after. She was quickly recruited for a female R&B trio called Choice, who signed to L.A. Reid and Babyface's LaFace label on the strength of their demo; however, they too disbanded due to differences over musical direction. During Choice's brief studio time, producer Daryl Simmons asked Pink to write a bridge section for the song "Just to Be Loving You." Impressed with the results, Pink rediscovered her songwriting muse, and an equally impressed L.A. Reid soon gave her a solo deal with LaFace.

Pink recorded her solo debut, Can't Take Me Home, with a variety of songwriting partners and dance-pop and R&B producers. Released in 2000, the album was a double-platinum hit; it spun off three Top Ten singles in "There U Go," "Most Girls," and "You Make Me Sick." She toured that summer as the opening act for *N Sync, but soon found herself tired of being pigeonholed as strictly a teen act despite her sassy, forthright persona. As she set about working on her follow-up album, Pink took part in the remake of Patti LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade" featured on the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, which also featured powerhouse divas Christina Aguilera, Mya, and Lil' Kim. The song was a massive hit, topping the charts in both the U.S. and U.K. while expanding Pink's own audience.

Toward the end of the year, Pink released her next single, "Get the Party Started," which climbed into the Top Five and became the singer's most inescapable hit to date. Her accompanying sophomore album, M!ssundaztood, quickly went double platinum; it boasted a more personal voice and an eclectic sound, plus heavy contributions from ex-4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry, who helped bring some more rock muscle to Pink's sound (as did guest appearances by Steven Tyler and Richie Sambora). M!ssundaztood attracted positive critical notices as well, and its second single, "Don't Let Me Get Me," became another fast-rising Top Ten hit.

Pink next issued Try This in November 2003. The album continued her progression toward more rock-oriented material, due in part to the songwriting collaboration of Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong on eight of the album's tracks. Try This' lead single, "Trouble," cracked the upper regions of Billboard's Top 40 and earned Pink a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. On the home front, Pink wed motocross racer Carey Hart -- whom she had initially met at 2001's X-Games -- on January 7, 2006, in Costa Rica.

Her next album, I'm Not Dead, appeared that April; its first single, "Stupid Girls," quickly became a hit, while "Who Knew" and "U + Ur Hand" both cracked the Top Ten. I'm Not Dead reached platinum status in several countries and helped ramp up anticipation for Pink's follow-up, Funhouse, which arrived in October 2008. "So What," the album's leadoff single, became her first number one hit since "Lady Marmalade." Another hit, "Please Don't Leave Me," followed in 2009 and all her hits were collected on the 2010 release Greatest Hits...So Far!!!, which was preceded by the single "Raise Your Glass." Around the time of the release of Greatest Hits...So Far!!! Pink announced that she and her husband were expecting their first child.

In 2012, Pink released her sixth studio album, The Truth About Love. With production from Greg Kurstin, Butch Walker, Max Martin, Dan Wilson, and others, the album featured such singles as "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" and "Try."

Steve Huey, Rovi

Beyoncé

One of the most recognizable characters in modern-day R&B, Beyoncé first rose to fame as the siren-voiced centerpiece of Destiny's Child before embarking on a multi-platinum solo career in 2001. Booming record sales, Grammy awards, movie roles, and a romance with rapper/CEO Jay-Z combined to heighten her profile in the 2000s, making the singer a virtual mainstay in the entertainment world. While some media outlets derisively championed Paris Hilton as "the next Marilyn Monroe," Beyoncé was a much better contender for the role, her glittering pop culture persona only matched by her success onscreen and on record.

Born in Houston in September 1981, Beyoncé Giselle Knowles began performing at age seven, winning upwards of 30 local competitions for her dancing and vocal abilities. She also joined her cousin Kelly Rowland and classmates LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett in forming an adolescent vocal group. Mathew Knowles, Beyoncé's father and Rowland's legal guardian, signed on to be the girls' manager, eventually quitting his full-time job to focus on their efforts. This situation would ultimately lead to the creation of one of the most popular female R&B groups of all time -- Destiny's Child.

Destiny's Child gained momentum throughout the '90s, appearing on "Star Search" in 1992 (under the name Girl's Tyme) and weathering several lineup changes before signing to Columbia Records in 1997. Four studio albums later, the group had officially become the best-selling female group of all time, with such smash hits as "Jumpin' Jumpin'," "Bills, Bills, Bills," "Say My Name," and "Survivor" bolstering the girls' momentum despite a continued string of lawsuits from former members Roberson and Luckett (who contested Mathew Knowles' management, claiming he withheld profits and unjustly favored his daughter and niece). In 2001, Beyoncé, Rowland, and replacement member Michelle Williams allowed themselves a break from the group to pursue individual solo careers. Before landing several movie roles, Beyoncé became the first African-American female artist and second woman ever to win the annual ASCAP Pop Songwriter of the Year Award. An appearance in the MTV drama "Carmen: A Hip Hopera" quickly followed, but it was her role as Foxxy Cleopatra in 2002's "Austin Powers in Goldmember" that established Beyoncé as a true Hollywood star.

While her inclusion on the movie's soundtrack failed to chart nationally, Beyoncé's full-length solo debut, 2003's Dangerously in Love, reached multi-platinum status. Featuring collaborations with Sean Paul, Missy Elliott, OutKast's Big Boi, and romantic interest Jay-Z, the album spawned a total of four Top Ten singles and garnered the singer five Grammys. Destiny's Child reconvened the following year to release Destiny Fulfilled; upon completing the resulting tour, the group issued one final album, a greatest-hits compilation entitled #1's, and subsequently disbanded. Beyoncé turned her full attention to her burgeoning solo career, releasing the sophomore effort B'day in September 2006 and, three months later, turning in an award-winning performance for the movie musical "Dreamgirls". The singer then embarked on the "Beyoncé Experience" concert tour, releasing a live DVD in November 2007.

The following year proved to be another busy one as Beyoncé landed the role of Etta James in "Cadillac Records", a musical biopic that explored the heyday of Chicago's Chess Records. Shooting commenced in February 2008, with Beyoncé also serving as co-executive producer. One month before the film's December release, the singer released her third studio album, I Am...Sasha Fierce. The double-disc effort emphasized her two distinct personalities, allowing Beyoncé to explore both mainstream sounds and traditional R&B. Some live releases followed. Released in 2009, I Am...Yours, a CD/DVD set, documented an August 2009 performance at Wynn Las Vegas, while 2010's I Am...World Tour, available in separate audio and video formats, was recorded at London's significantly larger O2 Arena (a few months after the Vegas program). She followed ten Grammy nominations with 2011's 4. One of her most energetic and empowering tracks, "Run the World (Girls)," was issued as the lead single, followed by "Party" and "Countdown." The album hit the top position on Billboard's Top 200.

Andrew Leahey, Rovi

Mariah Carey

The best-selling female performer of the 1990s, Mariah Carey rose to superstardom on the strength of her stunning five-octave voice. An elastic talent who moved easily from glossy ballads to hip-hop-inspired dance-pop, she earned frequent comparison to rivals Whitney Houston and Celine Dion, but did them both one better by composing all of her own material. Born in Long Island, NY, on March 27, 1970, Carey moved to New York City at the age of 17 -- just one day after graduating high school -- to pursue a music career; there she befriended keyboardist Ben Margulies, with whom she began writing songs. Her big break came as a backing vocalist on a studio session with dance-pop singer Brenda K. Starr, who handed Carey's demo tape to Columbia Records head Tommy Mottola at a party. According to legend, Mottola listened to the tape in his limo while driving home that same evening, and was so immediately struck by Carey's talent that he doubled back to the party to track her down.

After signing to Columbia, Carey entered the studio to begin work on her 1990 self-titled debut LP. The heavily promoted album was a chart-topping smash, launching no less than four number one singles: "Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday," and "I Don't Wanna Cry." Her overnight success earned Grammy Awards as Best New Artist and Best Female Vocalist, and expectations were high for Carey's follow-up, 1991's Emotions. The album did not disappoint, as the title track reached number one -- a record fifth consecutive chart-topper -- while both "Can't Let Go" and "Make It Happen" landed in the Top Five. Carey's next release was 1992's MTV Unplugged EP, which generated a number one cover of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There." Featured on the track was backup singer Trey Lorenz, whose appearance immediately helped him land a recording contract of his own.

In June 1993, Carey wed Mottola -- some two decades her senior -- in a headline-grabbing ceremony; months later, she released her third full-length effort, Music Box, which became her best-selling record to date. Two more singles, "Dreamlover" and "Hero," reached the top spot on the charts. Carey's first tour followed and was widely panned by critics; undaunted, she resurfaced in 1994 with a holiday release titled Merry Christmas, scoring a seasonal smash with "All I Want for Christmas Is You." Released in 1995, Daydream reflected a new artistic maturity; the first single, "Fantasy," debuted at number one, making Carey the first female artist and just the second performer ever to accomplish the feat. The follow-up, "One Sweet Day" -- a collaboration with Boyz II Men -- repeated the trick, and remained lodged at the top of the charts for a record 16 weeks.

After separating from Mottola, Carey returned in 1997 with Butterfly, another staggering success and her most hip-hop-flavored recording to date. #1's -- a collection featuring her 13 previous chart-topping singles as well as "The Prince of Egypt (When You Believe)," a duet with Whitney Houston effectively pairing the two most successful female recording artists in pop history -- followed late the next year. With "Heartbreaker," the first single from her 1999 album Rainbow, Carey became the first artist to top the charts in each year of the 1990s; the record also pushed her ahead of the Beatles as the artist with the most cumulative weeks spent atop the Hot 100 singles chart.

However, the early 2000s weren't as kind to Carey. After signing an $80 million deal in 2001 with Virgin -- the biggest record contract ever -- she experienced a very public personal and professional meltdown that included rambling; suicidal messages on her website; an appearance on "TRL" where, clad only in a T-shirt, she handed out Popsicles to the audience; and last but not least, the poorly received movie "Glitter" and its attendant soundtrack (which was also her Virgin Records debut). Both the film and the album did poorly critically as well as commercially, with "Glitter" making just under $4 million in its total U.S. gross and the soundtrack struggling to make gold sales. Following these setbacks, Virgin and Carey parted ways early in 2002, with the label paying her $28 million. That spring, she found a new home with Island/Def Jam, where she set up her own label, MonarC Music. In December, she released her ninth album, Charmbracelet, which failed to become a success.

The Emancipation of Mimi, her most successful work in years, appeared in 2005. It climbed to multi-platinum status and earned Carey three Grammy awards -- Best Contemporary R&B Album and, for the single "We Belong Together," Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song -- thus restoring her status as a megastar. Two weeks before the release of her subsequent album, April 2008's E=MC2, Carey scored her 18th number one hit with "Touch My Body," a feat that pushed her into second place (past Elvis, no less) among all artists with the most chart-topping singles. Although that hit song, along with the late April news that she married Nick Cannon, kept her in the spotlight that year, the remainder of the album's spinoffs weren't nearly as successful; only "Bye Bye" managed to scrape the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. She went back to work fairly quickly, however, and Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel -- featuring collaborations with the-Dream, as well as a cover of Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is" -- became her 12th studio album upon its September 2009 release. Despite some positive reviews, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel turned into Carey's least successful studio album, generating no big hits. The following year, Carey released Merry Christmas II You for the 2010 holiday season. Not long before its release, Carey announced that she and Cannon were expecting their first child.

Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Destiny's Child

Destiny's Child rose to become one of the most popular female R&B groups of the late '90s, eventually rivaling even TLC in terms of blockbuster commercial success. Their accomplishments came in spite of several abrupt personnel changes, which were accompanied by heated, well-publicized feuds in the media and the courts. In fact, for a time, Destiny's Child were known for that drama just as much as their music. Once the group stabilized again, though, they emerged with even more hitmaking power than ever before.

Destiny's Child were formed in Houston, Texas, in 1990, when original members Beyoncé Knowles and LaTavia Roberson were just nine years old; the two met at an audition and became friends, and Knowles' father Mathew set about developing an act based on their singing and rapping, taking their name from a passage in the Book of Isaiah. Beyoncé's cousin Kelendria "Kelly" Rowland joined the group in 1992, and shortly thereafter they landed an appearance on "Star Search", where they performed a rap song. The quartet's lineup was finalized (for the time being) when LeToya Luckett joined in 1993, and they spent the next few years working their way up from the Houston club scene, eventually opening for artists like SWV, Dru Hill, and Immature. Finally, in 1997, Destiny's Child were offered a recording contract by Columbia.

The group made its recorded debut on 1997's "Killing Time," a song included on the soundtrack of the blockbuster "Men in Black". Their self-titled debut album was released in early 1998, featuring production by Wyclef Jean and Jermaine Dupri, among others. Its lead single, the Jean-produced "No No No," was a smash hit, selling over a million copies and topping the R&B charts. The follow-up singles -- "With Me" and "Get on the Bus," the latter of which was taken from the soundtrack of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" -- didn't quite duplicate the success of "No No No," although Destiny's Child would eventually go platinum (after the group's later success). Destiny's Child reentered the studio quickly, bringing in producer Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs to handle the majority of their next record. Lead single "Bills, Bills, Bills" became the group's first number one pop hit (and second R&B number one) in the summer of 1999 and, paced by its success, the accompanying album, The Writing's on the Wall, entered the charts at number six upon its release.

That was just the beginning of the group's breakout success. The second single, "Bug a Boo," didn't perform as well, but the third single, "Say My Name," was another massive hit, their biggest so far; it hit number one on both the pop and R&B charts for three weeks apiece in early 2000, and made Destiny's Child a pop-cultural phenomenon. However, at the peak of "Say My Name"'s popularity, the group splintered. In December 1999, Roberson and Luckett attempted to split with manager Mathew Knowles, charging that he kept a disproportionate share of the band's profits, attempted to exert too much control, and unfairly favored his daughter and niece. While they never intended to leave the group, relations naturally grew strained, and when the video for "Say My Name" premiered in February 2000, many fans (not to mention Roberson and Luckett) were surprised to find two new members -- Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin -- joining Knowles and Rowland. Infuriated, Roberson and Luckett took legal action in March, suing both Knowles and their former bandmates for breach of partnership and fiduciary duties. A war of words followed in the press; meanwhile, the next Destiny's Child single, "Jumpin' Jumpin'," hit the Top Ten, and The Writing's on the Wall went on to sell a whopping eight million copies.

The personnel-turnover drama still wasn't over; in July 2000, just five months after joining, Farrah Franklin split with the group. The official reason was that Franklin missed several promotional appearances and concert gigs, although in later interviews she spoke of too much negativity and too little control in the group environment. Now reduced to a trio, Destiny's Child was tapped to record the theme song for the film version of "Charlie's Angels"; released as a single in October, "Independent Women, Pt. 1" raced up the charts and spent an astounding 11 weeks at number one. Destiny's Child were now indisputable superstars, the biggest female R&B group on the scene, and they quickly began work on a new album to capitalize. In the meantime, toward the end of 2000, Roberson and Luckett dropped the portion of their lawsuit aimed at Rowland and Knowles in exchange for a settlement, though they continued to pursue action against Knowles' father; as part of the agreement, both sides were prohibited from ripping each other publicly.

Beyoncé had long since emerged as the group's focal point, and on the third Destiny's Child album, she assumed more control than ever before, taking a greater hand in writing the material and even producing some of the record herself. While recording sessions were going on, Rowland released the first Destiny's Child solo track; "Angel" appeared on the soundtrack of Chris Rock's "Down to Earth". Former members Roberson and Luckett also announced the formation of a trio called, coincidentally, Angel, and Farrah Franklin set about starting a solo career.

Survivor -- whose title was reportedly inspired by a DJ's crack about Destiny's Child members voting one another off the island, much like the popular CBS reality series -- hit stores in the spring of 2001, and entered the charts at number one. The first two singles, "Survivor" and "Bootylicious," were predictably huge hits, with the latter becoming the group's fourth number one pop single. A cover of Andy Gibb's "Emotion" was also successful, albeit less so, and Survivor sold well -- over four million copies -- but not as well as its predecessor. Toward the end of the year, the group released a holiday album, 8 Days of Christmas, and announced plans for a series of side projects, including solo albums from all three members (to be staggered over the next year and a half, so as to avoid competition). In early 2002, shortly after This Is the Remix was released to tide fans over, Roberson and Luckett sued the group again, claiming that some of the lyrics in "Survivor" made reference to them (in violation of the earlier lawsuit settlement).

The first Destiny's Child solo album, Michelle Williams' all-gospel project Heart to Yours, was released in April and featured a duet with gospel legend Shirley Caesar. Meanwhile, Beyoncé won a leading role opposite Mike Myers in the third Austin Powers film, "Goldmember", playing blaxploitation-style heroine Foxy Cleopatra; her first solo single, the Neptunes-produced "Work It Out," appeared on the soundtrack, and her full solo album, Dangerously in Love, became a huge hit upon release in mid-2003. Despite much critical speculation, the trio reunited the following year and released Destiny Fulfilled in November 2004. In October 2005, the #1's compilation was issued, followed by the Live in Atlanta DVD and CD sets in 2006 and 2007. The members continued solo careers. Rowland had considerable success with Ms. Kelly and Here I Am, both of which reached the Top Ten. Meanwhile, Beyoncé, who married Jay-Z in 2008, solidified her status as the planet's biggest pop star with the platinum albums B'day, I Am...Sasha Fierce, and 4. The group reunited in 2012 to record a new song, the Pharrell-produced "Nuclear," for the Love Songs compilation, which was released in January 2013 -- just prior to their halftime performance at Super Bowl XLVII.

Steve Huey, Rovi

Fergie

Like Martika, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Rahsaan Patterson, Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson got her first major break as a youngster on the television program Kids Incorporated. Born in 1975, she did voice work for The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, as well as commercials, prior to becoming a Kids Incorporated regular from 1984 through 1989. Along with Stefanie Ridel and fellow Kids Incorporated alum Renee Ilene Sandstrom, Ferguson formed Wild Orchid, a teen pop group that released a pair of albums during the late '90s. A few years after the group's split, Ferguson joined the Black Eyed Peas in time to record 2003's Elephunk. She became central to the group's mainstream success ("Let's Get It Started," "My Humps") and released her first solo album, The Dutchess, during September 2006.

Andy Kellman, Rovi

Nelly Furtado

When Nelly Furtado appeared with her neo-hippie, multiculti debut, Whoa, Nelly!, in 2001, a dance-diva makeover seemed like an impossibility, but the singer/songwriter revived and sustained her career with the sexually charged Loose in 2006, in the process consolidating her position as one of the most unpredictable artists of her decade. Furtado always proudly displayed her Portuguese heritage, a distinction that separated her from legions of emerging female singer/songwriters in the early days of the new millennium, but her uniqueness didn't cease there: she had an ear for elliptical yet memorable melodies, a taste for Brit-pop balanced by an immersion in modern R&B and hip-hop. All this surfaced on Whoa, Nelly! and its hits "Turn Off the Light" and "I'm Like a Bird," but she really pushed her rhythmic influences to the forefront on Loose, resulting in "Promiscuous" and "Man Eater," her biggest hits to date, and suggesting that Furtado had many avenues yet to explore.

A native of the Canadian city of Victoria, Furtado was a musically precocious child, learning to play a variety of instruments and singing in choirs, spending as much time listening to modern R&B like Mariah Carey and TLC as she did Brit-pop, eventually winding her way toward hip-hop and Brazilian music. Upon her high school graduation she headed to Toronto, soon joining the hip-hop duo Nelstar. Not long afterward, the duo of Brian West and Gerald Eaton, core members of the Philosopher Kings, produced the Furtado demo that led to her contract with DreamWorks.

Whoa, Nelly!, her first album, appeared in late 2000 and DreamWorks built the album gradually, capitalizing on strong reviews and a supporting slot for Moby, with the record truly taking off when "I'm Like a Bird" turned into a hit on a road that led to a Grammy for Song of the Year. This was one of four Grammy nominations and several hits including "Turn Off the Light," which displayed her rhythmic roots in a way "I'm Like a Bird" did not. Furtado had a daughter as she was working on her second album, and her new role as a mother was evident on Folklore. Released in November 2003, it was an ambitious album that garnered some good reviews along with some negative notices, and it failed to generate a hit.

Perhaps the under-performance of Folklore pushed Furtado toward the musical makeover of Loose, the 2006 album produced largely by hip-hop superstar Timbaland. Heavy on grooves and overtly sexual, Loose had a pair of smash singles: "Promiscuous," which was a chart-topper in the U.S., and "Maneater," which performed the same feat in the U.K. Both singles set the soundtrack for 2006 around the world, helping the album shift seven million copies internationally. Her star status fortified, Furtado took her time delivering a follow-up, releasing her first Spanish-language album, Mi Plan, in September 2009. A collection of remixes from Mi Plan appeared a year later and was followed just a few weeks later by The Best of Nelly Furtado. Her fifth studio album, the largely positive and upbeat The Spirit Indestructible, was scheduled for release during fall 2012.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Gwen Stefani

Before she discovered she could write songs, Gwen Stefani was looking forward to a life of marriage, children, and white picket fences. When her brother introduced her to ska and new wave music, it set off a chain of events that would eventually lead to millions of albums sold and a Madonna-sized public image that extended past music and into the worlds of film, fashion, and technology.

Born and raised in Fullerton, CA, Stefani had a musical epiphany at the age of 17. She had fallen in love with the Madness and Selecter records her brother, Eric Stefani, was playing constantly. Seeing Fishbone, the Untouchables, and other bands involved in Los Angeles' ska revival scene only reinforced her interest in music, so she was more than ready when her brother asked her to join a ska band he was forming with a friend named John Spence. Gwen originally shared lead vocals with Spence but in December of 1987 he committed suicide, leaving the band -- now called No Doubt -- with an uncertain future. According to numerous interviews with the bandmembers after their breakthrough, Gwen was the glue that held No Doubt together during these hard times, pushing the group to keep trying. She was also romantically involved with the band's bass player, Tony Kanal, by this time.

After playing numerous gigs and parties, No Doubt were signed to Interscope in 1991. The label considered their 1992 debut album a flop and refused to financially support a tour or further recordings, but the band refused to give up. The self-financed Beacon Street Collection appeared in 1994 and did well enough to make things nice with Interscope, but the band was once again going through a traumatic period behind the scenes. Eric Stefani left to become an animator for The Simpsons and Gwen and Tony's relationship had ended. Gwen wrote a collection of songs focused on heartbreak and rebirth that would become No Doubt's third album, Tragic Kingdom, and the rest, as they say, is history.

With the smash singles "Just a Girl," "Spiderwebs," and "Don't Speak," the album reached the number one spot in Billboard and garnered two Grammy nominations. The press began to focus on Stefani's role in the band. Voted one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People," video and photo shoots focused on her and rumors spread that the other three members of the band were unhappy with the lack of attention they received. This topic of discussion continued as the band released Return of Saturn in 2000 and Rock Steady a year later, but it was overshadowed during this time by new gossip -- Stefani's romantic relationship with Bush's frontman, Gavin Rossdale. She also started doing some work outside the band, lending her vocals to the remix of electronica artist Moby's "Southside" and rapper Eve's "Let Me Blow Your Mind." In 2002, she arrived 45 minutes late for her wedding with Rossdale in London.

After Rock Steady, No Doubt took a break. Stefani approached Kanal about producing an off-the-cuff solo project that would be influenced by her non-ska favorites. Prince, the Time, Club Nouveau, and Madonna were the names thrown around and the idea was to make the project "fast and easy." Over time, the "fast and easy" record morphed into something much bigger. Old friend, former labelmate, and hit songwriter Linda Perry became involved and the project became much more polished, slick, and dance-oriented. A pile of high-profile collaborators -- Dr. Dre, the Neptunes, Dallas Austin, Andre 3000, Nellee Hooper, Jimmy Jam, and Terry Lewis -- became involved. In September of 2004, the infectious and hyper dance single "What You Waiting For?" appeared with its accompanying video dominating MTV.

The album, Love.Angel.Music.Baby., hit the shelves in November with surreal artwork that introduced Stefani's four-woman "posse," the Harajuku Girls. The all-Asian Harajuku Girls were inspired by Stefani's fascination with the Harajuku girls of Japan, young club kids who have a flippant and fun attitude toward fashion. Appearing with Stefani live, in videos, and in photos, the Girls quickly drew criticism from the Asian community, angry about the rumor that they had to sign a contract to never speak English even though they could, and that Stefani's Girls looked nothing like the "real" Harajuku girls. Based on a dancehall cover of Fiddler on the Roof's "If I Were a Rich Man," "Rich Girl" became the next smash single with the anthem "Hollaback Girl" becoming success number three. While the singles were dominating pop and dance radio, Stefani appeared as Jean Harlow in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator. With music and movies checked off, Stefani moved into the world of fashion and introduced her clothing line L.A.M.B. Taking her influence to the world of tech, she designed the Harajuku Lovers' 4.1 MP Digital Camera for Hewlett-Packard. The camera was released in a limited edition with a Stefani-designed case and biographical DVD.

Late in 2005, Stefani discovered she was pregnant, but her schedule remained busy in 2006: along with working on L.A.M.B., she released a line of limited-edition Gwen Stefani fashion dolls complete with outfits from her videos and tours, and worked on her second solo album with producers including Akon, Swizz Beatz, and Nellee Hooper, as well as the Neptunes and Tony Kanal. That spring, Stefani gave birth to a boy, Kingston James McGregor Rossdale. The Neptunes-produced "Wind It Up" arrived that fall and heralded the full-length The Sweet Escape, which was released on the same day as the live DVD Harajuku Lovers Live.

David Jeffries, Rovi

Natasha Bedingfield

Originally from New Zealand, Natasha Bedingfield grew up in southeast London, where she and her siblings were raised around music. By their teens, Natasha, brother Daniel, and sister Nikola had formed an R&B-based singing group. It didn't last, but the experience encouraged the Bedingfields to keep pursuing music. In 2001 and 2002 Daniel Bedingfield scored a hit with the single "Gotta Get Through This," and the following year it was Natasha's turn. Leaving university to sign with BMG, Natasha immediately started working on her first record. Buoyed by advance singles like "These Words" and "Single," Unwritten debuted at number one on the British charts. The golden reception for Bedingfield's rhythmic pop sound netted her platinum record sales and numerous BRIT awards. It also set up her assault on the American pop charts, which began in July 2005 with Unwritten's domestic release. In 2007 the single "I Wanna Have Your Babies" announced the coming of her sophomore effort, N.B. That album, however, was never released in the U.S. Instead, a reworked version -- half of N.B. plus six new songs -- found its way onto American shores as Pocketful of Sunshine in early 2008. In 2009, Bedingfield married businessman/filmmaker Matt Robinson and began working on writing new material while vacationing in New Zealand. Bedingfield's third studio album, Strip Me, featuring production from OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, was slated for release in November of 2010.

Johnny Loftus, Rovi

Leona Lewis

A striking young woman with a strong vocal resemblance to the young Whitney Houston and a large mop of blonde corkscrew curls, Leona Lewis won the third series of the British reality talent show "The X Factor" in a landslide. (For non-Brits: "The X Factor" is the revamped follow-up to the original U.K. talent search, "Pop Idol", of which "American Idol" is the massively successful U.S. version; "AI"'s Simon Cowell is the show's lead judge and executive producer.) Born and raised in the Islington section of north London, Lewis won a talent show at the age of 13 and devoted herself to music thereafter, eventually graduating from the prestigious BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology. While working as a receptionist and pizza waitress and writing her own material, Lewis auditioned for "The X Factor" in the summer of 2006 and won the third series competition in December of that year. Lewis' debut single, a soulful cover of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This" (Clarkson's own debut "American Idol" showcase single), was the number one single in the U.K. at the turn of the year, including the coveted "Christmas number one."

Along with her TV-driven U.K. success, Lewis signed an American recording deal with Clive Davis' J Records in February 2007. By the end of the year, she had launched her debut album, Spirit, in England, and watched it go to the top of the charts (along with the single "Bleeding Love"). The American release followed in 2008, and with similar success; it reached the top of the Billboard 200 and received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Album. Echo, Lewis' follow-up, was issued in 2009, featuring collaborations with Ryan Tedder, Xenomania, and Timbaland. Also in 2009, Lewis released the single "I See You (Theme from Avatar)." Written by James Horner and Simon Franglen, the song was featured on the soundtrack to the hit James Cameron film "Avatar". The following year, Lewis promoted Echo with the Labyrinth tour. Inspired by the 1986 fantasy film of the same name, the tour was showcased on the DVD/CD The Labyrinth Tour: Live from the O2 in 2010. In 2011, Lewis began recording her third studio album, Glassheart, showcasing writing and production by a bevy of names including Ryan Tedder, Fraser T. Smith, Dallas Austin, and others. The album had a long gestation period, during which it slowly became more electronic dance-oriented. It finally appeared in Europe in October 2012.

Stewart Mason, Rovi

Spice Girls

Spice Girls were the first major British pop music phenomenon of the mid-'90s to not have a debt to independent pop/rock. Instead, the all-female quintet derived from the dance-pop tradition that made Take That the most popular British group of the early '90s, but there was one crucial difference. Spice Girls used dance-pop as a musical base, but they infused the music with a fiercely independent, feminist stance that was equal parts Madonna, post-riot grrrl alternative rock feminism, and a co-opting of the good-times-all-the-time stance of England's new lad culture. Their proud, all-girl image and catchy dance-pop appealed to younger listeners, while their colorful, sexy personalities and sense of humor appealed to older music fans, making Spice Girls a cross-generational success. The group also became chart-toppers throughout Europe in 1996, before concentrating in America in early 1997.

Every member of Spice Girls was given a specific identity by the British press from the outset, and each label was as much an extension of their own personality as it was a marketing tool, since each name derived from their debut single and video, "Wannabe." Geri Estelle Halliwell was the "sexy Spice"; Melanie Janine Brown was the "scary Spice"; Victoria Adams was "the posh Spice"; Melanie Jayne Chisholm was "the sporty Spice"; Emma Lee Bunton was "the baby Spice." Each persona was exploited in the group's press articles and videos, which helped send "Wannabe" to the top of the charts upon its summer release in 1996. If all of the invented personalities made Spice Girls seem manufactured, that's because they were to a certain extent. Every member of the group was active in England's theatrical, film, and modeling circuit before the group's formation, and they all responded to an advertisement requesting five "lively girls" for a musical group in the summer of 1993. The manager who placed the ad chose all five members of Spice Girls, yet the women rejected his plans for their career and set out on their own two months after forming. For the next two years, the Girls fought to get a record contract, since most record labels insisted that the band pick one member as a clear leader, which is something the group refused.

Eventually, Spice Girls signed a contract to Virgin Records. They were without a manager, though, which made recording a debut album nearly impossible. All five members moved into a house and went on the dole as they searched for a manager. By the end of 1995, the group had signed with Annie Lennox's manager Simon Fuller, and began writing songs with Elliot Kennedy. "Wannabe," Spice Girls' first single, was released in the summer of 1996 and became the first debut single by an all-female band to enter the British charts at number one. It remained there for seven weeks, and by the end of the year, "Wannabe" had hit number one in 21 other countries. Immediately following the success of "Wannabe," Spice Girls became media icons in Britain as stories of their encounters with other celebrities became fodder for numerous tabloids, as did nude photos of Halliwell that she posed for earlier in her career. All of this added to the group's momentum, and their second single, "Say You'll Be There," entered the charts at number one in the fall, selling 200,000 copies a week. Spice, their debut album, was released at the end of the year, accompanied by their first ballad, "2 Become 1." Both the album and single went directly to number one, staying there for several weeks; both records were at number one over the Christmas week, making Spice Girls one of three artists to achieve that feat.

Having topped the charts in virtually every other country in the Western world, Spice Girls concentrated on America in early 1997, releasing "Wannabe" in January and Spice in February.

They became massive stars in the U.S. as well, also scoring the hits "Say You'll Be There" and "2 Become 1"; Spiceworld, their second LP, appeared later in the year in conjunction with their feature film of the same name. In May 1998, Geri Halliwell departed from the band, not citing major reasons for leaving the group. She did release a solo album, Schizophonic, a year later, but nothing chart-topping to match the success of her former band. Still not deterred by the absence of Ginger Spice, Spice Girls trudged on -- Melanie B. married Spice Girls dancer Jimmy Gulzar and released the solo single, a duet with Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot called "I Want You Back." By Christmas, Spice Girls scored a number one hit with Goodbye and with a career floating high, their personal lives were moving as well. Melanie B. gave birth to a daughter named Phoenix Chi in February 1999, and Adams followed a month later with a son, Brooklyn Joseph. And now only known as Victoria Beckham, Posh Spice married Manchester United soccer star David Beckham later that summer. Becoming now more noticeable for their social status than their singing, Spice Girls took a well-deserved break while Melanie C. took over the English charts with her successful solo effort Northern Star, which was released in the U.S. in fall 1999. The following year, the girls headed back into the studio with high-profile producers Rodney Jerkins, Terry Lewis, and Jimmy Jam (Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige) to record a follow-up to their pop-friendly Spiceworld.

In the middle of recording, Melanie B. divorced Gulzar and endured a bitter custody battle throughout the remainder of 2000. Spice Girls' creative power overruled media scrutiny so that they could fully focus on the new R&B sound they were trying for and a the new collaboration united the foursome once again to release the third album Forever, which hit American shores in fall 2000.

The group began to splinter not long after the release of Forever, which made little impact outside of the UK where it only had one hit single -- the chart-topping double-sided single Holler / Let Love Lead the Way -- before the Spice Girls stopped promoting the album. Just three months after the album's November 2000 release, the band announced that they were separating in February of 2001.

Over the next few years, the Spice Girls may not have existed as a group, but they were never out of various taboild headlines in the UK and America. As the wife of football superstar David Beckham, Victoria got the most attention, but Mel B wasn't far behind thanks to her ill-fated romance with actor Eddie Murphy, which resulted in an out-of-wedlock child. Mel Chisholm had a steady career as a pop singer while Emma Bunton had some chart success of her own with her 2001 album A Girl Like Me and its 2004 successor, Free Me. Meanwhile, Geri Halliwell split her time between recording and TV projects.

After years of persistent rumors of a reunion -- peaking heavily yet never materializing for Bob Geldolf's 2005 charity event Live 8 -- the Spice Girls announced in June 2007 that they would be reuniting for an eleven-concert tour beginning that December, which would be accompanied by a new greatest hits album and documentary.

In 2010, it was announced that the Spice Girls had joined forces with Simon Fuller to develop a musical based on their songs. Viva Forever: The Musical - penned by British comedienne Jennifer Saunders - was announced at a press conference in June 2012. After much speculation in the British press, the Spice Girls reformed once more for the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Jessica Simpson

Although Jessica Simpson dabbled in film, reality TV, and eventually contemporary country music during the 2000s, she is best known as a dance-pop vocalist who rose to fame in the late '90s alongside such teenaged acts as 98°. Simpson was born and raised in Dallas, TX, where she began her performing career as a member of her church choir; at 12, she also auditioned unsuccessfully for "The Mickey Mouse Club". While attending church camp the following summer, Simpson was discovered by the head of a tiny contemporary Christian music label and spent the next three years recording her debut album. However, the label folded before Simpson's record could be released, although a small pressing was eventually funded by her grandmother. Nevertheless, the teen became a hit on the Christian Youth Conference circuit, where she shared bills with Kirk Franklin, God's Property, and CeCe Winans.

Seeking to expand her popularity in the secular market, Simpson later signed to Sony and toured in support of the boy band sensation 98°. Teen pop was in full swing, and Simpson released her well-timed debut album, Sweet Kisses, in 1999. The album enjoyed smash singles with "I Wanna Love You Forever" and "I Think I'm in Love with You," the latter of which sampled the chord progression from John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane." A second studio effort, Irresistible, appeared in spring 2001. Despite MTV's coverage of the album's title track, Simpson's sophomore effort didn't fare as well as her debut, which reached multi-platinum status. In 2002, Simpson married her longtime boyfriend, 98° crooner Nick Lachey, and went on to appear in several episodes of "That '70s Show". However, she didn't become a bona fide celebrity until the summer of 2003, when the MTV-produced reality show "Newlyweds" began documenting the first year of Simpson's marriage to Lachey.

Simpson's third album, a mature effort titled In This Skin, received a July 2003 release that smartly coincided with her hit TV show. The leadoff single "Sweetest Sin" was only a moderate chart hit, but thanks to the success of "Newlyweds", Simpson's teetering career refused to topple. A second single, "With You," became a favorite among the MTV crowd, and by spring 2004, In This Skin had been re-released with reworked versions of Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" and Robbie Williams' "Angels," as well as additional footage from the first season of "Newlyweds". Simpson spent the rest of 2004 and early 2005 working on the second season of "Newlyweds"; she also expanded her onscreen presence by portraying Daisy Duke in the "Dukes of Hazzard" movie. Late that year, she and Lachey separated amidst a flurry of rumors, with Simpson eventually filing for divorce in December 2005.

Soon after, she set to work on her fourth album and starred in the Dane Cook vehicle "Employee of the Month". A Public Affair arrived in summer 2006, featuring influences that ranged from '80s new wave to contemporary country. The album went gold, a modest achievement given Simpson's platinum-selling past, and the singer opted to refashion herself as a country artist for 2008's Do You Know. The album debuted at the top of Billboard's country charts but spawned no big hit singles and she left Sony Nashville seven months after its release. During the first part of 2010, Simpson devoted herself to hosting the VH1 show "The Price of Beauty". In the fall, Sony issued Playlist, the first Simpson hits compilation, and the singer released her second Christmas album, Happy Christmas, on Primary Wave Records.

Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Rihanna

Rihanna established her dance-pop credentials in summer 2005 with her debut smash hit, "Pon de Replay," and continued to demonstrate hit potential in subsequent years (e.g., "S.O.S." in 2006; "Umbrella" in 2007; "Disturbia" in 2008). However, it was the singer's third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, that made her a full-fledged international pop star with a regular presence atop the charts. Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados, she exhibited a certain star quality as a young child, often winning beauty and talent contests. Because she lived on the fairly remote island of Barbados in the West Indies, however, she never foresaw the sort of stardom she would later attain.

That stardom came courtesy of a fateful meeting with Evan Rogers. The New Yorker was vacationing in Barbados with his wife, a native of the island, when he was introduced to Rihanna. Rogers had spent years producing pop hits for such superstars as *NSYNC, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, Laura Pausini, and Rod Stewart, and he offered the talented Rihanna a chance to record. Along with Rogers' production partner, Carl Sturken (the other half of Syndicated Rhythm Productions), Rihanna recorded several demos that sparked the interest of the Carter Administration -- that is, the newly appointed Def Jam president Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter. This led to an audition, and Rihanna both received and accepted an on-the-spot offer to sign with Def Jam.

Come summer 2005, Def Jam rolled out "Pon de Replay," the lively leadoff single from Music of the Sun. Produced almost entirely by Rogers and Sturken, the song synthesized Caribbean rhythms with urban-pop songwriting. "Pon de Replay" caught fire almost immediately, climbing all the way to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and contesting the half-summer reign of Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" atop the chart. The debut album spawned one other hit, "If It's Lovin' That You Want," which also broke the Top 40. Rihanna's follow-up effort, A Girl Like Me, saw even greater success and spawned three sizable singles: a chart-topper ("S.O.S.") and two Top Ten hits ("Unfaithful," "Break It Off").

Rihanna's third album, 2007's Good Girl Gone Bad, continued her success while signaling a change of direction. Whereas her past two albums had been imbalanced -- often weighed down by faceless balladry and canned Caribbean-isms -- Good Girl Gone Bad was a first-rate dance-pop album, stacked with several chart-topping singles and boasting collaborations with Jay-Z, Ne-Yo, Timbaland, and StarGate. The lead single, "Umbrella," shot to number one, as did "Take a Bow" and "Disturbia." Its success turned Rihanna into one of the planet's biggest pop stars.

Rated R was released in 2009 during the wake of a physical altercation with romantic interest Chris Brown, who pleaded guilty to felony assault. The album's lead single, "Russian Roulette" -- written with Ne-Yo -- was one of the year's most controversial singles, and it set the tone for the singer's new, dark direction. Rated R peaked within the Top Five of the Billboard 200, while another one of its singles, "Rude Boy," topped the Hot 100. Rated R: Remixed was released in the spring of 2010 and featured ten tracks from the album revamped for the dancefloor by Chew Fu.

Loud, Rihanna's fifth studio album, followed in November and was led by the StarGate-produced "Only Girl (In the World)." That song, as well as the follow-up singles "What's My Name?" and "S&M," all topped the Billboard Hot 100. In November 2011, shortly after Loud's "Cheers (Drink to That)" entered the Top Ten, the singer released Talk That Talk. The single "We Found Love" with Calvin Harris earned the top spot in the Hot 100, and the album peaked at number three. Unapologetic, her seventh studio album, featured some of her brashest material and was led by "Diamonds" -- her 18th Top Ten single.

Jason Birchmeier, Rovi

About the artist

Albums

Similar Artists

Songs from Similar Artists