Britney Jean Spears

Britney Jean Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood. Britney was a dancer when she was a child and was a fantastic gymnast, winning many contests. Britney is a singer and dance, but more importantly, she was in love with dancing classes. At the age of 8, Britney was a contestant in The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989), but was denied because of her age. This led her to an off Broadway show, "Ruthless", for an entire two-year run as the main character. At 11 years old she was back on stage for The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989). It was a different time, she played a mouseketeer along with many other stars of today, Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez (*NSYNC) and Ryan Gosling. However, her biggest break was in the late 1990s when she signed a contract as a Jive Recording Artist. When she released her debut album, "...Baby One More Time" in the early part of 1999, Britney became a global hit having sold 13 million copies of "Baby" and 9 million (as as of July 2001) of her sophomore album "Oops !...I Did It Again" and was released in the month of May of 2000. Britney was the daughter of Lynne Spears (and Jamie Spears) and has a bigger sister named Jamie Lynn Spears. Britney was destined to be the next big thing from an early age. Britney loved singing and was inspired by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Britney auditioned to The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989-1994) on the television when she was just 8. However, she was too young for the part. Instead, Britney, her mother and baby sister moved to New York where she starred in a number of TV commercials as well as an off-Broadway production, "Ruthless", where she was an understudy for Natalie Portman. She discovered her love of dancing and music two years later, when she auditioned again for "Mickey Mouse" which she won along with Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera.