ARTIST

Britney Spears

Britney Jean Spears was born Dec. 2, 1981 in the small southern town of Kentwood, Louisiana (population: 1,200), where she has lived most of her life. She started performing at a very young age, first in local stage productions and church choirs, later in national commercials and off-Broadway plays, and finally, starting at age 11, in two seasons of The Mickey Mouse Club TV show alongside future *NSYNC members Joshua "JC" Chasez and Justin Timberlake. After leaving MMC in '94, she auditioned for an all-girl singing group but instead wound up with a solo recording deal with Jive Records, home to similarly-minded teen-pop sensations the Backstreet Boys.

Jive savvily and aggressively marketed Britney to the Backstreet crowd, by including her songs on a Backstreet Boys...
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