Few names from the youthful stars of the 1990s are as well known as Britney Spears. Whether she is getting fame for one of her many chart-topping singles or her closely followed star lifestyle, Spears has kept fans talking since the beginning. This pop-princess had star power like no other and continues to dominate the limelight. Britney Spears was raised in small-town Louisiana and began dancing and doing gymnastics at a young age. She auditioned for the Mickey Mouse Club when she was 8, but was rejected because she was too young. From there, she was on an off-Broadway show Ruthless for two years and attended the Professional Performing Arts School in New York. . She then auditioned yet again for the Mickey Mouse Club and made it into the cast with soon-to-be stars like Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and J.C. Chasez. She returned home after the show was cancelled. Britney started sending out demo tapes and was eventually picked up by Jive records. She soon released her debut album ...Baby One More Time. In her first single and the title track, the underage Spears was dressed in a Catholic school uniform with her midriff showing for the video. This started a long string of controversial acts for the young star. Despite the controversy or maybe because of it, her first single rocketed her into stardom. Her subsequent singles from her first album were also successes like “(You Drive Me) Crazy,” “Sometimes” and “From the Bottom of My Broken Heart.” A year later in 2000, Spears released her next album, Oops!...I Did it Again. Like her first, this album was another success and had major hits like “Lucky,” “Stronger” and the title track “Oops!...I Did It again.” It sold more than a million copies in the first week and nine million copies a year later. Spears tried to convey a more mature image with her third album, Britney, which she released in 2001. The album did well, but not as well as her first two. She took a short break from performing and then released In the Zone in 2003. The album won her a Grammy and a top spot on the Billboard 200. Her personal life began to show signs of wear at this point with her 48-hour marriage to Jason Alexander, a childhood friend. She announced a real marriage to one of her backup dancers, Kevin Federline, and drew more media attention. They also starred in a reality show that did not seem to show the two in a favorable light. Spears released a greatest hits album, Greatest Hits: My Prerogative in 2005 and also became pregnant with her first child, Sean Preston Federline. Her second son, Jayden James, followed soon after as did a divorce from Kevin Federline. Through some more personal struggles that included stints in rehab, Spears released Blackout in October 2007. She has recently appeared on episodes of How I Met Your Mother and is currently working on her next album.
