Britney Spears - Fantastic Fascinating Facts

Born Britney Jean Spears on the 2nd of December 1981, in Kentwood, Louisiana, Britney always knew when she was growing up that she wanted to pursue a musical career. When she was eight years old she tried to audition for the well known children's variety show, Mickey Mouse but was not allowed due to her young age. But fortunately for Britney, the show's producer saw the potential in the young star and helped get her an agent in New York City.

She eventually signed a record deal with Jive Records and her debut album was ready for release on 12 January 1999. Baby, One More Time held the number one spot and was certified RIAA 12 x platinum selling more than 20 million copies and won Britney many awards such as the 1999 MTV Europe Award for Best Female Artist.

Following on from this success her follow up album, Oops! I did It Again went 8 times platinum which was a fantastic achievement for someone of 18 years old.

In 2001, she signed a multi-million dollar promotional deal with Pepsi which included TV commercials, and various other advertising between Spears and the company. All together, Britney has earned over US$370 million from her many, multi-million dollar advertisement and endorsement deals all over the world.

Madonna - who was once one of Britney's idols - is reputed to be a big fan of Britney's and performed a duet together. In fact, the two singers raised a lot of eyebrows by snogging on stage at the MTV Video Music awards in August 2003.

In the years following on from being a pop superstar, Britney's personal life has been a very much in the news and subject to tabloid journalism. She has been married twice, most notably to Kevin Federline, has two children.

According to Sony Music and the Zomba Label Group, Britney has sold over 84 million albums worldwide and is ranked as the 8th best-selling female recording artist in the US with 35 million copies of her albums certified by the RIAA. She is currently the top-selling female artist as well as being the fifth best-selling artist of the decade in the country.