Christina Aguilera

After the separation, she moved in with her mother and younger sister Rachel to her grandmother's home in Rochester. From a young age, she had the ambition to become a singer. Her grandmother discovered her singing talent.

Her musical influences include Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Madonna, Whitney Houston and Nina Simone. The musical The Sound of Music also influenced Christina.

She participated in local talent hunts and singing competitions, but often her opponents would withdraw when they heard they had to compete against Aguilera — they were bound to lose anyway. People became jealous and at school she was ignored and bullied. At one point she even decided to keep her singing talent a secret so she wouldn't be bullied. On March 15, 1990, Aguilera made her television debut as a participant in Star Search, though she did not win. In 1993 she participated in The New Mickey Mouse Club, a television programme centred on singing, dancing and acting.

Aguilera was known among her fellow cast members from the show (including Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Rhona Bennett, Ryan Gosling, Keri Russell and Britney Spears) as "the diva". When the programme ended in 1994, Aguilera began recording demos in hopes of securing a record deal.

At fourteen years old, Christina recorded her first song, "All I Wanna Do", a duet with Japanese pop singer Keizo Nakanishi. In 1997 she participated in the Golden Stag International Festival, where she shared the stage with Sheryl Crow and Diana Ross. In 1998 she was asked to sing the soundtrack for "Mulan" after she had proven she had a high, powerful voice with which she could sing a high "E" an octave above middle "C" in the song "Run to You" by Whitney Houston, which she had recorded in her bathroom.

The music video promoting the film showed a young Aguilera with short hair. Reflection was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Original Song for a Motion Picture" in 1998.