Welcome to Day #18 of “The Pop Culture Addict’s Advent Calendar”,
and this is the time of the week where we are going to be featuring our weekly
look back through time in what we like to call the Tuesday Timeline!
I’ll admit that trying to incorporate a holiday
theme into this piece was a difficult challenge, but I managed to sneak a
little holiday treat at the end of this entry for you to enjoy. Hey, it’s what I do...try to spread the
holiday joy!
So, let’s not waste any more time babbling
on. We have a whole bunch of things to
discuss. Why don’t we begin by wishing
the following famous faces a very happy birthday?
Birthday wishes go out to...Roger Smith, Lonnie
Brooks, Jacques Pepin, Roger E. Mosley, Michael Moorcock, Harold E. Varmus,
Harvey Atkin, Keith Richards, Alan Rudolph, Steven Spielberg, Gillian
Armstrong, Leonard Maltin, Elliot Easton (The Cars), John Booth, Ray Liotta,
Ron White, Geordie Walker, , Julia Wolfe, Brian Orser, Norman Brown, Greg D’Angelo, Allan Kayser, Brad
Pitt, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Don Beebe, Robson Green, Shawn Christian, Mick
Collins, Fawna MacLaren, Rachel Griffiths, Casper Van Dien, Nina Wadia, DMX,
Victoria Pratt, Cowboy Troy, Rah Digga, Raymond Herrera, Leila Arcieri, Trish
Stratus, Daniel Cleary, Katie Holmes, Tara Conner, Ashley Benson, Ashley Slanina-Davies,
and Bridgit Mendler.
And here are some of the events that have taken
place on December 18ths of yore...
1642
– Abel Tasman becomes the first European to land on New Zealand
1777
– The United States celebrates its first ever Thanksgiving, which stemmed from
a celebration over winning the Battle of Saratoga that October
1787
– New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the United States Constitution
1878
– The last of the “Molly Maguires” (John Kehoe) is executed in Pennsylvania
1888
– The ancient Indian ruins of Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde are discovered by
Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law
1892
– Premiere performance of “The Nutcracker” in Saint Petersburg, Russia
1898
– Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first officially recognized speed record
in a Jeantaud electric car (39.245 mph)
1912
– The Piltdown Man is announced by Charles Dawson; later proven to be a hoax
1916
– The Battle of Verdun ends; Germany is defeated by the French; 337,000 people
lost
1917
– The resolution containing the language of the 18th Amendment to
enact prohibition is passed by the United States Congress
1932
– Because of a blizzard, a football game between the Chicago Bears and the
Portsmouth Spartans had to be moved to the Chicago Stadium from Wrigley Field,
in what would be known as the first NFL Championship Game
1939
– Battle of the Heligoland Bight
1944
– Hankow, China is bombed during the Second World War
1956
– Japan joins the United Nations
1958
– The world’s first communications satellite, Project SCORE, is launched into
orbit
1966
– The Saturn moon “Epimetheus” is discovered by Richard L. Walker
1972
– President Nixon announces plans for Operation Linebacker II during Vietnam
War
1978
– Dominica joins the United Nations
1989
– The European Economic Community signs a trade and commercial/economic
cooperation agreement with the Soviet Union
1992
– Legendary game show producer Mark Goodson passes away from pancreatic cancer
in New York City at the age of 77
1996
– Ebonics is declared an official language/dialect by the Oakland, California
school board
1997
– HTML 4.0 is published by the World Wide Web Consortium
2000
– Irish singer Kirsty MacColl is killed in a controversial boating accident in
Mexico
2006
– The United Arab Emirates holds their first ever elections on the same day
that floods devastate the country of Malaysia, killing 118 and leaving 400,000
homeless
2008
– Mark “Deep Throat” Felt passes away in Santa Rosa, California at the age of
95
Quite a lot of history to digest, isn’t it? Well, the date we’re visiting this week
is...drum roll please...
December
18, 1980!
Thirty-two years ago, a songbird was born, and
over those thirty-two years, her wings have spread in a multitude of ways. I suppose in one way, you could claim that
she has actually gone full circle because she began her career on a talent
show, and she is currently a judge on a talent show! Of course, that’s just the first 32 years of
her life. I assume that she has years
ahead of her still.
Of course, in those thirty-two years, this person
has had their share of highs and lows. When she was high, we all loved her and girls
wanted to be like her. But when she was
low, she became fodder for the tabloids and trash talking websites, as so many
other celebrities have had to go through.
But she seems to be going full steam ahead these
days, and with a brand new album and brand new tour on the horizon, she’s well
on her way to smooth sailing.
So, who am I talking about? Maybe this video will give you a bit of a
clue.
ARTIST: Christina Aguilera
SONG: Your Body
ALBUM: Lotus
DATE RELEASED: September 17, 2012
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #34
SONG: Your Body
ALBUM: Lotus
DATE RELEASED: September 17, 2012
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #34
Okay, so it might not be her biggest smash single,
but it’s one of her newest, and it did receive reviews that glowed as brightly
as the pink hair extensions that she is sporting in the video.
But when you consider that this single comes from
her seventh studio album, it’s easy to make the judgment that Christina Aguilera
has made her own mark in the music industry.
And, since today’s her birthday, why not make this
blog entry all about her?
Born on December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, New
York, Christina Maria Aguilera was the eldest of two children born to Fausto
Xavier Aguilera and Shelly Loraine Fidler-Aguilera. Because Aguilera’s father was a soldier in
the United States Armed Forces, the family was forced to move around to several
places by the time Christina was six years old.
Around that time, her parents ended up divorcing, and Christina (along
with her mother and sister) moved to Rochester, Pennsylvania. To this day, Christina remains close with her
mother, but rarely has any contact with her father.
Here’s an interesting piece of trivia in regards
to how Christina Aguilera began her career...her rise to stardom almost exactly
paralleled that of Britney Spears.
Christina got her start singing on the talent show “Star Search”. So did Britney.
(Both lost.)
Both Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears were
cast in the television series “The Mickey Mouse Club” in the early 1990s, both
of whom were initially rejected on their first audition because they were too
young. Spears was cast before Aguilera,
and Aguilera reportedly had the nickname of “The Diva” because of her rich
vocal abilities. The show ended in 1994,
when both were still cast members.
TRIVIA: Apparently, the parallels continued after
both Spears and Aguilera hit it big...both of them kissed Madonna in that
infamous MTV Video Music Awards moment, and both of them are currently judges
on television reality shows (Spears for The X Factor and Aguilera for The
Voice). Go figure.
But, there is one thing that Aguilera can
claim. She had a single hit the charts
before Britney Spears did.
While Britney’s debut single, “Baby, One More Time”
was released in September 1998, Christina Aguilera’s debut was three months
earlier, in June 1998. The song was
recorded for the soundtrack for the Disney feature film, “Mulan”, and the name
of the song was “Reflection”. When the
call from Disney came out about finding a vocalist for the song, Christina sent
in a demo tape of herself singing the Whitney Houston single “Run To You” from
the soundtrack of “The Bodyguard”.
Christina’s dream of being a famous singer was very real to her, and she
felt that if she got the job of recording “Reflection”, it would help her get
her name out there.
The demo immediately attracted the attention of
Ron Fair, who would later become her mentor, and who was a key figure in
helping Aguilera land her first recording contract with RCA Records that same
year. Long story short, “Reflection”
ended up becoming a Top 20 Adult Contemporary hit in late 1998, and was nominated
for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.
In August 1999, Christina Aguilera released her
debut album (with the original title of “Christina Aguilera”), and the album
became a huge success. All four of the
singles released from the album (“Genie In A Bottle”, “What A Girl Wants”, “Come
On Over Baby”, and “I Turn To You”) reached the Top 5, and in the case of the
first three singles, hit #1.
TRIVIA: Christina’s song “What A Girl Wants” was the
very first #1 song of the new millennium.
Her next two albums were a Spanish version of her
massive selling debut, as well as a Christmas album, both released in
2000. And in 2001, she recorded a duet
with Ricky Martin, “Nobody Wants To Be Lonely”, and teamed up with Lil Kim,
Mya, and Pink for the cover version of “Lady Marmalade” for the Moulin Rouge
soundtrack. But by 2001, Aguilera was
becoming disenchanted with her management.
She was beginning to tire of the bubblegum pop image that seemed to
saturate the radio in the early 2000s, and wanted a change of pace. But when the record company refused to play
ball with her, she decided to switch up her management team (replacing Steve
Kurtz with Irving Azoff), and in 2002, she changed her image to one that was a
complete 180 from her previous one.
When “Stripped” was released, the first single was
“Dirrty”, which given the raunchy visuals and controversial image makeover she
debuted made tongues wag. The single did
not perform well, and Aguilera was lambasted by critics and fans for her new
image. But one thing that I will credit
Christina for is that she always stood by her work, and claimed that “Dirrty”
was a song about power and control.
But, to be fair, I liked this single much
better...
ARTIST: Christina Aguilera
SONG: Beautiful
ALBUM: Stripped
DATE RELEASED: November 16, 2002
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #2
SONG: Beautiful
ALBUM: Stripped
DATE RELEASED: November 16, 2002
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #2
(As someone who has had – and still has to some
extent – self-esteem issues, you’ll understand why I enjoy this song.)
In more recent years, Christina Aguilera has
changed her image quite a bit. Her retro
throwback sound that was infused throughout her 2006 album “Back to Basics” won
critical praise and kept her in the spotlight.
Her personal life was also at a high at the time, marrying Jordan
Bratman in 2005 and giving birth to their son, Max, in January 2008 (the
marriage would end in 2010, the same year that Aguilera received her star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame).
Christina appeared in the 2010 film “Burlesque”,
and while the movie itself was torn apart by critics, the star’s performance
was widely considered to be the only shining quality of the whole movie. The following year, she was hired to serve as
one of the judges on “The Voice” alongside Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine, and Blake
Shelton, which currently is among one of the most viewed programs on NBC. It was announced in 2012 that Aguilera would
be leaving The Voice at the end of its third season to promote “Lotus”, and
that Colombian born singer Shakira would be taking over her spot for season
four.
And there you have it...a brief history of
Christina Aguilera.
One thing that I have not talked about in this
blog entry as of yet is my own personal thoughts about her. I know that she has not had an easy road to
stardom over the years, and I know that she made a few mistakes (including an
arrest for public intoxication in 2011 and that whole kiss with Madonna/Britney
Spears scandal) in her lifetime...but who hasn’t?
As far as I’m concerned, she is only human, and as
far as I know, none of the mistakes she has made have been harmful to herself
or to other people (unlike the person whose song helped Christina get a
recording contract with RCA Records back in the late 1990s). I can look beyond that to see the talent
within. And regardless of what one might
say about her personal choices, that talent overshadows it all at this moment
in time. I’m not afraid to admit that I
do enjoy Christina Aguilera’s voice, and I think that she still has that star
power. I’m not interested in the slams
towards her about her actions, or even her waist size (which is frankly nobody’s
business). She still looks beautiful,
and I think that she’s at a point in her life where she’s ready to take on the
world and not let anything stop her.
And, to end this look back on December 18, 1980,
why don’t we post a holiday favourite from Christina Aguilera to end off this
note (and to have some holiday link to this entry?)
Coming up on Day #19, we’re going to examine a
world filled with Main Streets, Schoolhouses, Airports...and Little People?
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