Born December 2, 1981, in Kentwood, Louisiana. The daughter of Lynne, an elementary school teacher, and Jamie, a construction contractor, Spears auditioned for the Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club at the age of 8. Producers for the show decided she was too young, but one was impressed enough to help her find an agent in New York. Accompanied by her mother and younger sister, Spears lived in Manhattan for the next several summers, studying at the Professional Performing Arts School. In 1991, she landed a part as a demonic child in Ruthless, an off-Broadway production based on the 1956 horror film, The Bad Seed.
        At age 11, Spears auditioned again, this time successfully, for the Mickey Mouse Club. For the 1993 and 1994 seasons, she lived in Orlando, Florida, where the show is filmed, in a dorm with the rest of the cast - including two future members of the group 'N Sync and Keri Russell, future star of the WB's Felicity. After her run on the MMC, Spears attended high school at home in Louisiana for a year, before heading back to New York at age 15 to audition for executives at Jive Records. She signed a development deal with Jive and over the next two years recorded her debut album with producers Eric Foster White, who had worked with Whitney Houston (one of Spears's professed influences, with Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Mariah Carey), and Max Martin, who worked with fellow popstars the Backstreet Boys.
        The album, Baby One More Time, was completed by early 1998 but wasn't released until January 1999. During the interim, Spears set out on a promotional tour to shopping malls throughout America, prompting inevitable comparisons with '80s teen pop stars such as Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. Her first single, also titled "Baby One More Time" was released in October 1998; its success got Spears a gig opening for 'N Sync, by then a popular teen band. When Spears's album was released on January 12, 1999, it went straight to the top of the Billboard charts, becoming the first album of the year to debut at No. 1. The single, spurred along by a racy video featuring Spears dressed as a bare-midriffed Catholic schoolgirl, also shotup to No. 1. By September, Baby One More Time had sold over 6 million copies. Spears's first eagerly-awaited solo tour opened in June 1999.
        Some controversy surrounded a Rolling Stone cover story in March 1999, picturing the 17-year-old Spears in a seductive, Lolita-esque pose. Spears has vigorously denied the widespread rumor that she has breast implants, as well as the rumor that she is actually in her 20s.
Before the Grammy Awards, held in February 2000, Spears had emerged as one of the leading contenders for Best New Artist. She eventually lost the award, to fellow ex-Mickey Mouse Clubber and teen pop sensation Christina Aguilera.
        Spears' second album, Oops!...I Did It Again, hit stores in May of 2000. With 1.3 million copies sold in its first week in stores, the album became the top-selling debut by a solo female artist ever. It earned Spears two more Grammy nominations, for Best Vocal Pop Album and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (for the single "Oops!...I Did It Again").
Spears released her third album, Britney, in November 2001.