1997-2001

In 1998, she sang the High E in full voice (E5) on a cover of Whitney Houston's Run to You which she recorded with a tape recorder in her bathroom. She was then selected to record the song Reflection for the Disney production of Mulan (1998). Recording Reflection led to Aguilera earning a contract with RCA Records the same week. Reflection peaked within the top twenty on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart, and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1998.

Audio samples:
Genie in a Bottle (1999)

The first hit single from Christina Aguilera peaking at number-one in most of the countries.
I Turn to You (2000)

The third single from her debut album Christina Aguilera.
Come on Over Baby (All I Want is You) (2000)

The last single from her debut album Christina Aguilera.

Problems playing the files? See media help.
Under the exclusive representation of Steve Kurtz, Aguilera's self-titled debut album Christina Aguilera was released on August 24, 1999. It reached the top of the Billboard 200 and Canadian album charts, selling eight million copies in the U.S. and over twelve million copies worldwide. The album is also included in the Top 100 Album of All Time list of The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) based on album sales in the US.


Aguilera in April 2000Her singles Genie in a Bottle, What a Girl Wants and Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You) topped the Billboard Hot 100 during 1999 and 2000, and I Turn to You reached #3. Aguilera won the Best New Artist award at the 2000 Grammy Awards, and she was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Genie in a Bottle. According to the album's songwriters who appeared on the documentary Driven, Aguilera wanted to display the range and audacity in her voice during the promotion of the album, and performed acoustic sets and appeared on television shows accompanied only by a piano. She ended the year on MTV's 2 Large New Year's Special, as she performed and was MTV's first artist of the millennium.

Later in 2000, Aguilera first emphasized her Latin heritage by releasing her first Spanish album, Mi Reflejo on September 12, 2000. This album contained Spanish versions of songs from her English debut as well as new Spanish tracks. Though some criticized Aguilera for trying to cash in on a Latin-music boom that included Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Marc Anthony, the album still managed to peak at #27 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Latin album charts. In 2001, it won Aguilera a Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. The Album has sold 2.5 million copies worldwide and has been certified Gold (500,000) in the USA and 3x Platinum (600,000* Latin album) under the RIAA's Los Premios de Oro y Platino program. She also won the World Music Award as the best selling Latin artist that year. Aguilera also released a Christmas album on October 24, 2000 called My Kind of Christmas. It peaked at #28 on the Billboard 200, has sold over 3 million copies worldwide, and has been certified Platinum (1 million) in the USA. Ricky Martin asked her to duet with him on the track Nobody Wants to Be Lonely from his album Sound Loaded; released in 2001 as the album's second single, it reached the top five in the United Kingdom and Germany, top twenty in the U.S., and top forty in Canada, Switzerland, and Australia.

Audio sample:
Lady Marmalade (2001)

The soundtrack for the Moulin Rouge!.

Problems playing the files? See media help.
In 2001, Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya, and Pink were chosen to remake Patti LaBelle's 1975 single Lady Marmalade for the film Moulin Rouge! and its soundtrack. The Missy Elliot produced single hit number one on the Hot 100 for five weeks and reached number one in eleven other countries, and it earned all four performers a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Aguilera's appearance in the music video was compared to that of Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider. The video proved to be a hit, as it won MTV's Video of the Year in 2001.


Aguilera in the music video for Lady Marmalade (2001), a collaboration with Lil' Kim, Mya and P!nk.That year a single emerged into record stores called Just Be Free, one of the demos Aguilera recorded when she was around fifteen years old. When RCA Records discovered the single, they advised fans not to purchase it and had German authorities pull the single off shelves. Months later, Warlock Records was set to release Just Be Free, an album which contains the demo tracks. Aguilera filed a breach of contract and unfair-competition suit against Warlock and the album's producers to block the release. Instead, the two parties came to a settlement to release the album. Aguilera lent out her name, likeness and image for an unspecified amount of damages. Many of the details of the lawsuit remain confidential. When the album was released in August 2001, it had a photograph of Aguilera when she was fifteen years old.

Although Aguilera's debut album was very well received, she was dissatisfied with the music and image her management had created for her. Aguilera was marketed as a bubblegum pop singer because of the genre's upward financial trend. She mentioned plans of her next album to have much more depth, both musically and lyrically. Aguilera's views of Steve Kurtz's influence in matters of the singer's creative direction, the role of being her exclusive personal manager and overscheduling had in part caused her to seek legal means of terminating their management contract.

In October 2000, Aguilera filed a Breach of Fiduciary Duty lawsuit against Kurtz for improper, undue and inappropriate influence over her professional activities, as well as fraud. According to legal documents, Kurtz did not protect her rights and interests. Instead, he took action that was for his own interest, at the cost of hers. The lawsuit came about when Aguilera discovered Kurtz used more of her commissionable income than he was allotted, and had paid other managers to assist him. She also petitioned the California State Labor Commission to nullify the contract. After terminating Kurtz's services, Irving Azoff was hired as her new manager.

Kurtz countersued later that month for breach of contract, claiming that the singer violated the same agreement she had sued to void. In the lawsuit, he included others close to Aguilera, alleging their intent to sabotage his business relationship with her. He also singled out Azoff for being in violation of the terms of Kurtz's contract. During this time, while she was also working on her second album, she later revealed that she was betrayed by several friends, and hit rock bottom. She used her then-upcoming album as therapy, saying this record saved me from insanity.