Dec. 2: Britney Spears is 39 today.

Britney Jean Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi in 1981, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows.

At age eight, Spears and her mother Lynne traveled to Atlanta for an audition in the 1990s revival of The Mickey Mouse Club. She was rejected for being too young to join the series at the time. Nancy Carson, a New York City talent agent was impressed with Spears's vocals and suggested enrolling her at the Professional Performing Arts School.

Spears was hired for her first professional role, as the understudy for the lead role of Tina Denmark in the Off-Broadway musical Ruthless! She also appeared as a contestant on the popular television show Star Search, as well as being cast in a number of commercials. In December 1992, she was finally cast in The Mickey Mouse Club along with Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake, and returned to Kentwood after the show was cancelled.

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Britney signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album in 1999.

During her first decade within the music industry, she became a prominent figure in mainstream popular music and popular culture, followed by a much-publicized personal life. Her first two albums established her as a pop icon and broke sales records, while title tracks "...Baby One More Time" and "Oops!... I Did It Again" became international number-one hits.

In 2001, she released her third studio album Britney and expanded her brand, playing the starring role in the film Crossroads. She assumed creative control of her fourth studio album, In the Zone released in 2003, which yielded chart-topping singles "Me Against the Music", "Toxic" and "Everytime."

After releasing two compilation albums, Spears experienced personal struggles and career went under hiatus. Her fifth studio album, Blackout, was released in 2007 and despite receiving little promotion, it spawned hits "Gimme More" and "Piece of Me."

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In 2008, her erratic behavior and hospitalizations caused her to be placed in a conservatorship. The same year, her sixth studio album Circus was released, with the global chart-topping lead single "Womanizer." After embarking on The Circus Starring Britney Spears, she released greatest hits The Singles Collection, which featured U.S. and Canadian number-one single "3".

Spears has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the eighth top-selling female artist in the United States, with 32 million certified albums.

Spears is also recognized as the best-selling female artist of the first decade of the 21st century, as well as the fifth overall. She was also ranked the 8th Artist of the 2000–10 decade by Billboard.

In June 2010, Spears was ranked sixth on Forbes list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world; she is also ranked as the third most powerful musician in the world.

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