Britney Spears on Tuesday night, May 20, 2008, when she dined at Il Sole Restaurant. Photo Credit: Clint Brewer / Splash News

(Sawf News) - Pop singer Britney Spears, who has sold over 126 million records, 91 million albums and over 35 million singles, stormed into the music world with her debut album Baby One More Time in 1991

Born on December 2, 1981, in McComb, Mississippi, Britney is the daughter of Lynne Irene (née Bridges), a former elementary school teacher, and Jamie Parnell Spears, a building contractor. Britney was raised in Kentwood, Louisiana as a Southern Baptist.

Britney attended gymnastics classes until age nine and competed at the state-level. She won a spot on the The New Mickey Mouse Club in Lakeland, Florida, aged eleven, and featured on the show from 1993 to 1994. She then returned to Kentwood and attended high school for a year.

Britney's debut single in 1998, Baby One More Time, became an instant international success; it peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold nine million copies worldwide. The music video accompanying the song featured Britney provocatively dressed in a midriff-baring schoolgirl uniform.

Her album of the same name reached No 1 on Billboard 200, was certified Diamond in the US and notched up worldwide sales of 25 million copies, the highest for a teenager to date.

Britney's next album Oops!… I Did It Again was an equally resounding success. It debuted at number one in the US, sold 1,319,193 units during its first week, the highest album sales in its debut week by any solo artist, and was certified Diamond in the US.

Britney's next two albums Britney (November 2002) and In the Zone (November 2003) also reached No 1 on US charts during their debut weeks, making Britney the first female in the Nielsen SoundScan era to have her first four studio albums to debut at number one.

However, both the albums were lesser successes than the first two and received mixed critical reviews.

Following her marriage to Kevin Federline on September 18, 2004, Britney took a career break to raise her family.

Her fifth album, Blackout (2007), released in October 2007, debuted at No. 2 on US charts but was fairly well received by critics.

Britney gave birth to her first child, Sean Preston Federline, on September 14, 2005 in Santa Monica, California by a scheduled cesarean section. Her second son, Jayden James Federline, was born on September 12, 2006, in Los Angeles.

Britney filed for divorce from Federline on November 7, 2006, citing irreconcilable differences. She sought both physical and legal custody of their two children, with visitation rights for Federline. The divorce was finalized in July 2007 with a 50/50 custody arrangement.

Following her separation from Kevin, Britney's life began to tailspin out of control. Concerned by her late night partying and trips to rehab, Kevin sought full custody of their two toddlers. The dispute is currently in court.

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