One of the most controversial and successful female vocalists of the 2000s, she spearheaded the rise of post-millennial teen pop.
The 32 year old has grown in the face of the glaring media from innocent School-girl to pop vixen to young wife and mother.
Her work has earned her numerous awards including a Grammy Award, six MTV Video Music Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Childhood
Britney Jean Spears was born on December 2, 1981 in Mississippi. The second of three children, Spears developed an interest in performing at a young age. As a child, Britney attended dance classes, and she was great at gymnastics, winning many competitions
When she was 11, she got a part in the ‘The New Mickey Mouse Club’ show and appeared on the show for two seasons as a Mouseketeer. After its cancellation, Spears focused on developing her musical career.
Career
In late 1998, Spears released her first single “(Hit me) Baby one more time” which was a pop hit around the Globe. It  hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts that same year, and went on to sell more than 22 million copies worldwide.
Building upon her meteoric rise, Spears released ‘Oops! I Did It Again’ in 2000. The recording was an instant No. 1 hit on the album charts, selling more than 1 million copies in its first week.
Her self-titled third studio album, Britney, was released in 2001. During this time,  Spears took a leading role in the feature filmCrossroads which nettied more than $37 million at the box office. She released her fourth album, ‘In the Zone’, in 2003.
Shortly after her wedding Kevin Federline in 2004 , she released ‘Greatest Hits: My Prerogative’. Spears covered the Bobby Brown hit “My Prerogative,” which seemed to be her way of talking back to her critics and lashing out about the media frenzy that continually surrounded her. The recording sold 5 million copies, a million less than ‘In the Zone’.
Spears appeared to have a breakdown in January 2008 as she was taken to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation when she refused to return her sons to their father after a court-appointed visit.
Overcoming family struggles, she released her next recording Circus in December, which instantly hit the top of the album charts, buoyed in part by the success of her single “Womanizer,” Â The song had reached the No. 1 spot, proving that Spears was still a powerful force in the world of pop music.
Philanthropy
The singer founded The Britney Spears Foundation, a charitable entity set up to help children in need. The Foundation also supported the annual Britney Spears Camp for the Performing Arts, where campers had the opportunity to explore and develop their talents.
In April 2002, through the efforts of Spears and The Britney Spears Foundation, a grant of $1 million was made to the Twin Towers Fund to support the children of uniformed service heroes affected by the terrorist attacks of September  11, 2001. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2006, Spears donated $350,000 to Music Rising.