Britney Spear

Britney Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana as a Southern Baptist. Her parents are Lynne Irene (née Bridges), a former elementary school teacher, and Jamie Parnell Spears, a building contractor. Spears's brother Bryan works as a manager for the Spears family interests and her sister Jamie Lynn is an actress and singer. Her maternal grandmother Lillian Woolmore was an English war-bride, born in Tottenham, London who met Spears's grandfather Barnett O'Field Bridges in England during World War II. Her paternal grandparents were June Austin Spears and Emma Jean Forbes.

Spears's debut single "...Baby One More Time", released in the end of 1998, became an instant international success; it peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. With nine million copies sold worldwide, the United World Chart ranked "…Baby One More Time" as the 38th best song and second most charted song of all time. The song was also ranked 25th on Rolling Stone and MTV's "100 Greatest Pop Songs of all time". The music video of the song features Spears dressed in a midriff-baring schoolgirl uniform.