"The All New Mickey Mouse Club"
Britney left "Ruthless!" and went home for Christmas. Soon after, she went on audition for a movie with animals called "Gordy". She was offered the lead role and it would be a great opportunity for her. But she didn't want to try and turned down the role, because she was afraid of animals and still was holding out for "Mickey Mouse Club" ("MMC").
Britney auditioned for the "Mickey Mouse Club" for the second time. She sang the song "Running Back to You" and delivered a monologue called "The Tooth Fairy". This time more than 15000 people were auditioned. Only 7 kids had been accepted into the cast. Britney got a call from a show executive and heard what she waited her whole life - she is going to be a Mouseketeer along with Christina Aguilera, Tustin Timberlake, Rian Gosling and others. Britney was 11 years old and she was the youngest one on the show.
Britney impressed her little hometown so much that the mayor pronounced April 24, 1993, "Britney Spears Day" in Kentwood. It became a great holiday with a cake, music, balloons and newspaper articles about the future Disney star.
Britney moved to Orlando with her mom and her little sister. On May 13, 1993 she made her first appearance on the show.
The "Mickey Mouse Club" filmed at "MGN Studios" right next to "Disney World". Children even had to walk through the park to get to work. 
The schedule was filled with work for Mouseketeers the entire week. In the mornings they spent time with tutors, learning regular school subjects. Then they went into rehearsal and at the same day started taping in front of a live audience. Britney appeared in many fun skits and sang a lot of songs. She spent 2 successful years in "MMC" and there she met several other kids, who would go on to bigger and better things as well. She shared dressing room with Keri Russell, the future star of TV drama "Felicity", she made friends with Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and JC Jasez.
At the age of 13, right on the "Mickey Mouse Club" Britney Spears was referred to a New York entertainment lawyer Larry Rudolph. Britney's family thought she could become a singer. But he told the Spears the time wasn't right for a young pop star - pop music was not selling and 13 year old Britney was too young. He convinced to wait some time.
"MMC" was a great chance for Britney to fulfill her dream of acting and singing in front of a national audience. Two years after Britney joined, in 1994, the "Mickey Mouse Club" was cancelled. The ratings were still normal, but production costs had been creeping up. Canceling was shock for everyone, especially for youngsters. The kids were all crying. Sadly but Britney and her fellows Mouseketeers had to go their separate ways.
Teenage Years
Britney Spears returned to Kentwood to attend "Parklane Academy" and become a regular teenager. She continued her normal life, and spent a year doing what all normal schoolgirls do - playing basketball, attending parties, hanging out with her friends. She also continued to attend church choir, sang at few weddings. At school Britney was getting good grades and her classmates voted her Most Beautiful girl in yearbook. At the age of 14 Britney took her first driving license test and failed it.
She had several boyfriends, including Reg Jones, who became her steady boyfriend when she was 14-year-old. They had a real teenage romance, he took her to the movies, he paid for everything and even gifted her a dog. Their relationship lasted several years.
But soon after living a regular teenage life Britney was bored by the monotony of the small-town and wanted to return to New York. In the middle of 1997 Britney left "Parklane Academy" and went into home-schooling program.
Her one year as a 14-year-old high-school student would be the last bit of normalcy in her life. With dreams of pursuing a career as a singer and a desire to leave her small hometown, Britney set off to New York City.
Not for "Innosense"
But there was a time when Britney could return to Orlando rather than New York. Britney's fellow Mouseketeer member decided to start a girl group. Justin Timberlake's mother had decided she wanted to make a girl group, like a female 'N Sync, an attractive American group of girls.
First member of the group was Nikki DeLoach, ex-Mouseketeer and JC Chasez's girlfriend. Justin's mother thought Britney could be that second member and she called Lynne Spears to talk about it. Later other members Danay Ferrer, Jenny Morris, Mandy Ashford have been found. Britney and her mother flew to Memphis, met the rest of "Innosense" members, took some pictures with 'N Sync and went back to Kentwood waiting for papers with a deal of joining to the group.
Britney was going to return to Orlando for signing the deal, but the day before Spears family called Larry Rudolph from "Rudolph and Beer" Entertainment Company and said about heir plans. This time Larry was more optimistic. He asked to send him Britney's picture and some recordings of her singing. When he saw how Britney changed and improved, he was impressed and called Britney to tell her that the pop music is back and music industry hadn't female artist.
So Britney never sign up as a member of "Innosense". Justin Timberlake girlfriend of that time, Veronica Finn, took her place.
Record Deal
Larry Rudolph was impressed with what he saw and heard. He wanted Britney to record a professional demo and purposed some never heart Tony Braxton song. It was ideal for Britney's voice. She went into a studio in New Orleans and recorded this track for Larry.
In June 1997 the lawyer sent this demo to the vice president of Jive Records. He liked it so much that immediately set up an audition for Britney. She knew it was very important meeting and she was very nervous. Larry has chosen three songs that Britney would sing: "Open Arms", "Jesus Loves Me" and "I Have Nothing". At the audition there were several record companies and all of them rejected Britney except "Jive Records". Jeff Fenster loved Britney's vocals and her commercial appeal. But the company couldn't rely on maybe success and decided to sign in a deal for 90 days. If everything went well, Britney would record her first album.
Britney was linked up with songwriter and producer Erick Foster White, who worked with Whitney Huston and Backstreet Boys. If "Jive Records" was not happy with the result of working with Foster White, they could send Britney back to Kentwood leaving her without contract. Foster taught Britney many things and found a right sound for her. He wrote for Britney some songs including "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart", "Soda Pop" and "E-Mail My Heart". When "Jive Records" heard the results of work they had agreed that songs from the early Britney's demos were not for 16 year-old teenager. The 90-days contract was ignored and Britney was sent to Stockholm for a real work. She got everything she was dreaming about her whole life - a real record deal.
Working on the First Album
Stockholm really impressed Britney, even through she didn't get to see very much of it. Most days she was recording with Max Martin whom she met right in at the studio. He had never heard of this girl, but the minute she sang just a few notes of his music, he was convinced she would become the next big thing.
Recording process continued every day from 2 p.m. till 2 a.m. Most of songs she recorded were about love and relationships. Max showed Britney some techniques for her voice. And they recorded eight of eleven songs on the debut album. Britney worked hard to get the right emotion of her voice to give the songs meaning and feeling.
When Britney heard "...Baby One More Time" the song blew her away. This song had been written for TLC, but Martin changed the whole sound for Britney. They decided to put this song into the video.
Britney had been working on the debut album over the next six months and by July 1998 it was finished. When the album was completed it was time for publicity. "Jive Records" sent Britney on a promotional tour. She got to perform in shopping malls. The tour was very successful and included some radio interviews, appearing in many teen magazines and launching of a web-site.
Working on the First Album
Stockholm really impressed Britney, even through she didn't get to see very much of it. Most days she was recording with Max Martin whom she met right in at the studio. He had never heard of this girl, but the minute she sang just a few notes of his music, he was convinced she would become the next big thing.
Recording process continued every day from 2 p.m. till 2 a.m. Most of songs she recorded were about love and relationships. Max showed Britney some techniques for her voice. And they recorded eight of eleven songs on the debut album. Britney worked hard to get the right emotion of her voice to give the songs meaning and feeling.
When Britney heard "...Baby One More Time" the song blew her away. This song had been written for TLC, but Martin changed the whole sound for Britney. They decided to put this song into the video.
Britney had been working on the debut album over the next six months and by July 1998 it was finished. When the album was completed it was time for publicity. "Jive Records" sent Britney on a promotional tour. She got to perform in shopping malls. The tour was very successful and included some radio interviews, appearing in many teen magazines and launching of a web-site.
"...Baby One More Time"
The album was ready to be released. The release of "...Baby One More Time" single was set on October 23, 1998. Jive had been preparing the single for release and they needed to get a video shot. They had a great idea for it. They wanted to shoot "...Baby One More Time" that would make Britney a superhero. Britney hated this idea. She thought it was a bad way to get the group of teenagers, she thought that only little kids would watch it. So she came up with an idea about Catholic uniforms, boring lesson, dancing and everything we see now in that video. "Jive" executives suddenly realized that they had a real superstar. Spears hooked up with director Nigel Dick for her first video, and shot the clip in two days at California's "Venice High School" which also served as "Rydell High" in the movie "Grease." Video debuted on MTV's new show "Total Request Live".
In the fall, "Jive Records" released Britney's debut single "...Baby One More Time". At this time there were hundreds of websites dedicated to Britney. Everyone wanted to know about this girl.
The first time Britney heard her singing on the radio was that time she flown back to Kentwood. She was sitting in the car with her mother and suddenly she heard first several notes. She was screaming like crazy.
Britney also become an opening act for 'N Sync tour in January 1999. She was happy to open 'N Sync shows, because her fellows Justin and J.C. were in that group. It was hard to open for a boys band, because many girls wanted to see 'N Sync, not somebody they didn't know. But as soon as Britney got on stage, the crowed fell in love with the little girl with a huge voice. Britney become a celebrity before she had ever released an album.
Within a month of a song's release, it hit #9 on Billboard Hot 100 singles charts. By Christmas it was #4. Her single had gone gold, because it was sold more than 600.000 copies. The video was getting heavy rotation on MTV. Major magazines have begun putting Britney on their covers.
In the first week of January 1999 "...Baby One More Time" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The following week "Jive Records" released the album with the same title "...Baby One More Time". In its first week of release, the album landed in the top of Billboard music chart. More than 120,000 copies were sold during its first week of sales.
Britney Spears had become the youngest artist in the music history to have #1 single and album at the same time. "...Baby One More Time" earned platinum sales and became the biggest selling song of 1999, and the 24th biggest selling song of all time. Since then 17-year-old Britney Spears become the #1 singer in America.
