"For me, success is a state of mind. I feel like success isn't about conquering something; it's being happy with who you are."

• Born Britney Jean Spears on Dec. 2, 1981, in McComb, Mississippi
   
• Spears' debut album, 1999's … Baby One More Time (and its title track), debuted at No. 1 after the music video for the album's title track became the most requested video on MTV in late 1998.
   
• After six nominations (including Best New Artist for 1999), Spears won her first GRAMMY for 2004 at the 47th GRAMMY Awards for Best Dance Recording for "Toxic." She made her GRAMMY stage debut at the 42nd GRAMMY Awards in 2000, performing a medley of "From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart" and "… Baby One More Time."
   
• As a young actress, Spears' first professional role was as an understudy for the lead role in an off-Broadway play before going on to join the cast of "The Mickey Mouse Club" in 1992.
   
• In 2001 Spears participated in a fundraising auction for MusiCares, contributing a signed copy of her Rolling Stone magazine cover. The proceeds help provide services and resources that cover a wide range of financial, medical and personal emergencies for music people.
   
• In 2002 Spears and her Britney Spears Foundation made a donation of $1 million to the Twin Towers Fund to support children of uniformed service men and women affected by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.