During this period of her life, Spears was surviving, but she wasn’t thriving. She knew she wanted more out of life than just working as a waitress, playing basketball, and going to prom. She had her eyes on the stars. Specifically, she wanted to try out professional singing.
Her mother, Lynne, was just as determined to get her daughter a good career, so she found Britney a manager to help her find singing jobs. A breakthrough came in June 1997, when an all-girl band asked Britney to join them. Yes, back in 1997, Britney was all but unknown.
Getting Her Start in Showbiz
Spears got her next shot at fame a few years later. At age ten, she landed an understudy role on the Off-Broadway musical "Ruthless!" She auditioned to become part of "The Mickey Mouse Club" a second time, a year later, and was accepted, finding herself among Christina Aguilera, Keri Russell, and Ryan Gosling.
Apparently, it was Gosling who taught Spears about the birds and the bees, giving her a sex-ed class when she asked him about it. Disney is apparently great at finding young talent – Justin Timberlake was also part of the cast. We'll hear more about him later.
Something Like a Normal Life
Spears and her family spent three years filming "The Mickey Mouse Club" in Orlando, and when the show was canceled, they all moved back to Kentwood. After her taste of stardom, Spears led a pretty normal life. She re-enrolled in high school and played point guard on the basketball team.
Her father bought a gym, and the family all pitched in to keep it successful. Britney coordinated aerobics classes. She also got a part-time job at her great-grandmother's crawfish restaurant as a waitress. If there's one thing we know about Britney, it's that she knows how to work hard.
Dodged a Bullet
Spears and her manager joined with recording producer bigwig Lou Pearlman to join his female pop group Innosense. Still, she didn't have a professional demo tape to pitch to record labels. Pearlman sent one of Toni Braxton's unused songs, and she recorded her take, but three labels rejected her.
They wanted their singers to sound like the Spice Girls, and there was no market for solo artists. By not working with Pearlman, however, Spears got lucky. He was found guilty of being behind one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history, as well as guilty of fraud and misrepresentation, getting him twenty-five years in prison, though he died before his sentence ended.
Together Again
After weeks of searching, Jive Records signed Britney, and she flew to their Cheiron Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, to record her debut album from March to April 1998. Remember, she recorded her debut album in early 1998.
After returning to the states, she went on a promotional tour of shopping malls for the album, bringing a four-song set and two backup dancers. She opened for *NSYNC a few times, reuniting with former "The Mickey Mouse Club" cast member Justin Timberlake. The two started seeing each other romantically and quickly became one of the era's hot tabloid couples.