 | | Before releasing her debut album in 2009, Selena Gomez began her career as a child actress. Born in 1992, she grew up in Texas and got her first break as a cast member on the kids TV show Barney and Friends. |
 | | Best known for her roles in the High School Musical films and the TV series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, New Jersey-born actress/singer/model Ashley Tisdale began her career in show business at age three, and sang for President Bill Clinton at age 12. |
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 | | The younger sibling of former child actor Haley Joel Osment, actress/vocalist Emily Osment launched her career at a young age, having landed a role in the 1999 film The Secret Life of Girls when she was only seven years old. |
 | | Actress/vocalist Demi Lovato began making a name for herself after starring alongside the Jonas Brothers in the 2008 Disney Channel movie Camp Rock. |
 | | Sister acting/singing duo Aly & AJ -- whose full names are Alyson and Amanda Joy Michalka -- showed a passion for both kinds of performing at a very young age: they started playing piano at age six and began acting classes soon after. |
 | | Singer/actress Bridgit Mendler is best known as the star of the Disney Channel series Good Luck Charlie. |
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 | | Hilary Duff first made a name for herself on the enormously successful Disney Channel/ABC Kids show Lizzie McGuire, which she parlayed into dual careers as a pop singer and film actress. |
 | | Taylor Swift became one of country's brightest (and youngest) faces in 2006, when the 16-year-old released her first album. |
 | | Best known as Gabrielle Montez from the hit Disney Channel movie and soundtrack album High School Musical, actress/singer Vanessa Anne Hudgens has also appeared on Drake & Josh and The Sweet Life of Zack and Cody. |
 | | Victorious premiered in 2010 as Nickelodeon’s answer to Hannah Montana and High School Musical, two Disney Channel franchises that amassed a large audience thanks to their combination of teen-oriented plot lines and music performances. |
 | | Going from a series of books about a girl pop band to a series of Disney TV movies about a girl pop band to an actual, touring girl pop band, the Cheetah Girls began as fictional characters in Deborah Gregory's 16 novels for young-adult readers. |
 | | Miley Cyrus became an overnight sensation in 2006 as the star of Hannah Montana, a popular Disney Channel television series whose success allowed Cyrus to launch her own recording career several years later. |
 | | Like the Naked Brothers Band, Big Time Rush is both a pop band and a Nickelodeon TV series. Launched in 2009, the show followed the fictional lives of four high school friends as they move to Los Angeles, sign a record deal, and become a chart-topping boy band. |
 | | Teen heartthrob Mitchel Musso began his career as an actor, playing Oliver "Smoken" Oken on The Disney Channel's Hannah Montana before adding a music career to his résumé in 2009. |
 | | When Glee aired its first episode in May 2009, the TV show only attracted a fraction of the viewers who tuned in for American Idol, which was shown on the same channel just one hour prior. |
 | | Jordin Sparks may have been the youngest American Idol when she won the title on the reality show's sixth season, but the Glendale, AZ, resident had already packed plenty of accomplishments into 17 years. |
 | | Teenage actress Miranda Cosgrove launched her music career in 2007, when she scored a hit with the theme song to her own TV show. |
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 | | Actress/teen pop star Lindsay Lohan entered the world of show business at the tender age of three as a Ford model, which led to television commercials for the Gap, Pizza Hut, and Wendy's. |
 | | David Archuleta became one of the most recognizable figures on television in 2008, when his tenor vocals and boyish charm helped earn him a second-place finish on American Idol. |
 | | Georgia-born singer/songwriter Jordan Pruitt began her singing career at the age of four, harmonizing with her father's group in church. |
 | | In 2008, 11-year-old Cody Simpson opened a YouTube account and began posting videos of his own musical performances. |
 | | Hot Chelle Rae took shape in 2005, balancing the polished sounds of mainstream pop with energized, guitar-heavy dance-rock. |
 | | Pop singer Justin Bieber was barely into his teens when he released his platinum-selling debut, My World, and became one of 2009's youngest success stories. |
 | | The winner of Fox TV's first American Idol competition during the summer of 2002, Kelly Clarkson went from an anonymous talent to a nationally known singer in a matter of months, performing for an audience of millions. |
 | | A former Christian artist, Katy Perry rebranded herself as a larger-than-life pop star and rose to prominence during the summer of 2008. |
 | | The emo pop quartet Allstar Weekend was formed in 2007 by Zachary Porter (vocals), Nathan Darmody (guitar), Cameron Quiseng (bass), and Michael Martinez (drums) in San Diego, California, while all four members were still in high school. |
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 | | Pop singer and actor Jesse McCartney was a child performer dynamo, singing on Broadway and landing an acting gig on All My Children before even joining his first boy band, a feat that came at the age of 12. |
 | | Teen performer China McClain is known for her work on family comedy Tyler Perry's House of Payne and Disney Channel series A. |
 | | After working a string of behind-the-scenes jobs -- including writing songs for Brandy, singing backup for the Sugababes, and impersonating Elvis -- songwriter/producer Bruno Mars put his name on top of the charts in 2009 by co-writing Flo Rida's hit song "Right Round. |
 | | Actress, singer, and dancer Ariana Grande is best known for portraying the character Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon sitcom Victorious. |
 | | A brash and driven pop singer/songwriter, Ke$ha (Kesha Rose Sebert) was born in Los Angeles but moved at the age of four to Nashville, where her mother -- a longtime songwriter -- had inked a publishing deal. |
 | | Best known as Austin Moon on the Disney Channel original series Austin & Ally, Ross Lynch is a singer, dancer, multi-instrumentalist, and actor. |
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 | | Teen performer Bella Thorne (born Annabella Avery "Bella" Thorne) first gained recognition in the music world for her role on the dance-oriented Disney Channel series Shake It Up. |
 | | Splitting the difference between Shania Twain's twangy pop and Christina Aguilera's R&B acrobatics, vocalist Jessie James made her debut with "Wanted," a song that featured prominently in the film Confessions of a Shopaholic. |
 | | Following the success of JLS and the Wanted, X-Factor contestants One Direction were the next group of heartthrobs to help revive the previously dying concept of the boy band. |
 | | Jennette McCurdy has initially forged a career as both a singer and actor. Born Jennette Michelle Faye McCurdy on June 26, 1992 in Garden Grove, CA, she began her acting career at the age of eight, inspired by Harrison Ford, who she had the opportunity to work with in Hollywood Homicide. |
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 | | One of Disney's most successful endeavors of the 2000s, the High School Musical franchise wasn't just one of the most-watched projects on the Disney Channel; it also launched nearly as many teen pop stars as The Mickey Mouse Club did in the '90s, when Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake were among the cast members. |
 | | An actress and vocalist, Raven-Symoné is perhaps best remembered for portraying Olivia, the youngest member of comedian Bill Cosby's family on the hit NBC sitcom The Cosby Show. |
 | | Glamorously gaudy, a self-made post-modern diva stitched together from elements of Madonna, David Bowie, and Freddie Mercury, Lady Gaga was the first true millennial superstar. |
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 | | Combining the vocal prowess of Beyoncé, the genre-hopping sounds of Gwen Stefani, and the feisty attitude of P!nk, songwriter Jessie J eventually overcame various career setbacks and health problems to become a star in her own right. |
 | | When the U.K. press began dubbing Adele "the next Amy Winehouse" in late 2007, the hype didn't touch upon the heavy singer/songwriter influence found in the Londoner's music. |
 | | She might be the younger sister of superstar Jessica Simpson, but don't confuse their tastes or style when it comes to music. |
 | | Avril Lavigne first appeared in summer 2002, touting an addictive debut single (the spunky pop/rock gem "Complicated") and a skatepunk image that purposely clashed with the polished glamour of mainstream pop. |
