 | | 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. |
 | | She might be the younger sister of superstar Jessica Simpson, but don't confuse their tastes or style when it comes to music. |
 | | 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. |
 | | 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. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Although she never reached the commercial heights of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, Mandy Moore proved to be one of the more resilient members of the late-'90s teen pop explosion. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Although Jessica Simpson dabbled in film, reality TV, and eventually contemporary country music during the 2000s, she is best known as a dance-pop vocalist who rose to fame in the late '90s alongside such teenaged acts as 98°. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Teen pop star Jennifer Love Hewitt was already a veteran of several TV series (including Kids Incorporated) and had recorded a 1992 Japanese LP when she signed on to appear in Fox TV's popular series Party of Five in 1995. |
 | | More than any other single artist, Britney Spears was the driving force behind the return of teen pop in the late '90s. |
 | | 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. |
 | | The youngest male solo artist to have four Top 40 singles, pop sensation Aaron Carter began his career in show biz at the tender age of seven. |
 | | A leader in the parade of Mickey Mouse Club veterans who stormed pop at the turn of the millennium, Christina Aguilera was the sexy, brassy diva of the bunch -- the Rolling Stones to Britney Spears’ Beatles, as it were. |
 | | Originally from New Zealand, Natasha Bedingfield grew up in southeast London, where she and her siblings were raised around music. |
 | | As the daughter of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, pop singer Brooke Hogan was raised by a family accustomed to the type of lifestyle that comes with fame, which helped her easily transition into the celebrity spotlight of her own making as a teenager. |
 | | Spice Girls were the first major British pop music phenomenon of the mid-'90s to not have a debt to independent pop/rock. |
 | | Born into wealth and the American equivalent of aristocracy, Paris Hilton was the oldest of Richard Hilton and Kathy Richards' four children, and an heir to the family's hotel chain (her great-grandfather, Conrad Hilton, was the founder). |
 | | 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. |
 | | Actress/vocalist Demi Lovato began making a name for herself after starring alongside the Jonas Brothers in the 2008 Disney Channel movie Camp Rock. |
 | | Best known as Troy Bolton, the captain of the basketball team who discovers a passion for singing in the Disney Channel movie High School Musical, Zac Efron has been an actor and singer since childhood. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Although initially viewed as another face in the late-'90s crowd of teen pop acts, Pink (professionally known as P!nk) quickly transcended and outgrew that label with her combination of pop songcraft and powerhouse, rock-influenced vocals. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Most teen pop singers are actual teenagers who ostensibly try to shed their bubblegum image and shoot for credibility once they get older. |
 | | The Backstreet Boys were, in many ways, a contradictory band. Comprised entirely of white middle-class Americans, the group sang a hybrid of new jack balladry, hip-hop, R&B, and dance club pop that originally found its greatest success in Canada and Europe, with their 1996 debut album charting in the Top Ten in nearly every country on the Continent. |
 | | One of the most popular teenaged groups of the 2000s, the Jonas Brothers crafted hook-filled power pop anthems in the vein of McFly, Hanson, and the Modern Lovers. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Though Taylor Hicks' quirky soulfulness made him 2006's American Idol, runner-up Katharine McPhee's classic good looks and voice and affinity for traditional pop made her a strong contender throughout the season. |
 | | Born in Brooklyn in 1989, Corbin Bleu began acting and modeling as a toddler, appearing in commercials and print ads for the likes of Hasbro, Nabisco, Gap, and Target. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Founded by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995, the Pussycat Dolls began as a burlesque dance revue based in Los Angeles, spawned a second revue in Las Vegas, grew into an A-list phenomena with a revolving cast of guest celebrities, and eventually became a recording act with a number one dance hit. |
 | | Along with the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, *NSYNC dominated the teen pop explosion of the late '90s with a blend of group harmonies, gauzy ballads, and well-produced dance textures. |
 | | 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. |
 | | The sweet-voiced Christy Carlson Romano got her start as one of the orphans in a production of Annie. |
 | | The British teen-pop band S Club 7 was created in 1999 by pop impresario Simon Fuller, who chose the group's seven members -- Rachel Stevens, Hannah Spearritt, Bradley McIntosh, Paul Cattermole, Jon Lee, Jo O'Meara and Tina Barrett -- from nearly 10,000 hopefuls. |
 | | As the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC redefined pop music for the masses upon the closing of the 1990s, 98° were also making girls scream and swoon with their darling good looks and delightsome harmonies. |
 | | Like Martika, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Rahsaan Patterson, Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson got her first major break as a youngster on the television program Kids Incorporated. |
 | | Georgia-born singer/songwriter Jordan Pruitt began her singing career at the age of four, harmonizing with her father's group in church. |
 | | The Veronicas hail from Brisbane, Australia, where twin sisters Jess and Lisa Origliasso began working in show business at the age of five. |
 | | A former Christian artist, Katy Perry rebranded herself as a larger-than-life pop star and rose to prominence during the summer of 2008. |
 | | Young actress/singer Emma Roberts is best known for her starring role on the Nickelodeon series Unfabulous, on which she plays Addie Singer, a girl whose songs help her navigate the rough waters of adolescence. |
 | | As one of the Backstreet Boys, singer Nick Carter became an international superstar during the mid-'90s as his band became one of the best-selling teen pop bands in history. |
 | | Boy bands such as Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync fought hard to be perceived as musicians rather than manufactured product assembled by record executives. |
 | | Before she discovered she could write songs, Gwen Stefani was looking forward to a life of marriage, children, and white picket fences. |
 | | After his success with New Edition, producer Maurice Starr decided to replicate the singing group by substituting suburban white kids for the young black teenagers. |
 | | Actress/singer Jennifer Lopez was born in the Bronx, New York, on July 24, 1969; after starting out in musical theater as a child, she made her film debut at age 16 in the little-seen My Little Girl, but her career then stalled until she was tapped to become one of the dancing "Fly Girls" on the television sketch comedy series In Living Color. |
 | | The sexy pop group Dream is made up of four talented singers: Diana Ortiz, Holly Blake, Melissa Schuman, and Ashley Poole. |
 | | Justin Timberlake may be the quintessential pop star of the new millennium, a star who jumped from platform to platform on his way to establishing himself as something bigger than a star: he was a self-sustained empire. |
 | | One of the most recognizable characters in modern-day R&B, Beyoncé first rose to fame as the siren-voiced centerpiece of Destiny's Child before embarking on a multi-platinum solo career in 2001. |
