christina maría aguilera was born in staten island, new york, on december 18, 1980. her parents fausto xavier aguilera, was a soldier in the united states army and shelly loraine (née fidler), was a violinist and pianist, respectively. her father has ecuadorian ancestry. her american mother has german, english, irish, scots-irish, and french ancestry. throughout her father's service in the army, her family moved to various locations, including new jersey, texas, new york, and japan. her parents divorced when aguilera was six years old. she, her mother, and her younger sister rachel then lived at her grandmother's home in rochester, pennsylvania, a town outside pittsburgh. her mother later remarried.