Lynne Spears

Lynne Irene Spears (née Bridges; born 1955) is an American author and mother of film and television producer Bryan Spears, pop singer Britney Spears, and country singer Jamie Lynn Spears.

Biography

Early life and family

Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi, to English mother Lilian Irene Portell (1924–1993), and Barney O'Field Bridges (1919–1978), an American G.I. In 1945, her parents met and married in Portell's native London. Spears's maternal great-grandfather, Edward Portelli, was a Maltese immigrant to the United Kingdom. Spears has an older brother, Barry "Sonny" Bridges (born 1951). Their older sister, Sandra Bridges Covington (1947–2007), died of ovarian cancer.

In 1975, she married James "Jamie" Spears. They were divorced in 2002 and reconciled in 2010. Jamie and Lynne Spears have three children: son Bryan James (born 1977) and daughters Britney Jean (born 1981) and Jamie Lynn Marie (born 1991). They also have four grandchildren: grandsons Sean Preston Federline (born 2005) and Jayden James Federline (born 2006) from Britney and granddaughters Maddie Briann Aldridge (born 2008) from Jamie Lynn and Sophia Alexandra Spears (born 2011) from Bryan.

Britney Spears

Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer and actress. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, she performed acting roles in stage productions and television shows as a child before signing with Jive Records in 1997. Spears's first and second studio albums, ...Baby One More Time (1999) and Oops!... I Did It Again (2000), became international successes, with the former becoming the best-selling album by a teenage solo artist. Title tracks "...Baby One More Time" and "Oops!... I Did It Again" broke international sales records. In 2001, Spears released her self-titled third studio album, Britney, and played the starring role in the film Crossroads (2002). She assumed creative control of her fourth studio album, In the Zone (2003), which yielded the worldwide success of the "Toxic" single.

In 2007, Spears's much-publicized personal issues sent her career into hiatus. Her fifth studio album, Blackout, was released later that year, and spawned hits such as "Gimme More" and "Piece of Me". Her erratic behavior and hospitalizations continued through the following year, at which point she was placed under a still ongoing conservatorship. Spears's sixth studio album, Circus (2008), included global chart-topping lead single "Womanizer". Its supporting tour The Circus Starring Britney Spears was one of the highest-grossing global concert tours in 2009.