Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is a Grammy Award-winning American pop singer and entertainer.
Raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears first appeared on national television in 1992 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to 1994. In 1997, Spears signed a recording contract with Jive, releasing her debut album ...Baby One More Time in 1999. The album established her as a pop icon and "bona fide pop phenomenon", credited for influencing the revival of teen pop in the late 1990s.Spears released her sixth studio album Circus on her 27th birthday in December 2008.
"Right away, she got into the boxes and into the magic contraptions to learn the stuff, and she's so excited about this tour and all the elements that are in it," illusionist-comedian Ed Alonzo, "the Misfit of Magic" (and former Saved by the Bell diner owner) who will be doing a number with Spears on her Circus tour, tells E! News.
The pop star will serve as Alonzo's assistant in the bit.
"We're going to be doing the classics of magic but a little high-tech," he said. "We'll be doing a little dissection, transposition, a vanish, an appearance—and if I do a trick, she doesn't just hold the props, she's actually getting inside the big boxes or I am slicing her up."
Sounds a bit risky, which is perhaps why Team Spears decided to leave the tricks to a professional.
I "made [the tricks] really easy for her...but there are some complicated things that she is doing that you would think a contortionist would have to do, or a trained magician's assistant," Alonzo said. "But because...she's a dancer, it really makes sense to put her in the magic, and it works and she's really, really good at it."
"Some of it's pretty scary, but she gets right in there with no reservations," he added.
Alonzo wouldn't divulge which Spears tunes would be accompanying his mini magic show, but—news flash—he did assure us that the overall show will feature "the best music of Britney that people have loved over the years and, of course, brand-new favorites from the new album."
And, like us, Alonzo has only seen Spears in warm-up clothes and sneakers during rehearsals, although she has been testing out different pairs of heels here and there.
The three-ring circus-inspired set is "exactly what you would see in a big giant Vegas production show, but it's going to be on the road," he said, and anywhere from 75 to 100 crew members and performers are usually around at any given time.
"It's going to be an amazing concert for people to watch," he said. "It's like watching a big Cirque du Soleil high-tech circus, but with a really focused star in the middle of all of this."
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Spears is ranked as the eighth best-selling female recording artist in the United States with 32 million sold albums certified by the Recording Industry Association of America and one of the world's best-selling music artists having sold an estimated 85 million records worldwide. Spears also holds the title to multiple Guinness World Records.
