Britney Spears' Life in Photos: A Timeline of the Star's Rise, Fall and Comeback

After the new Mickey Mouse Club was canceled, Spears returned to New York and tried to grab the attention of the music industry with demo tapes and auditions. Jive Records was interested, and she linked up with manager Larry Rudolph and went to Sweden to record with songwriter Max Martin. She returned with her first single, "... Baby One More Time," which came out in late 1998 (here Spears is pictured backstage at New York's Madison Square Garden on December 17, 1998).