American songstress Christina Aguilera to perform in Shanghai - 17 May, 2007

For Christina Aguilera, there ain't no other Chinese city but Shanghai.

Photo: American songstress Christina Aguilera to perform in Shanghai

Aguilera, a four-time Grammy Award winner, will perform June 26 at the Grand Stage, host to earlier performances by the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and the Black Eyed Peas.

The tour date, her first-ever in China, is listed on her Web site.

Aguilera's sexy act apparently didn't faze China's cultural officials, who told the Rolling Stones not to sing some of their racier hits and canceled a performance by Jay-Z after deeming the rapper's lyrics "vulgar."

The former pop-tart set tongues wagging with the release of her second album, 2002's "Stripped" and its accompanying sexual imagery and overall bad-girl attitude. The album received mixed critical reviews but racked up strong sales.

Her latest album, "Back to Basics," includes elements of soul, jazz and blues and has gone on to become the biggest selling double album by a female artist, making her one of the best known American performers in China.

The 26-year-old, who married music marketing executive Jordan Bratman in 2005, found fame alongside boy bands and Britney Spears, but has since jettisoned the teenybopper look for one more mature, recently adopting the persona of 1940s acts such as the Andrews Sisters.

"Nowadays, it's typical for a teen pop star to mutate into a pop tart _ but no one did more quickly, or more scandalously, than Christina Aguilera," The Associated Press wrote last year in a review of "Back to Basics," which includes the songs "Hurt," "Candy Man," and "Ain't No Other Man," winner of this year's Grammy for best female pop vocal performance.

The New York City native is currently on a 41-city North American tour and is due to perform in San Diego, California on Monday before flying to Asia for a series of dates in Japan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand.

Although it is Aguilera's first concert in China, the singer has a connection with the country going back to her recording of the song "Reflection" for the Disney film "Mulan" about a legendary Chinese female warrior. The song won her a recording contract with RCA Records that was the start of a career in which she has sold more than 25 million albums.

Tickets for the Shanghai show range in price from 200 yuan (US$26; EUR19) to 2,000 yuan (US$260; EUR190).