At an early age, Christina developed a deep love of music which she must have inherited from her musical mother, an experienced violinist and pianist. By the time she was in elementary school, Aguilera's big voice had swept through a number of local talent shows, causing harsh envy from her schoolmates and even some parents. It became so bad that Aguilera's mother eventually made the decision to home-school Christina. Still, Aguilera continued to perform, and in 1990, she earned a spot on the television program Star Search. There, the 9-year-old wowed audiences with a mesmerizing performance of Etta James's "A Sunday Kind of Love," placing second in the competition.