1997.

Britney signs a recording deal with Jive Records.



January 1999:

After consulting with her lawyer, Larry Rudolph, Britney signs a deal with Johnny Wright's Wright Entertainment Group (WEG) to manage Britney's career.



June 28, 1999

"Spears began her first headlining ...Baby One More Time Tour in North America, which was positively received by critics."



April 14, 2000

Johnny Wright's Wright Entertainment Group (WEG) negotiates an amendment to Britney's contract with Zomba, providing for additional advances and royalties for albums 4 through 8 (including "In The Zone" and "Greatest Hits - My Prerogative")



September 19, 2000:

Britney signs an amendment to her contract with Johnny Wright's WEG. Among WEG's duties is to negotiate licensing opportunities for Britney's "brand" through her company, "Britney Brands, Inc."



WEG is also to consult on, develop and manage Britney's tours through her touring company, "Britney Touring, Inc." (BTI)



February 21, 2001:

After consulting with her lawyer, Larry Rudolph, Britney agrees to amend her contract with WEG. Johnny Wright is to continue managing Britney until February 20, 2003, with "sunset payments" to continue until February 20, 2008.



Wright is to co-manage Britney's career, along with Rudolph.



September 21, 2001

"A North American tour was announced that kicked off exactly two months later after various dates were postponed. In February 2002, Spears announced a second leg of the tour...The Dream Within a Dream Tour was largely sold out and grossed $43.7 million."



March 2002

Britney breaks up with Justin Timberlake after three years of dating.



November 5, 2002

"Spears said she took three months off after her world tour wrapped in July — she had originally vowed to take six — but has since been working on the follow-up to last year's Britney."



February 20, 2003

Johnny Wright ends his management duties with Britney. Her career continues to be managed by Larry Rudolph.



September 19, 2003

Britney Spears, signing on behalf of Britney Brands Inc., enters into a agreement with Brand Sense Partners, LLC, to pursue brand licensing opportunities.



November 16, 2003

Spears released her fourth studio album, In the Zone



January 3-5, 2004

Spears weds childhood friend Jason Alexander in a Las Vegas ceremony, but the marriage is annulled after 55 hours.



She later tells Matt Lauer, "I was on the road for a while, and again I was just doing a lot of what I was told instead of what I wanted to really do. And I didn't know how to break out of that. So in my young mind, I'm gonna just get married..."



March 2, 2004

As Britney Spears prepares to launch her Onyx Hotel Tour, a few more details have leaked out...



June 22, 2004

"When Britney Spears fell down during a video shoot for "Outrageous" earlier this month, the impact was immediate.



Her fall has set off a chain of events that's resulted in the cancellation of her summer tour — something insiders are estimating will cost her as much as $1 million a week in lost revenue from ticket and merchandise sales..."



February 3, 2004

Brand Sense Partners LLC, negotiates a lucrative brand licensing deal with Elizabeth Arden, Inc. to develop perfumes with Britney Brands, Inc.



September 2004:

Britney launches her first perfume, Curious.



October 7, 2004:

"BRITNEY SPEARS has dumped her manager so she can control her career. She is furious with Larry Rudolph for not backing her marriage to dancer KEVIN FEDERLINE. And Rudolph probably should have seen it coming. Britney’s new single, My Prerogative, spells out how the singer is determined to be her own woman. Trouble has been brewing since Britney’s wildchild period last year. Larry was terrified of the effect her partying would have on her squeaky clean image."



October 16, 2004

"Her knee gave out on her during the "Outrageous" video shoot (forcing the cancellation of her summer tour) for a reason, she said — so that she would "have no choice but to stop" and give her body some rest...



She said she feels like she's missed out on too many of "the simple things" — like being able to watch such movies as Mandy Moore's "Saved" and re-runs of "Sex and the City" because of her nonstop work schedule, which kept her "going and going and going."



"It's amazing what advisors will push you to do, even if it means taking a naive young blonde girl and putting her on the cover of every magazine," she wrote. Now, she'd like to "take some time off to enjoy life."



November 4, 2004

Spears stressed that she's not quitting her music career for good ("that is kind of harsh"), and that she will come back, eventually, but when she does, "things will be totally different." And while she didn't specify how they would be different, she did say that in retrospect, "less is more" should have been the operating principle for her fourth album, In The Zone, and she regretted that "some things were done for me [that] were not always in my best interests."



November 4, 2004

Britney posts a letter on her Web site.



"I don't think I'll do another tour for a couple of years," Spears wrote. "At this point and time, what I want is not my face on every cover, but someone else's instead. I really want to help other people achieve their dreams and possibly even develop new artists. Everything is in the very beginning stages and it feels great to just think about different opportunities that I'm interested in pursuing."



December 2004

Britney co-directs the video for "Do Somethin'."



December 31, 2004

Britney shares a demo of a new single with fans during an interview with Ryan Seacrest on KISS FM. The song is called "Mona Lisa." She says it's off an upcoming album called "The Original Doll" that is to debut in the summer or fall of 2005.



[The "Original Doll" album in never released.]





January 4, 2005

Britney posts a new letter on her Web site.



She admits to fighting her record label for the right to make a video for "Do Somethin'," one of the new tracks on her recent career retrospective, Greatest Hits: My Prerogative. Ultimately she won, but she said she was "a little disappointed" that she had to convince her label "that making this video was the right thing to do at this time" (right now, the clip is slated to air only in overseas markets).



January 4, 2005

Britney posts another letter on her Web site:



"I think I should rephrase myself from my previous letters when I was talking about taking a 'break'...What I meant was I am taking a break from being told what to do. It's cool when you look at someone and don't know whether they are at work or play since it's all the same to them. The things I've been doing for work lately have been so much fun, because it's not like work to me anymore. I've been even more 'hands on' in my management and the business side of things, and I feel more in control than ever."



January 6, 2005

"BRITNEY SPEARS has reportedly found a new manager - a former employee of the manager she sacked just three months ago...The pop princess has taken on 29-year-old DAN DYMTROW, a former apprentice at Britney's former manager LARRY RUDOLPH's REIGNDEER ENTERTAINMENT. The pair both left ReignDeer last October (04)..."Dan was the one who helped Larry with the day-to-day stuff, and he just left him behind his back, moved out to LA, and is now Brit's manager..."



June 7, 2006

"Britney Spears is fed up with Kevin Federline lies and is now turning to her family and her faith, a published report claims this week. And Brit reportedly has bailed on Kaballah and is turning towards the Christian faith for guidance.



Us Weekly is calling it 'The Final Days' and reports Brit's family is putting on the pressure. "Apparently, they've even hired a Christian life coach to help make that decision," Us Weekly's Katrina Szich revealed to Extra TV."



June 15, 2006

Britney arranges for an interview with Matt Lauer to set the record straight on the state of her marriage:



"Despite the tabloids reports of trouble on the home front, Spears shares with Lauer that her marriage with Kevin Federline is “awesome,” and that the reports of Kevin living in the basement are false. She talks about why she loves him, and reveals to Lauer, “He helps me. He has to. I’m (an) emotional wreck right now.” When asked if she feels people are rooting against her marriage, Spears says she doesn’t know, “If they are that’s sad. I think everybody should be ‘pro love.’”



Britney tells Matt Lauer, "I won't take BS from anyone. And I think it's making me stand out on my own and be very independent and fight for what I believe in. Whereas before I was a young blonde girl who would do what she was told. And I know who I am as a person. And I'm getting damn strong."



August 5, 2006

Lou M. Taylor, the President of Tri Star Sports and Entertainment Group, is by now representing Jamie Lynn Spears. Jamie Lynn appears at the time in the TV show "Zoey 101."



Lou says, "I am a strong woman, I am a boss, I am a woman in a man's business, I am married to a Godly man and Pastor, I am a submissive wife."



According to Taylor's current bio, "I focus on making a difference in our business by operating a life management model that includes a cohesive working relationship with each member of a client’s team to ensure maximum professional support and counsel."



November 7, 2006

"Britney Spears has filed a petition for divorce from Kevin Federline."



December 2006

Kalie Machado begins working for Britney as her assistant. She lasts three months, until February 2007.



"Kalie Machado claims that while she was Britney’s assistant, she received a call from a man “at a restricted number” who said he was a private investigator working for Brit’s ex husband Kevin Federline. That man was Sam [Lutfi]. “He said he had incriminating evidence on Britney and he was going to hand it over to me,” she recalls. “We arranged to meet in a Santa Monica Starbucks.”



Kalie was nervous, so she brought her roommate with her. She says she spent 20 minutes listening to Sam talk and when she demanded to see the evidence, he instead “asked all kinds of stalkerish questions - like when we leave the house and where Britney and I went.” [From In Touch, print edition, March 10, 2008]



February 14, 2007

Britney is escorted to rehab in Antigua by Larry Rudolph.



Within 24 hours, she checks herself out and returns to Florida.



February 16, 2007

Britney shaves her head.



After Britney shaves her head, Lynne Spears receives a telephone call from Sam Lutfi saying that there were drugs planted in Britney's Malibu home. Sam tells Lynne it is a conspiracy between Kevin and Britney's assistants to make Britney look like a bad mother (Lynne Spears, "Through The Storm," page 165)



February 20, 2007

"TMZ has learned Britney Spears is back in rehab. Sources say the singer has checked into an in-patient facility in Los Angeles. We're told the move came after family members, including her mom, pressed her to check in."



February 21, 2007

"As we first reported, the singer checked into Promises treatment center yesterday. But she just couldn't deal with it and left for home. It's the same story as last week, when Britney was in and out of rehab within 24 hours."



"Sources say Spears -- wearing a blonde wig -- went this morning to meet with Blair Berk, a prominent criminal defense lawyer whose roster of clients includes Lindsay Lohan, Halle Berry, Tracy Morgan and others. We do not know why Spears chose to meet with Berk, although it's unlikely it has anything to do with her divorce. In her divorce case, Spears is repped by disso-queen Laura Wasser."



Februaty 23, 2007

"Troubled pop star Britney Spears is back in rehab for the third time.



Yesterday she left the Promises treatment centre in Malibu after 24 hours as her estranged husband Kevin Federline was granted an emergency court hearing over custody of their two young sons. Spears was so worried about rapper Kevin Federline's action she immediately checked out of rehab and headed straight for her lawyers in Beverly Hills, where she was spotted chain-smoking and peering anxiously out of the office window."



TO BE CONTINUED...

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