Chaka Khan: Shining Star Before she became Chaka Khan, she was Evette Stevens. Born in Illinois in 1953, she grew up in a household filled with music. When the Black Power movement gained steam in the 1960s, the then 13-year-old singer joined a band called Shades of Black. During this time, a shaman christened her Chaka after the great warrior Chaka Zulu. By age 16, she had left school, joined the Black Panthers and moved to a commune. She also teamed up with Rufus, an up-and-coming R&B band. Thanks to her deep, powerful voice, the group scored a record deal. In June 1970, the singer married Chicago musician Hassan Khan, with whom she had a daughter, Milini. However, the marriage hit rock bottom in 1973. Musically, Chaka Khan was collecting successes. During the recording of Rufus' second album, her idol, Stevie Wonder, showed up at the studio with a song for her. ""Tell Me Something Good"" became the band's first hit. In 1974, Rufus earned its first Grammy Award. But life on tour was h

Shania Twain: Country Survivor Shania Twain (born Eileen Regina Edwards) was born in Windsor, Ontario, on August 28, 1965. When she was young, her parents divorced and Twain lived with her mom and two sisters. The kids were eventually adopted by their mom's new husband. The family struggled with poverty, and Twain's mother suffered from bouts of deep depression. Twain turned to singing to find happiness amid her harsh reality. In 1974, at the age of nine, she was already performing in honky-tonk clubs to help pay the family's bills. At age 12, Twain appeared on a local country show, and later she fronted a cover band, called Long Shot. In 1983, the teenager began singing full time after graduating from high school. However, her career came to a terrible halt when her parents were killed in a car crash in 1987. Devastated, the 22-year-old Twain took on the task of raising her sisters and two half-brothers; she supported them with a singing gig at a tourist resort. By 1992, her siblings

Gladys Knight: Soul Survivor Gladys Maria Knight was born on May 28, 1944, in Atlanta. While her father juggled three jobs to support the family, her mother was busy nurturing the young girl's natural singing talent. When she was seven years old, Knight won the popular Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour contest. In 1952, she and her two siblings and two cousins began performing at local supper clubs and churches. In 1960, they officially became known as Gladys Knight and the Pips. After a few personnel changes, the quintet recorded the top R & B hit ""Every Beat of My Heart."" At age 16, the aspiring singer discovered she was pregnant and married saxophone player Jimmy Newman. Unfortunately, Knight miscarried. Anxious to be a mom, Knight became pregnant again and gave birth to Jimmy Jr. in 1962 and to daughter Kenya two years later. Because of financial pressures, the young mother returned to performing with the Pips, and the group began putting out bigger hits, including ""I Heard It Throug

Cloris Leachman: Accomplished Chameleon Born in 1926, Cloris Leachman grew up in a small town near Des Moines. As a child, she loved to act and play the piano. At age 11, she landed a job on a local children's radio show. By 17, Leachman had joined the Kendall Community Playhouse; a year later the aspiring actress headed to Northwestern University on a drama scholarship. At 20, Leachman entered a local beauty pageant on a lark and made it all the way to the Miss America finals. Leachman lost the beauty contest, but not her love of the spotlight. She headed for New York City and was recruited for the prestigious Actors Studio. Determined not to be typecast as a beauty queen, she tackled a smorgasbord of parts. In 1952, the starlet fell for aspiring director George Englund; the couple married in 1953 after Leachman discovered she was pregnant. Although Englund would have several affairs, the couple stayed together for many years and had four more children. Ignoring the traditional 1950s

Vicki Lawrence: Mama's Got a Brand-new Bag Vicki Lawrence was born on March 26, 1949, in Inglewood, California. Although Lawrence was an extremely introverted girl, her mother, who had once dreamed of becoming a professional singer, encouraged her daughter to pursue the limelight. So a teenage Lawrence entered a Miss Fireball talent contest. A reporter covering the event compared her to Carol Burnett. Lawrence later sent Burnett a fan letter with the article, and, to her surprise, the legendary performer looked her up. At age 18, Lawrence was plucked out of high school in order to join ""The Carol Burnett Show."" For years, she had only a minimal role on the show because she was too intimidated to talk. But otherwise, Lawrence's life was blossoming; in 1972, she married singer-songwriter Bobby Russell. A year later she recorded his song ""The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia."" The tune went on to become a number one hit on the Billboard charts. In 1974, Lawrence, then 25, finally fou

Tracey Gold: No More Growing Pains Tracey Gold was born in New York City and was raised by her mom, an ad executive, and her stepfather, an actor. As a child, Gold tagged along to one of her stepfather's auditions for a Pepsi commercial and, much to his surprise, the little girl was cast instead. By age six, Gold was regularly appearing in print ads, TV shows and movies. Entering adolescence while in the spotlight wasn't easy for the young actress; by the time she was 12, Gold began obsessing over her weight and eventually succumbed to the early stages of anorexia. In 1984, the 16-year-old Gold landed her big break: a role on the TV sitcom ""Growing Pains,"" about a quirky family raised by a stay-at-home dad and a working mom. The show's popularity skyrocketed, but Gold's personal life was about to plummet. After several seasons of shooting the hit series, Gold, then 19 years old, began to put on weight; fat jokes subsequently began appearing in the scripts. When producers asked her to

Penny Marshall: Directing Diva Penny Marshall was born in the Bronx, New York. Her mother, a dance teacher, taught her to tap and recruited the youngster into a dance troupe that performed on TV. But Marshall's mother also constantly criticized the young girl about her unglamorous appearance, contributing to her decision to move far afield after high school, to the University of New Mexico. In her junior year at college, Marshall got pregnant by her boyfriend, Mickey Henry; she dropped out of school and the two got married. Their daughter, Tracy, was born in July 1964. Unfortunately, the young couple's marriage crumbled just two years later. Soon after, Marshall tried her hand at acting as part of the Albuquerque Light Opera. In 1967, at the age of 24, she headed to Los Angeles to visit her brother, Gary, a comedy writer. With his encouragement, she enrolled in an acting class. Although she had trouble landing parts, Marshall did get lucky in love: She married rising star Rob Reiner i

Alyssa Milano: Child-Star Survivor Alyssa Milano was born on December 19, 1972, in Brooklyn. She was bitten by the acting bug at the early age of seven, after seeing a Broadway production of ""Annie."" When she accompanied a family friend to an audition for the touring company of ""Annie"" shortly thereafter, she landed the role instead of her friend. Other plays soon followed, as did her first film role in the 1984 movie ""Old Enough."" That same year, 12-year-old Milano auditioned to play actor Tony Danza's daughter, tomboy Samantha ""Sam"" Micelli, on a new sitcom called ""Who's the Boss?"" Audiences immediately took to the show and to Milano; before long, her work on TV and in film became popular overseas. She tried her hand at music, landing a five-album deal in Japan, where her 1989 debut record reached platinum. In 1992, ""Who's the Boss?"" went off the air, and Milano faced the daunting task of transitioning from child star to adult actress. At first she found it difficult to get good rol

Linda Lavin: Hardworking Woman Linda Lavin was born on October 15, 1937, in Portland, Maine. She took to singing almost from birth, but her love of music couldn't mask the insecurity she felt as a child. Fortunately, she found confidence during her teenage years, when she began performing in community theater. After high school, Lavin headed to the prestigious College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, to study acting. In 1959, she followed her dreams to New York City, and it wasn't long before she scored a part in the Broadway play ""Family Affair."" She continued working on Broadway and in 1969, she earned her first Tony Award nomination for Neil Simon's ""The Last of the Red Hot Lovers."" She blossomed personally, too, finding love with fellow actor Ron Leibman. The couple married in 1968 and eventually moved to Los Angeles. There, Lavin was repeatedly told she didn't have the ""leading lady look""; bigger acting roles — especially on TV — were scarce. But Lavin's dry spell d