Christina Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York, to Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera, a Sergeant in the U.S. Army at the time and Shelly Loraine Fidler, a teacher of the Spanish language. Aguilera's father was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, while her mother is Irish Catholic (Christina's maternal grandmother emigrated from County Clare, Ireland.) Her father, Fausto, was stationed at Earnest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland, Canada and Japan.