Justin Bieber: 19 key moments as the pop star turns 19

In a relatively short span, Canadian phenom Justin Bieber has gone from earnest mop-topped teen busker to influential, chart-topping international pop star.

Undoubtedly the most successful of the new generation of artists who found fame through homemade YouTube performance videos, the hardworking Bieber has become even busier since first garnering the attention of the music industry in 2008.To date, he's released seven albums (three studio, four compilations), a photo book/biography and a music film.

Friday marks the Stratford, Ont. performer's 19th birthday. AsBieber celebrates reaching the landmark age (reportedly with a lavish party in London, a brief break from his current tour), he faces a watershed moment of his career: making the transition from squeaky-clean pop upstart to credible adult artist whose appeal stretches beyond teenage girls.

CBC looks back at key moments of Bieber's remarkable career so far.

1. March 1, 1994: Justin Bieber is born to Patricia Lynn Mallette, 18,and Jeremy Jack Bieber,19.
2. 1998: A four-year-old Bieber begins to show a propensity for music. He starts banging on a kiddie drum set and takes music lessons. In subsequent years, he begins dabbling in piano, guitar and trumpet.
3. 2006: After entering a local singing contest in his hometown of Stratford, Ont., he places second with a cover of Ne-Yos So Sick. His mother records it for absent friends and uploads the footage to YouTube. After the video becomes a viral hit, Bieber adds more of him performing (memorable spots includebusking on the steps of the Stratford Festivals Avon Theatre).
4. Late 2007/early 2008: The online videos attract the attention of manager Scooter Braun, who was purportedly searching videos online for would-be stars.
5. 2008: Braun flies him to Atlanta to meet Usher, theformer teen heartthrob-turned-established R&B star. Bieber moves to Atlanta in July and, by October, signs to Island Records.
6. November 2009: Bieber drops his first album, My World. Seven of its songs break into the Billboard Top 100 chart and the album goes platinum. That month, he also sparks his first fan-crush incident, with New York police forced to cancel an autograph session after somefans turn wild, unruly and dangerous while awaiting his arrival(significant trampling incidents would later occur inAustralia, in 2010, and Oslo in 2012).
7. 2010: He ventures out on his first international tour, My World, with stops in Europe and Asia.
8. February 2010: Bieber becomes ubiquitous with the release ofthe video for his single Baby, which features guest appearances from fellow Canadian Drake as well as Southern rapper Ludacris. It becomes the most-watched YouTube video of all time (until it was unseated by Gangnam Style in late 2012). The hit track paves the way for the release of his album My World 2.0, released a month after the video.
9. October 2010: Bieber releases thebiography and photo book First Step 2 Forever: My Story.
10. December 2010: Rumours surface about the singer's first high-profile romance: his courtship of teen actress-singer Selena Gomez (They would laterpart ways in November 2012).
11. Feb. 2011: Hedebuts the 3D music filmJustin Bieber: Never Say Never, a documentary of his time on tour.
12. March 2011: Bieber wins his firstJuno Award (picking up two trophies, in fact), after also having earned nominations for the Grammy Awards.
13. November 2011: The young singer faces his firstmajor controversy when a paternity suitis filed in California by a woman who alleges that Bieber fathered her child during a backstage fling (when she was 19 andhe was 16). The suit is dropped days later.
14. June 2012: Bieber draws an estimated 200,000 fans to afree concert at Mexico Citys Zocalo Square, joining such international stars as Paul McCartney andShakirain attractingsimilarly sized audiences at the historic spot.
15. July 2012: Bieber graduates high school.
16. December 2012/January 2013: The holiday season and New Year would prove bizarrely eventful for the young star under constant glare: authorities release details of analleged murder plot against him, a paparazzo is struck by a car and killed while trying to snag a photo of himand images of the singer emerge showing him smoking pot.
17. January 2013: Bieber overtakes Lady Gaga as themost-followed person on Twitter, with more than 33 million fans. The figure has since climbed past 35 million.
18. February 2013: A satisfying cap to his teen years, Bieber becomes theyoungest artist to rack up five No. 1 albums.
19. Feb. 2013: Bieber joins a small groupincludingElton Johnand Bruno Mars to serve as both host and featured performeron longrunning TV sketch show Saturday Night Live.