He was born into a musical family. His father Stein Ingebrigtsen was the biggest selling recording artist in Norway in the 1970s. At the age of three, Christian joined his father on tour. He learned to play the violin at six, and later started playing the piano and guitar. At school he concentrated on music and drama, and eventually played the piano at local events and at church. At 16 he started composing his own songs, and as an exchange student in Kentucky in the U.S. he participated in musicals, talent contests and held his own concerts. In 1995 he was given the state award Kentucky Colonel, something he shares with the likes of Bing Crosby, Colonel Sanders and Winston Churchill.

In 1996 Ingebrigtsen got into the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), where he studied song-writing and production. In 1998 he was one of 2500 auditioning for a new boyband. A teacher at LIPA recommended Ingebrigtsen to manager Tim Byrne working on putting together the group, and he became the third member of A1, who after becoming a quartet, signed a recording contract with Columbia Records in 1999.