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Shakira
Born
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll on February 2, 1977, in Barranquilla,
Colombia, Shakira moved to Bogotá with her family at the
age of thirteen. Her mother was a native Columbian, but her father
- of Lebanese descent - would be the influence on her famous hip-shaking
belly dance moves.
Writing
her first song at the age of eight, Shakira's dream of entering
show business began with early notoriety at talent competitions
in her hometown. Later moving to Bogota, her talent was brought
to the attention of Sony Records, with whom she signed a record
deal at age 13.
The
result was her debut album, Magia (Magic) with all songs
written entirely by the artist, followed by her second album Peligro
(Danger).
The
singer next turned her attention to acting and won a role in a
popular Columbian soap opera, El Oasis before returning
to full-time to music in 1995, when Shakira's breakthrough album
came with the release of Pies Descalzos (Bare Feet) which
featured an international hit, Estory Aqui.
Her "overnight"
fame caught the attention of Emilio
Estefan, Jr. (husband of singer Gloria Estafan), who produced
her next album, ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?
(Where are the Thieves?), a huge hit that spun off such mega-hit
singles as Inevitable and Ojos Así.
With nowhere
to go but up, Shakira began planning her cross-over to the English
speaking world, resulting with a performance on MTV Unplugged,
the channel's first Spanish-language broadcast. Her much-heralded
performance was released as an album in early 2000, going on to
win a Grammy
Award for Best Latin Pop Album.
The following
year, her first English lanaguage album, Laundry Service,
brought almost instant pop stardom in both North American and
the UK, where the album became one of the top selling in 2002,
helped along by Shakira's own live performances, and a video in
which the singer's provocative rock style was combined with never
before seen or heard (in the world of rock, at least) hypnotic
Arabic rhythms and belly dancing.
A 2002 -2003
world tour, "Tour of the Mongoose" soon followed, resulting
in a live performance album in 2004.
Shakira released
two albums in 2006, the Spanish-language Fijación Oral
Volumen 1, which came out in June and the English-language
Oral Fixation Volume 2, in November. She later led the
led the nominees at the MTV
Latin America awards with a total of six nominations, and
was also a front runner at the MTV
Video Music Awards that same year.
Shakira's
latest album, She Wolf, was released in late 2009 spinning off
the title track as a hit single. Another hit, "Gypsy"
was accompanied by a music video in which she appears with tennis
great Raphael
Nadal.
Offstage,
the singer has been romantically linked to Antonio
de la Rúa, son of Argentine president Fernando de la
Rúa, since 2001.
More
about Shakira around the Web:
Shakira
- The official site, in English and Spanish, featuring news and
tour dates, biography, photo gallery, message board, screen savers,
buddy icons, wallpapers, audio clips from albums, video clips,
related links.
Shakira
Artist Main Page on Yahoo! - Biography, picture gallery,
music videos, and related links to major fan sites.
Shakira
Planet
- The latest news, photo gallery, video clips, biography, discography,
online forum and related links.
ShakiraMedia
- Headline news, tour schedule, biography, quotes, lyrics, video
and audio clips, photos gallery.
also see ->
Black
Eyed Peas | Beyonce
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Carey
Ciara
| Destiny's
Child | Eminem
| Janet
Jackson | Jay-Z
| JoJo
Lil Jon
| Ludacris
| Nelly
| Outkast
| Shakira
Snoop Dogg | Usher
| Kanye
West
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