Shakira Biography

2012-01-31T10:30:00.000-08:00

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born February 2, 1977), known professionally as Shakira is a Colombian singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer, and philanthropist who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s. Born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, Shakira revealed many of her talents in school as a live performer, demonstrating her vocal ability with rock and roll, Latin and Middle Eastern influences with her own original twist on belly dancing. Shakira is a native Spanish speaker and also speaks fluent English and Portuguese as well as some Italian, French and Arabic.

Shakira

After commercial flops with local producers on her first two albums, and being little-known outside Colombia, Shakira decided to produce her own brand of music. In 1995 she released Pies Descalzos, which brought her great fame in Latin America and Spain, and her 1998 album ¿Dónde Están los Ladrones? was a critical success selling over 7 million copies worldwide. In 2001, aided by the worldwide success of her first English single "Whenever, Wherever" that became the best selling single of 2002, she broke through into the English-speaking world with the release of Laundry Service, which sold over 13 million copies worldwide. Four years later, Shakira released two album projects called Fijación Oral Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation Vol. 2. Both reinforced her success, particularly with the best selling song of the 2000s, "Hips Don't Lie".

In 1995, Shakira founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation. It is a Colombian charity with special schools for poor children all around Colombia. During her career, Shakira has performed at a large number of benefit concerts. Among the most famous are the Live 8 benefit concert in July 2005, the Live Earth concert, Hamburg where she headlined the show, as well as the "Clinton Global Initiative" created by former US President Bill Clinton. She was also invited to the Oval Office by President Barack Obama in February 2010 to discuss early childhood development.

Shakira has won two Grammy Awards, seven Latin Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Latin Music Awards and has been Golden Globe-nominated. She is also the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, and the second most successful female Latin singer after Gloria Estefan, having sold over 50 million albums worldwide according to Sony Music Entertainment. Her U.S. album sales stand at 9.6 million.

Shakira

In the fall of 2009, Shakira released her sixth album She Wolf worldwide. Shakira's "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", was chosen as the official song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The song has received generally positive critical reception, and has become a worldwide smash hit and the biggest selling World Cup song of all time. On YouTube, the English version of the music video is the 3rd most watched video of all time with over 300 million views. Her seventh studio album, the bilingual Sale el Sol, was released October 2010 and has shipped over 4 million copies worldwide.

She was engaged to the son of the former President of Argentina, Antonio de la Rúa. Their relationship lasted almost 11 years and ended in August 2010. She is now dating Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué and confirmed their relationship in March 2011.

Shakira was born on February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia. Her father is originally from the United States, born in New York, at 5 years old his family moved to Sincelejo from New York then relocated to Barranquilla. She is the only child of Nidia Ripoll and William Mebarak Chadid and is of Lebanese (Arab), Spanish (Catalan), and Italian descent. She has eight older half-siblings from her father's previous marriage. Statue of Shakira in Barranquilla, Colombia

She spent much of her youth in Barranquilla, a city located in northern Colombia. Shakira wrote her first poem, entitled "La Rosa De Cristal" ("The Crystal Rose") when she was only four years old. As she was growing up, she was fascinated watching her father writing stories on a typewriter, and asked for one as a Christmas gift. She got her wish at age seven and continued writing poetry. These poems eventually evolved into songs. At the age of two, an older half-brother was killed in a motorcycle accident and at the age of eight, Shakira wrote her first song entitled "Tus gafas oscuras" ("Your dark glasses") which was inspired by her father, who for years wore dark glasses, to hide his grief. When Shakira was four, her father took her to a local Middle Eastern restaurant, where Shakira first heard the doumbek, a traditional drum used in Arabic music and which typically accompanied belly dancing. Before she knew it, Shakira was dancing on the table, she then knew she wanted to be a performer. She enjoyed singing for schoolmates and teachers (and even the nuns) at her Catholic school, but in the second grade was rejected for the school choir because her vibrato was too strong. The music teacher told her that she sounded "like a goat". At school, she says she had been known as "the belly dancer girl", as she would demonstrate every Friday at school a number she had learned "That's how I discovered my passion for live performance," she says.

Shakira

When she was eight, Shakira's father declared bankruptcy. While the details were sorted out, she stayed with relatives in Los Angeles. On returning to Barranquilla, she was shocked to find that much of what her parents owned had been sold; as she later said "In my childish head, this was the end of the world." To show her that things could be worse, her father took her to a local park to see orphans who lived there. The images stayed with her and she said to herself "one day I’m going to help these kids when I become a famous artist."Between the ages of ten and thirteen Shakira was invited to various events in Barranquilla and gained some recognition in the area. It was at about this time that she met local theater producer Monica Ariza, who was impressed with her and as a result tried to help her career. During a flight from Barranquilla to Bogotá, Ariza convinced Sony Colombia executive Ciro Vargas to hold an audition for Shakira in a hotel lobby. Vargas held Shakira in high regard and, returning to the Sony office, gave the cassette to a song and artist director. However, the director was not overly excited and thought Shakira was something of "a lost cause". Vargas, not daunted, was still convinced that Shakira had talent, and set up an audition in Bogotá. He arranged for Sony Colombia executives to arrive at the audition, with the idea of surprising them with Shakira's performance. She performed three songs for the executives and impressed them enough for her to be signed to record three albums.

Shakira Photos Gallery

2012-01-31T09:54:00.000-08:00

Shakira is a Colombian singer-songwriter.

Shakira Photos Gallery

Shakira Latest Wallpapers

2011-06-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

Below you can find Shakira Latest Wallpapers to decorate your desktop, hope you like them. I'll be updating the blog with latest Shakira Wallpapers as often as possible.

Shakira Latest Wallpapers

Hot Shakira Wallpapers

2011-06-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

Below you can find Hot Shakira Wallpapers to decorate your desktop, hope you like them. I'll be updating the blog with latest Hot Shakira Wallpapers as often as possible.

Hot Shakira Wallpapers

Shakira HD Wallpapers

2011-06-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

Below you can find Shakira HD Wallpapers to decorate your desktop, hope you like them. I'll be updating the blog with latest Shakira HD Wallpapers as often as possible.

Shakira HD Wallpapers

Shakira Wallpapers 2011

2011-06-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

Below you can find Shakira Wallpapers 2011 to decorate your desktop, hope you like them. I'll be updating the blog with latest Shakira Wallpapers 2011 as often as possible.

Shakira Wallpapers 2011

Shakira Wallpapers 2010

2011-06-26T10:19:00.000-07:00

Below you can find Shakira Wallpapers 2010 to decorate your desktop, hope you like them. I'll be updating the blog with latest Shakira Wallpapers 2010 as often as possible.

Shakira Wallpapers 2010

Shakira Latest Photos

2011-06-26T10:15:00.000-07:00

Below you can find Shakira Latest Photos, hope you like them.

Shakira Latest Photos

Hot Shakira Photos

2011-06-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

Below you can find Hot Shakira Photos, hope you like them.

Hot Shakira Photos

Sexy Shakira Photos

2011-06-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

Below you can find Sexy Shakira Photos, hope you like them.

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Shakira Photos

2011-06-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

Below you can find Shakira Photos, hope you like them.

Shakira Photos

Shakira Videos

2011-06-26T10:03:00.000-07:00