Shakira Shakira at the Wal-Mart shareholders meeting in 2005. Musical artist Birth name Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll Born February 2, 1977 Origin Barranquilla, Colombia Genre/s Latin pop, Rock en Español Years active 1991–present Label/s Sony BMG Music Entertainment Epic Records Website Shakira.com Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born February 2, 1977), better known simply as Shakira, is a Colombian Latin pop singer-songwriter. Contents 1 Biography and music career 1.1 Childhood and beginning 1.2 English market crossover 1.3 Fijación Oral and Oral Fixation 2 Personal life 3 Dancing 4 Discography 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Biography and music career Childhood and beginning She was born in Barranquilla, Colombia to a Colombian mother of Spanish and Italian descent and an American-born father of Lebanese Catholic background. Shakira began writing and composing music at the age of eight. One of the first songs she wrote was called "Tus Gafas Oscuras" (Your Dark Glasses), whose lyrical message revolved around her father and his grief over a son who had died due to a car accident. At the age of ten, Shakira applied for her school choir, but she was rejected because her voice had been noted as "too strong." Friends teased her by saying she sounded like a goat. [1] Shakira started looking for other singing opportunities, and competed in a weekly television singing competition for children, Vivan Los Niños (Long Live The Kids). Between the ages of ten to thirteen, Shakira was invited to various events in Barranquilla, and became a local celebrity. At that time she met local theatre producer Monica Ariza, who was impressed with Shakira and helped to make her known outside Barranquilla. During a flight from Barranquilla to Bogotá, Ariza happened to be sitting next to Sony Colombia executive Ciro Vargas. Vargas agreed to hold an audition for Shakira, which took place a few weeks later in a hotel lobby. Vargas was impressed and returned to the Sony office and gave Shakira's cassette to the song and artist director, but he was not excited at all, and thought Shakira was "a lost cause." Vargas was convinced that Shakira had talent, and set up a surprise audition in Bogotá. He tricked the Sony Colombia executives to this bar, and around midnight he announced he had a surprise: Shakira. She sang three songs, and her performance was a hit. Shakira was subsequently signed to write and record three albums. Magia (Magic) was Shakira's debut album, recorded with Sony Colombia in 1991, at the age of 13. The songs were penned by her from the time she was eight, however it was hampered by a lack of recording and production cohesion and did not fare well commercially. Less than one thousand copies were sold and the album is now sought after as a collector's item.Peligro (Danger) was Shakira's second album. It was released in 1993 through Sony Colombia, when Shakira was just 15. This album fared better than Magia, but Shakira decided to take a break from recording and graduate from high school. The recording itself is a collection of self-penned songs but is once again marred by a lack of cohesive production. English market crossover Laundry Service, Shakira's first English album (2001). In 2001, upon the success of ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?, Shakira began working on a crossover album to the English language. Collaborating with Gloria Estefan, Shakira wrote and recorded English versions of the tracks from ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?, and new songs were also composed to create Laundry Service. Although it was aimed at the English language market, the rock and Spanish dance-influenced album also features four Spanish songs, including "Que Me Quedes Tú" (That You Love Me). Some critics claimed that Shakira's English skills were too weak for her to write in it (she was satirized in a MAD TV sketch), but Laundry Service was a success, selling more than 13 million CDs worldwide, yielding the worldwide hit "Whenever, Wherever" and singles "Underneath Your Clothes" (a Canadian number-one), "Te Dejo Madrid" (I Leave You Madrid), "Objection (Tango)", and "The One". The album and its singles established Shakira's musical presence in the mainstream North American market. In 2002, Shakira also released the Spanish greatest hits volume Grandes éxitos. A DVD and ten-track compilation album called Live & Off the Record, was released in 2004 reaching sales of 3 million CDs worldwide, commemorating Shakira's 2002-2003 world tour, the "Tour of the Mongoose". The name of the tour was derived from the fact that mongoose can defeat a cobra without being killed by its poison. The concerts were interspersed with visuals of a mongoose fighting a cobra. In September 2002, Shakira was one of the last artists to win the now-defunct International Viewer's Choice Award at the MTV Video Music Awards with Suerte. In October of that year, she won 5 MTV Video Music Awards Latin America for Best Female Artist, Best Pop Artist, Best Artist—North (Region), Video of the Year (for Suerte), and Artist of the Year. At Aerosmith's MTV Icon in 2002, Shakira performed "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)". Also in 2002, Shakira joined the likes of Celine Dion, Anastacia, Cher and The Dixie Chicks for VH1 Divas Live Las Vegas. Audio samples: "Whenever, Wherever" (2001) (file info) Shakira's first English single and her most successful single yet. "Hips Don't Lie" (2006) (file info) The song is a remake of the 2004 duet "Dance Like This" that Wyclef Jean recorded for the Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights Soundtrack with Claudette Ortiz. Problems playing the files? See media help. Fijación Oral and Oral Fixation Fijación Oral Vol. 1 was released on June 6, 2005 in Europe and on June 7, 2005 in North America and Australia. The lead single "La Tortura" (English: The Torture, featuring Alejandro Sanz) eventually reached number one in Spain and number twenty-three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. In Canada, "La Tortura" also became the highest-charting Spanish song when it debuted and peaked at number twenty-one. Its success across the rest of the world was widespread and it managed to peak within the top ten of the majority of the charts it entered. In the U.S., "La Tortura" spent a still-record twenty-five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart, and it became the most successful Latin single ever. Fijación Oral Vol. 1 was simultaneously released in Latin America. It debuted at number one in Spain and at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200,where is currently the best-selling Spanish first-week sales album. It was also well-received in non-Spanish speaking countries such as Italy and Germany, where it reached number one, Austria, where it reached number three, and Canada and Hungary, where it reached number seven. The second single from Fijación Oral Vol. 1, "No" (English: No), was released in September 2005. It failed to match the international chart success of "La Tortura", although it peaked at number one in Spain and Colombia, here for fourteen non-consecutive weeks. So far, Fijación Oral Vol. 1 has sold five million copies worldwide. Shakira with her MTV Europe Music Award for "Best Female". Before the release of Shakira's second English album Oral Fixation Vol. 2, she appeared at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony and she was nominated in the category of "Best Female", which she won to great shock since she had outmatched the international popularity of other artists such as Gwen Stefani. Shakira performed Oral Fixation Vol. 2's lead single "Don't Bother" amid dancers and a large car resting on the stage following her win. Shakira's second English album Oral Fixation Vol. 2 was released on November 29, 2005 in North America and Australia, and also at this time in Continental Europe. While "Don't Bother" was warmly received by music critics as the album's lead single, but failed to peak within the U.S. top forty. The second single "Hips Don't Lie" (featuring Wyclef Jean) became her first single to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. On March 28, 2006, she re-released Oral Fixation Vol. 2. On April 3, 2006, Shakira was honored at an United Nations ceremony because she created the Pies Descalzos Foundation, a charity that helps to protect children from violence in Colombia. At the event she said: "Let's not forget that at the end of this day when we all go home, 960 children will have died in Latin America". [2] On April 27, 2006 she received 6 Latin Billboard Awards, making her the biggest winner of the night. These awards included Female Latin Pop Album of the Year for Fijacion Oral Vol. 1 and Hot Latin Song of the Year for La Tortura. She was also honored with the Spirit of Hope Award for her foundation Pies Descalzos, which helps children in her native Colombia. Personal life In 2000, Shakira started dating Antonio de la Rúa, the son of the former president of Argentina Fernando de la Rúa, a romance that made headline news all over Latin America. In March of 2001, he proposed to her. During the senior De la Rúa's presidency the economy of Argentina collapsed leading to the subsequent December 2001 riots, in response to the turmoil Tower Records decided to no longer sell Shakira's albums [3] as Antonio was directly involved in the management of his father's administration. De la Rúa and Shakira remain engaged, with no announced marriage plans. Following the release of Fijación Oral Vol. 1 & Oral Fixation Vol. 2, Shakira says she plans to some day issue her most important "super production" in two parts: her children. Shakira told the Latin television program Don Francisco Presenta (Don Francisco presents) that she hopes to have two children — a boy and a girl — with her fiancé following his graduation from college in the spring of 2007. Dancing Shakira is well-known for her dancing in various music videos. The moves are based on the art of belly dancing, a part of her Lebanese heritage, which Shakira says she learned as a young teen to overcome her shyness.citation needed] The intense training has afforded her a fluidity in her body movement most seen in the video to her hit La Tortura. When she was first introduced to the English business, she was noticed for the way she shook her hips (which can be seen in various of her videos like Whenever, Wherever, Objection (Tango) and Ojos Asi. She then wrote a song along with Wyclef Jean about her hips, which became her biggest single — Hips Don't Lie. In an MTV interview, she said people told her she never moved her chest when dancing, so she danced with her chest (as well as her usual belly dancing moves) in the videos for La Tortura and Hips Don't Lie. Discography Main article: Shakira discography Albums: 1991: Magia 1993: Peligro 1996: Pies Descalzos 1997: The Remixes 1998: ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? 2000: MTV Unplugged 2001: Laundry Service 2001: Servicio de Lavanderia 2002: Laundry Service: Washed & Dried 2002: Grandes Éxitos 2004: Live & Off the Record 2005: Fijación Oral Vol. 1 2005: Oral Fixation Vol. 2 See also List of Colombians Shakira remixography Pop Latino List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 List of artists who reached number one in Ireland References Oral Fixation World Tour 2006 (info) [4] VH1 Driven: Shakira (article) [5] VH1 Driven: Shakira (video) [6] Fan Site: lyrics,tickets,exclusive slideshow. [7] Book: Woman Full Of Grace by Ximena Diego [8] Pareles, Jon (Nov. 14, 2005). "Shakira, from lip to hip". New Straits Times, p. L3. "Shakira pertahan orang Arab". (Nov. 8, 2005). Berita Harian, p. 13. Frank Cogan's review of Laundry Service for The Village Voice [9] Chart Performance for Don't Bother from Billboard Hot 100 [10] Chart Performance for Oral Fixation 2 [11] Grammy Nomination for Fijación Oral 1 [12] Chart Performance for Oral Fixation 2 in Argentina [13] Canadian chart position for Oral Fixation 2, week ending December 8, 2005. Retrieved from http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Charts/ALBUMS.html on December 8, 2005. Chart Performance for Oral Fixation 2 in Australia [14] Oral Fixation 2 Sales [15] "Whenever, Wherever!" The Discourse of Orientalist Transnationalism in the Construction of Shakira by Adel Iskandar (Spanish) Tower Records Argentina boicot contra Shakira [16], Tower Records Argentina boycotts Shakira[17] Reported IQ of 140 USA Today article [18] [19] External links Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Shakira Shakira Official Website Shakira - Profile, Pictures and Videos Shakira at the Internet Movie Database Shakira's Biography, Music, Wallpapers and Videos Shakira Studio albums: Magía | Peligro | Pies descalzos | ¿Dónde están los ladrones? MTV Unplugged | Laundry Service | Servicio de Lavanderia | Fijación Oral Vol. 1 | Oral Fixation Vol. 2 Hit singles: "Ciega, Sordomuda" | "Whenever, Wherever" "Underneath Your Clothes" | "La Tortura" | "Hips Don't Lie" Discography | Remixography Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakira" Categories: Articles with unsourced statements | 1977 births | Artists featured on MTV Unplugged | Barefooters | Colombian emigrants | Colombian musicians | Colombian people | Colombian singers | Colombian women | Dance/Club music artists | Grammy Award winners | Italian-Colombians | Lebanese-Colombians | Living people | People with absolute pitch | Rhythmic Top 40 acts | Roman Catholic musicians | Shakira | Spanish-Colombians