shakira biografie

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born February 2, 1977),[2] known professionally as Shakira (pronounced /ʃəˈkɪərə/, Spanish: [tʃaˈkiɾa] or [ʃaˈkiɾa]),[3] 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
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 10 million copies worldwide.[5] In 2001, aided by the worldwide success of her first English single "Whenever, Wherever", she broke through into the English-speaking world with the release of Laundry Service, which sold over 15 million copies worldwide.[6][7] 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
She has won two Grammy Awards,[6] seven Latin Grammy Awards,[6] twelve Billboard Latin Music Awards[6] and has been Golden Globe-nominated.[6] 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 60 million albums worldwide according to Sony Music.[9] Her U.S. album sales stand at 9.6 million.
Additionally, she is the only artist from South America to reach the number-one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the Australian ARIA chart, and the UK Singles Chart.[11] Shakira is to be given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as well.[12][13] In the fall of 2009, Shakira released her sixth album She Wolf worldwide.[14] Shakira was ranked the 76th artist of the 2000–10 artist of the decade by Billboard
Shakira's "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", was chosen as the official song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[16] 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.[17] On YouTube, the English version of the music video is the 3rd most watched video of all time with over 300 million views.[18] Her seventh studio album, the bilingual Sale el Sol, was released October 19, 2010.[19]

Shakira's videos recently surpassed a billion views on Youtube, making her the third most-viewed artist of all time.

Early life:
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.[21][22][2][23][24] She has eight older half-siblings from her father's previous marriage.[25]
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.[26] 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.[27] 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".[27][28] 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.[27] "That's how I discovered my passion for live performance," she says.[29]

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."[25] 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."[25] Between the ages of ten and thirteen Shakira was invited to various events in Barranquilla and gained some recognition in the area.[30] 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.[31]

Music career:
1990–94: Career beginnings

Shakira's debut album, Magia, was recorded with Sony Music in 1990 when she was only thirteen years old.[6] The songs are a collection made by her since she was 8, mixed pop-rock ballads and disco uptempo songs with electronic accompaniment, however it was hampered by a lack of recording and production cohesion. The album was released in June 1991 and featured "Magia" and three other singles. Though it fared well on Colombian radio and gave the young Shakira much exposure, the album did not fare well commercially as only 1,200 copies were sold worldwide.[27] After the poor performance of Magia, Shakira's label urged her to return to the studio to release a follow-up record. Although little known outside of her native Colombia, Shakira was invited to perform at Chile's Viña del Mar International Song Festival in February 1993. The festival gave aspiring Latin American singers a chance to perform their songs, and the winner was then chosen by a panel of judges. Shakira performed the ballad "Eres" ("You Are") and won the trophy for third place. One of the judges who voted for her to win was then 20-year-old Ricky Martin.[6]

Shakira's second studio album Peligro was released in March, but Shakira was not pleased with the final result, mainly taking issue with the production. The album was better received than Magia, though it was also considered a commercial failure due to Shakira's refusal to advertise it. Shakira then decided to take a hiatus from recording so that she could graduate from high school.[6] In the same year, Shakira starred in the Colombian TV Series "The Oasis", loosely based on the Armero tragedy in 1985.[32] Since then, the albums have been pulled from release and are not considered official Shakira albums but rather promotional albums.