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Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born February 2, 1977), known simply as Shakira,
is a two-time Grammy Award-winning and eight-time Latin Grammy Award-winning
Colombian singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, record producer, dancer and
occasional actress who has been a major figure in the pop music scene of Latin
America since the mid-1990s. In 2001, she broke through into the English-speaking
market with the release of her first album in that language, Laundry Service, which
has sold over fifteen million copies worldwide. Shakira is the highest-selling
Colombian artist of all time, having sold around fifty million albums worldwide.
She is also the only artist from South America to reach the number-one spot on the
Billboard Hot 100, the Australian ARIA chart and the UK Singles Chart. Shakira is
also known for her intelligence, having an IQ of 140; and her ability to speak five
languages. Although she's written lyrics in German and French, she's admitted in
documentaries and interviews(e.g. a VH1 profile) that she can't speak either of
those languages.
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born on February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla,
Colombia. She is the only child of Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado, a Colombian of
Catalan-Italian descent, and William Mebarak Chadid, an American-born
Lebanese-Macedonian Catholic. Her father also had eight children with his former
wife. One of her siblings is also her road manager.
Shakira, which means "grateful" or "thankful" (شاكِرة) in Arabic, is named after
her paternal grandmother. She spent much of her youth in Barranquilla. She has
stated to have grown among Lebanese, Jewish and Italian communities.
Shakira wrote her first poem, entitled "La Rosa De Cristal", when she was only four
years old. After receiving a typewriter as a gift, she began to write poems
constantly. Her poems eventually evolved into songs. At the age of eight, after an
older brother was killed in a motorcycle accident, Shakira became inspired to write
her first song, which is entitled "Tus Gafas Escuras" and documents her father's
grief.
At a young age, her father took her to a local Middle Eastern restaurant, where
Shakira first heard the doumbek, a traditional Arabic drum used in Arabic music and
which typically accompanied belly dancing. Before she knew it, Shakira was dancing
on the table as restaurant patrons responded by clapping enthusiastically. It was
then that Shakira said she 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 a number she
learned every Friday at school. "That's how I discovered my passion for live
performance," she says.
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 motel 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's debut album, Magia, was recorded with Sony Music in 1991, when she was
only fifteen years old. The album did not fare well commercially, selling less than
one thousand copies.[9] After the poor acclaim of Magia, Shakira's label urged her
back into the studio to release a follow up with more hit songs, to give the album
potential. The album Peligro was released in 1993, but Shakira was not pleased with
the final result. The album was better received than Magia, though it was also
considered a commercial failure, due to Shakira's refusal to advertise it. Although
little know 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, who was left impressed with Shakira's
voice and presence.[citation needed] Shakira then decided to take a hiatus from
recording so that she could graduate from high school.
Shakira returned to recording in 1995, using musical influences from a number of
countries and an Alanis Morissette-oriented persona which affected some of her next
albums, and made her third studio one, Pies Descalzos, which brought her great fame
in Latin America. The singles "Estoy Aquí", "Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos", and
"¿Dónde Estás Corazón?" became pop culture icons.[citation needed] Pies Descalzos
sold over five million copies, prompting the release of a remix album, titled
simply The Remixes, which sold more than a million copies.[citation needed] The
Remixes also included Portuguese versions of some of her best-known songs, which
were recorded as a result of her success in the Brazilian market, where Pies
Descalzos sold nearly one million copies.
Her fourth album, ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?, was released in 1998. It was produced
by Emilio Estefan, reportedly cost US$3 million, and had more of a polished sound
than Pies Descalzos.[citation needed] It was even more successful and solidified
her as one of the major Latin artists of the 1990s.[citation needed] She began to
gain more fans in non-Spanish-speaking countries like France, Switzerland, Canada,
and especially the United States. Eight of the album's eleven tracks became
singles, including "Ciega, Sordomuda", "Moscas En La Casa", "No Creo",
"Inevitable", "Tú", "Si Te Vas", "Octavo Día", and the world-famous "Ojos Así".
Shakira's first live album, MTV Unplugged, was composed of "Estoy Aquí" and the
songs from ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?.
In March 2000 Shakira embarked on her Tour Anfibio, a two-month tour of Latin
America and the United States. In August 2000 she won an MTV Video Music Award in
the now-defunct category of People's Choice - Favorite International Artist.
In 2001, upon the success of ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?, Shakira began working on a
crossover album to English. Collaborating with Gloria Estefan, she wrote and
recorded English versions of the tracks from ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?. However,
she later decided against using translations of older songs for the album and
worked for over a year on new material for the album. The result was Laundry
Service. Although it was created with the intent of selling to an English language
market, the rock and Spanish dance-influenced album also featured four Spanish
songs, including "Que Me Quedes Tú" (That I Have Left You). Some critics claimed
that Shakira's English skills were too weak for her to write in it, but Laundry
Service was a success, with more than 15 million sales 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".[citation needed] The album and its singles helped to establish
Shakira's musical presence in the mainstream North American market.
In 2002, Shakira also released her Spanish greatest hits volume Grandes éxitos. A
DVD and ten-track compilation album, called Live & Off the Record, was also
released in 2004, reaching sales of 3 million CDs worldwide, and commemorating
Shakira's world tour, the Tour of the Mongoose.
In September 2002, Shakira won 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.
Shakira stayed out of the spotlight for over two years. She announced the Oral
Fixation project in early 2005. Fijación Oral Vol. 1, the first album of the
project, was released on June 3, 2005 in ireland on June 6, 2005 in Europe and on
June 7, 2005 in North and Latin Americas and Australia. The lead single from the
album, "La Tortura", which features Alejandro Sanz, was released as a single in
April and and achieved large-scale success on different radio and chart formats. It
spent a record of twenty-five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks
chart.
Fijación Oral Vol. 1 was very well-received by the public. It debuted at number
four on the Billboard 200 chart on the week of June 15. According to that
publication, the album sold 157,000 copies in its first week of release in thes
U.S., becoming the highest debut ever for a Spanish language album. In Latin
America, on the day of its official release in Venezuela, it went Platinum; in
Colombia, triple Platinum and in Mexico, it was sold-out. The album sold over one
million copies in three days.
The second single from the album, "No", was released in September 2005, and peaked
at number one in Colombia, for fourteen non-consecutive weeks. The third single
from the album, "Día De Enero", is dedicated to Shakira's fiancé, Antonio de la
Rúa.[citation needed] This single was number one in several countries in Latin
America, but it did not had the same success of the previous two singles in the
United States.
On February 8, 2006, Shakira won her second Grammy Award. She was awarded in the
category of Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album.
On April 27, 2006, Shakira received six Billboard Latin Music Awards for Fijacion
Oral Vol. 1. She was also honored with the Spirit of Hope Award for the Fundación
Pies Descalzos.
In late 2006, Shakira released "La Pared" as the fourth single from Fijación Oral
Vol. 1. The song reached number one on Spain.
Later in 2006, "Las de la Intuición" was released as single in Spain. It became an
instantaneous success, topping the radio chart Los 40 Principales for four
consecutive weeks. In mid April, Shakira filmed a video for the song in Miami,
which was then premiered via the internet on May 7th. The video features Shakira
with a bright purple wig, alternating between wearing a tight black corset and a
striped shirt with a tie. According to Mexican media, "Las de la Intuición" is to
be the fifth and final single from Fijación Oral Vol. 1.
Before the release of Oral Fixation Vol. 2, the second and last album of the Oral
Fixation project, Shakira appeared at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards in Lisbon,
Portugal were she performed "Don't Bother", the lead single from the album, just
minutes before winning an award in the category of Best Female Artist.
Shakira in the controversial cover of Oral Fixation Vol. 2 (2005), her second
English language album.Oral Fixation Vol. 2 was released on November 29, 2005 in
North America and Australia, and in continental Europe. Two tracks of the album,
"How Do You Do" and "Timor", sparked some controversy at the time of its release.
The cover of the album was also considered controversial, and it had to be altered
in several countries.
While "Don't Bother" was warmly received by music critics as the lead single from
the album,[citation needed] it failed to peak within the top 40 in the United
States. "Hips Don't Lie", the second single released from the album, became
Shakira's first (and, to date, only) number one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot
100 and UK Singles Chart. On March 28, 2006, the album was re-released and featured
"Hips Don't Lie". Shakira got the most number nominations for the 2006 MTV Video
Music Awards with "Hips Don't Lie", but she won only the award for Best
Choreography.
In June, Shakira started her biggest world tour, called the Oral Fixation Tour,
which will last until the spring of 2007. The Oral Fixation tour has 111 dates and
counting, visiting many European, American, African and Asian countries.
Shakira also released "Illegal", which features Carlos Santana as a single.
"Illegal" was released to pop radio in the United States, but it was not picked for
regular rotation outside the Rhythmic/Dance format stations. "Illegal" has become
another major hit for the singer on both the Hot Dance Music/Club Play and Hot
Dance Airplay charts. The song became a top ten hit in much of Europe, and Shakira
added the song to the tracklist of her tour.
As of 2007, Oral Fixation Vol. 2 has sold about eight million copies worldwide.
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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