Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll or “Shakira” is perhaps the most recognizable and certainly, the most intriguing voice in Latin pop/rock today. Shakira was born February 2, 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia, into a poor family. Her mother was a native Colombian and her father was of Lebanese descent, and so as a child she soaked up music from both cultures.
Shakira wrote her first song at age eight, began entering (and winning) talent competitions at age ten, and started learning the guitar at age 11— one story runs that around this age, she was kicked out of her school choir for singing too forcefully. In 1990, at age 13, Shakira moved to Bogota in hopes of pursuing a modeling career, but wound up signing a record deal with Sony's Colombian division instead. Her 1991 debut album, Magia (Magic), was comprised of songs she'd written over the past five or six years, including some of her earliest efforts. Although it didn't break internationally, the record started to make a name for her in her home country. Dissatisfied with the pop inclinations of the follow-up, 1993's Peligro (Danger), Shakira changed direction for a time, joining the cast of the Colombian soap opera El Oasis in 1994.
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 3.5 million copies in the United States and 15 million copies worldwide. After her exposure in America, Shakira has arguably become one of the most popular Latin American female musicians of our time. Shakira has the honor of being the highest selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold almost forty million copies of her albums, and the only artist from that country to reach the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart.
Shakira is best known for mixing different sound styles in her songs and albums, her praised voice, her critically acclaimed lyrics and for her dancing style which primarily features belly dancing.
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