Take some time to read Shakira biography and you will learn many things about her:
where Shakira was born, her birth date, her family, her
education, the start of her career, her claim to fame,
movies, and much more. You will certainly enjoy it.
Shakira
Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born February 2, 1977, known
professionally as Shakira is a Colombian singer-songwriter,
musician, record producer, dancer, and philanthropist who
emerged as a musical prodigy in the music scene of 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.
After commercial flops with local producers on her first two
albums, and 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. Since then she has gained many fans in
semi-Hispanophone countries, and many non-Spanish-speaking
countries, especially the United States. In 2001, and aided
by heavy rotation of the music video, "Whenever, Wherever",
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 one
of the most successful song in the 21st century to date, "Hips
Don't Lie". From October-November 2009 Shakira released
her latest album She Wolf worldwide.
She 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 having sold over 50 million albums
worldwide. 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. Shakira is to be given a star on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame.
Shakira was born on February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla,
Colombia. She is the only child of Nidya del Carmen Ripoll
Torrado and William Mebarak Chadid, who are of Lebanese,
Spanish (Catalan) and Italian descent. She has eight older
half-siblings from her father's previous marriage.
Shakira means "thankful" in Arabic.[17 It is the feminine
form of the name Shakir. Her second name, Isabel, is also
that of her paternal grandmother, meaning "my God is my oath",
"my God's house" or "my God is abundance", and her name is a
Spanish given name for Elizabeth. Her second surname name
Ripoll is Catalan. She spent much of her youth in
Barranquilla, a city located in northern Colombia. Shakira's
business acumen is often attributed to a high IQ, which is
reported in the entertainment press to be 140.
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, 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 every Friday at school a number she had learned.
"That's how I discovered my passion for live performance,"
she says.
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, sniffing glue. 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.
Career
1990-1994: Magia and Peligro
Shakira's debut album, Magia, was recorded with Sony Music
in 1990 when she was only thirteen years old. The songs
are a collection penned by her since she was 8, mixed
pop-rock ballads and disco with electronic accompaniment,
however it was hampered by a lack of recording and
production cohesion. The album was released in 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: only 1,200 copies
were sold. and the music video for Magia became first
national pop video in Colombia. 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.
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.
The second studio album Peligro of the same genre was
released in 1993, 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. In the same year, Shakira starred in the Colombian TV Series "The
Oasis", loosely based on the Armero tragedy in 1985.
1995–1997: Pies Descalzos
Shakira originally recorded the song ¿Dónde Estás Corazón? (later
released on her album Pies Descalzos) for the compilation
album "Nuestro Rock" in 1995, released exclusively in
Colombia. “Pies Descalzos” album brought her great
popularity in Latin America by the hit singles "Estoy Aquí,"
"Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos" and "Dónde Estás
Corazón." Shakira also recorded three tracks in
Portuguese titled “Estou Aqui”, “Um Pouco de Amor”, and “Pés
Descalços”.
Shakira returned to recording in 1995 with Luis F. Ochoa,
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 album, Pies
Descalzos (English: Bare Feet). Recording for the album
began in February 1995, after the success of her single
¿Dónde Estás Corazón?. Sony gave Shakira $100,000 to produce
the album since they predicted that the album would not sell
past 100,000 copies. Starting with this album, Shakira began
producing her own music, perfecting her vocals and most of
all, creative control over her music. Highly influenced by
American alternative market and British groups such as The
Pretenders, the album was decently presented at small
auditorium at La Castilian Theater in Bogotá on October 6,
1995. The tunes of the album are melodic, musically
surprising and gritty, with intellectual lyrics and an
electronic/acoustic blend that effectively broke the
formulaic mold of Latin pop with an authentic sound that
hadn’t been heard before.
The album released on February 13, 1996 internationally. It
debuted at #1 in 8 different countries. However, in the U.S.
Billboard 200 the album reached #180 peak position and #5 in
the U.S. Billboard Top Latin Albums. The album spawned six
ultimate hit-singles Estoy Aqui (U.S. Latin #2), ¿Dónde
Estás Corazón? (U.S. Latin #5), Pies Descalzos, Sueños
Blancos, Un Poco De Amor (U.S. Latin #6), Antologia (U.S.
Latin #15) and Se Quiere, Se Mata (U.S. Latin #8). In
August 1996, RIAA certified the album platinum status.
In March 1996, Shakira went on to her first international
tour named simply “Tour Pies Descalzos”, that was saddened
by death of several fans because of uncontrolled crowd of
50,000 people at the concert in the singer’s native city of
Barranquilla.[citation needed] A year later, Shakira
received three Billboard Latin Music Awards for Album of the
Year (Pies Descalzos), Video of the Year (Estoy Aqui) and
Best New Artist.
Pies Descalzos sold over 5 million copies, prompting
the release of a remix album, titled simply The Remixes. 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.
1998–2000: ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?
Having received a World Music Award as the best selling
Latin artist, Shakira already prepared some of new material
of her second international record. She was chosen from
dozens of Latin singers to grace the cover of Time magazine
in the article titled Era of the Rockera.
Her fourth album, ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? (English: Where
Are The Thieves?) produced entirely by Shakira herself and
Emilio Estefan, Jr. as the executive, was released on
September 28, 1998. The album, inspired by an incident in an
airport in which a suitcase full of her written lyrics was
stolen, became a bigger hit than Pies Descalsos.On the day
of its official release in Miami the album sold to 300,000
copies in one day. Allmusic and Rolling Stone gave to the
album 4.5/5 stars and Donde Estan Los Ladrones has reached
#131 peak position in the U.S. Billboard 200 and charting 11
weeks top spot on the Billboard Top Latin Albums. It sold
over 1,500,000 copies in the U.S. alone, making it one of
the best selling Spanish albums in the U.S. Eight of the
album's eleven tracks became singles, including Ciega,
Sordomuda (U.S. Latin #1), Moscas En La Casa (U.S. Latin
#25), No Creo (U.S. Latin #9, U.S. #74), Inevitable (U.S.
Latin #3), Tú (U.S. Latin #1, U.S. #95), Si Te Vas, Octavo
Día, and the world-famous, Arabic tinged Ojos Así (U.S.
Latin #22). The latter two songs won Shakira one Latin
Grammy each.
Eventually, ¿Donde Estan Los Ladrones? has sold ten million
copies worldwide.[33] Shakira also received her first Grammy
Award nomination in 1999 for Best Latin Rock/Alternative
Album.[34] Shakira's first live album, MTV Unplugged was
recorded in New York City on August 12, 1999. Highly
acclaimed by American critics, it is rated as one of her
best-ever live performances.[35] The acoustic album earned
the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album in 2001 and gained
sales of 5 million CD’s worldwide.[36] 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 for Ojos Asi.
On September 9, 2000, Shakira performed Ojos Así at the
inaugural ceremony of Latin Grammy Awards, where she was
nominated in five categories: Album of the Year and Best Pop
Vocal Album for MTV Unplugged, Best Female Rock Vocal
Performance for Octavo Dia, Best Female Pop Vocal
Performance and Best Short Form Music Video for Ojos Asi,[37]
but she won only in two of them. Shakira's performance of
Ojos Asi was voted as the Greatest Latin Grammy performance
of all time.
2001–2004: Laundry Service
Upon the success of ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? and MTV
Unplugged, Shakira began working on a crossover album to
English. Thanks to other successful crossover acts, most
notably that of Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias, the
crossover of Spanish artists to the English market had a
great surge of popularity in mainstream music and it was the
next logical step in the singer’s career. Shakira worked
for over a year on new material for the album.
"Whenever, Wherever" ("Suerte" in Spanish countries) was
released as the first and lead single from Shakira's first
English album in October 2001. The song takes heavy
influence from Andean music, including the charango and
panpipes in its instrumentation. The track was produced by
Shakira, and it was an international success.
The third international studio and the first English-Spanish
language album Laundry Service (Servicio De Lavanderia in
Latin America and Spain) was released on November 13, 2001.
The album debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200
Albums chart. Seven tracks became international singles: "Whenever,
Wherever" (U.S. #6) / "Suerte" (U.S. Latin #1), Underneath
Your Clothes (U.S. #9), Objection (Tango) (U.S. #55) / Te
Aviso, Te Anuncio (Tango) (U.S. Latin #16), The One, Te Dejo
Madrid, Que Me Quedes Tú (U.S. Latin #1) and Poem To A Horse,
as the main theme of Shakira’s worldwide tour, the Tour of
the Mongoose. Because the album was created with the intent
of selling to an English language market, the rock and
Spanish dance-influenced album gained mild critical success:
some critics claimed that her English skills were too weak
for her to write in it with Rolling Stone stating "she
sounds downright silly" or "Shakira's magic is lost in
translation." Shakira also was criticized by her Latin fans
for seemingly abandoning her folk and rock roots in favor of
contemporary American pop music. Despite this fact, the
album became the best selling album of 2002, selling more
than 13 million copies worldwide. and became the most
successful album in singer’s career. Around this time,
Shakira also released four songs for Pepsi for her promotion
in the English markets: "Ask for More", "Pide Mas", "Knock
on My Door" and "Pideme El Sol", included in the extended
play Pepsi CD.
At Aerosmith's MTV Icon in April 2002, Shakira performed
"Dude (Looks Like a Lady)". Also in 2002, Shakira joined the
likes of Cher, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Mary J. Blige,
Anastacia, and the Dixie Chicks for VH1 Divas Live Las
Vegas. In September 2002, Shakira won the now-defunct
International Viewer's Choice Award at the MTV Video Music
Awards with "Whenever, Wherever". Shakira also won the Latin
Grammy Award for the category of Best Short Form Music Video
for the Spanish version of this video. In October of that
year, she won five 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". Laundry Service was certified triple platinum
by RIAA in June and thus helped to establish Shakira's
musical presence in the mainstream North American market.
In November 2002, Shakira’s label Sony BMG released her
Spanish greatest hits compilation Grandes Éxitos. A DVD and
ten-track live album, called Live & Off the Record, was also
released in 2004, reaching sales of 3 million CDs worldwide,
and commemorating the Tour of the Mongoose, which had a
worldwide audience of 1.2 million people.
2005-2007: Fixations Era
Shakira stayed out of the spotlight for over two years. Many
possible dates of release were delayed and she announced the
Oral Fixation project in early 2005 with Rick Rubin as the
executive producer. 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
America, Latin America and Australia. The lead single from
the album, "La Tortura" (U.S. #23), which features the
Spanish balladeer Alejandro Sanz, was released as a single
in April and achieved large-scale success in different radio
and chart formats. It spent a record of twenty-five weeks at
number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart. Shakira
became the first artist to perform a Spanish language song
at the MTV Video Music Awards. Contrary to low expectations,
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
the U.S., becoming the highest debut ever for Spanish
language albums. In Latin America, on the very 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. Four
other singles were released following "La Tortura": "No"
(U.S. Latin #11), "Dia De Enero" (Colombia #1), "La Pared" (Spain
#1) and 2007’s "Las De La Intuición", which became the final
single reaching #1 position in Spain and Argentina for
several weeks and featuring Shakira with a bright purple wig
and black tie in some hyper-sexualized scenes in her music
video with Jaume de Laiguana as the director.
On February 8, 2006, Shakira won her second Grammy Award.
She was awarded in the category of Best Latin Rock/Alternative
Album (Fijación Oral Vol. 1). Shakira received four Latin
Grammy Awards on November 2, 2006: Record of the Year and
Song of the Year for ‘’La Tortura’’, Album of the Year and
Best Pop Vocal Album for Fijación Oral Vol. 1. Fijación Oral
Vol. 1 sold over 5 million copies worldwide.
Before the release of Oral Fixation Vol. 2 Shakira appeared
at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2005 in Lisbon, Portugal,
where she performed "Don't Bother", the lead single from the
album, just minutes before winning an award in the category
of Best Female Artist and also in other award in the world.
Oral Fixation Vol. 2 was released on November 29, 2005 in
North America, Australia, and continental Europe. The album
debuted at number five on the U.S. ‘’Billboard 200’’ Albums
chart. Two tracks from the album, How Do You Do and Timor,
sparked some controversy at the time of its release in the
Muslim countries. The cover of the album that features
Shakira in the image of Eve with forbidden fruit was also
considered controversial, and had to be altered in several
countries. ‘’Don't Bother’’ failed to peak within the top 40
in the United States (U.S. #42). In the beginning of 2006,
Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean joined Shakira to record the
second single for the album. "Hips Don't Lie", the biggest
hit of the 21st century, became Shakira's first number one
single on the U.S. ‘’Billboard Hot 100’’, in addition
cracking number one in at least 55 countries. Shakira and
Wyclef Jean also recorded Bamboo version of this song for
official theme of FIFA World Cup 2006. Shakira along with
Red Hot Chili Peppers received the most number of
nominations for the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards with "Hips
Don't Lie", but she won only the award for Best Choreography.
Shakira also released the third and the last single "Illegal"
featuring Carlos Santana, that reached top positions in some
European countries and in the dance charts in the U.S. On
February 10, 2007, Shakira performed on the 49th Grammy
Awards for the first time ever and earned the nomination
Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Hips Don’t Lie" with
Wyclef Jean. Finally, Oral Fixation Vol. 2 sold over 8
million copies worldwide. Shakira embarked on her fourth
longest tour, the Oral Fixation Tour, in June, 2006. The
tour had 125 shows between June 14, 2006 and July 9, 2007.
She performed on 5 continents: Asia, Europe, North America,
Latin America, and Africa with the worldwide audience of
over 2.5 million people. During this tour, Shakira performed
a free concert in Mexico City on May 27, 2007 with over
210,000 in attendance. This concert sets the record for the
highest attendance of any concert in Mexican history.
Shakira also performed on July 9, 2006 at the FIFA World Cup
final in Germany. On November 12, 2007, the "Oral Fixation
Tour (DVD) was released (November 13 in North America). It
is also available in High Definition Blu-Ray format.
2009-present: She Wolf and forthcoming Bilingual album
During an online chat with her fans in El Heraldo, she
revealed that she was going to start writing her New Album
in February 2008. Furthermore, at the CD release party for
Shakira's singer-songwriter cousin Isa Mebarak in Colombia,
Shakira's father William Mebarak stated that Shakira is
currently at work beginning to write and produce new songs
for her upcoming album. This is being done in "her own
studio", which many fans thought to mean the studio at her
home in the Bahamas. Shakira recorded 2005's Fijación
Oral Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation Vol. 2 there, as well.
After two weeks in London, Shakira flew to Colombia for a
peace concert in Leticia (at the three way border of
Colombia, Peru and Brazil) with Carlos Vives. Followed by
hundreds of thousands of fellow Colombians, Shakira was
calling for the release of hostages being held by rebels in
Colombia and an end to similar kidnappings in the region.[citation
needed] Afterward, it was reported by Noticias Caracol in
Colombia that Shakira returned to her home studio in the
Bahamas and continued recording "a little something" with
members of Vives' band.
In an exclusive interview with Elenco Magazine in Colombia,
Shakira confirmed that she has already written nearly 30
songs for the new album but still continues writing,
although it is still too early to reveal too much. It is
known that Swedish-Moroccan producer RedOne is working on
Shakira's upcoming album. He previously worked with Shakira
on the "Bamboo Mix" of her hit "Hips Don't Lie" which she
performed at the World Cup in 2006. On her official forum, the Admin/moderator posted some new info on
Shakira's new album. He said that Shakira is still doing
some experimental phases of the album in various parts of
the world (Miami, Florida with Wyclef Jean (producer),
Vancouver, Canada (with Luis F. Ochoa), Los Angeles,
California (with Red One), London, Uruguay and Bahamas).
On July 2, 2008, Shakira signed a 10-year deal with Live
Nation, the international touring giant that has begun
signing up marquee names for lucrative all-purpose contracts. The record label will encompass tours, recordings,
sponsorship and merchandise throughout the world, she
announced. "Shakira is one of the few truly global artists,"
said Jason Garner, global music chief of Live Nation. "She
can sell music and tickets in nearly every corner of the
globe." Neither Shakira's representatives nor Live
Nation would confirm the value of the deal, but people close
to the negotiations said that depending on Shakira's
performance over the 10 years, it is likely to be worth
between $70 million and $100 million. Shakira's contract
with Epic Records calls for three more albums—one in English,
one in Spanish, and a compilation, but the touring and other
rights of the Live Nation deal would begin immediately. In
early 2008, Forbes has named Shakira the fourth top-earning
female artist in music industry.
The first single from Shakira's third English-language album
is titled "She Wolf". Shakira wrote and produced the
track with John Hill, and Sam Endicott (Lead Singer and
Songwriter of The Bravery). In June 2009, several music
journalists and reviewers got an advance listen of the track.
The reviews were positive. The Spanish version
titled, "Loba", premiered on June 29, 2009. On July 2,
2009, Shakira's official website announced that "The full
album is She Wolf due out in October 2009 from Epic" and it
"features a predominantly English track list". The site
also announced that a Spanish album will be released in
2010. Shakira premiered "She Wolf" on Z100 and KIIS-FM
on July 13, 2009. On July 14, 2009 "She Wolf" and
"Loba" became available to download from iTunes. The
video for "She Wolf" Premiered on MTV on July 30,
2009. The single was successful worldwide, reaching number one in
Latin America, number two in Germany, Ireland, Italy,
Estonia and Spain, number three in Switzerland and Austria,
number four in the UK, France and Greece, number five in
Canada and Belgium, number six in Finland, number nine in
Japan, and number eleven in the US.
The album was released in October 2009 in most countries and
in November 2009 in the U.S., it received positive reviews
from critics. The album has been a success on the charts and
has since been certified Gold in Switzerland, Poland,
France, Argentina, Greece, and Hungary, Platinum in Spain
and the Middle East, and 2X Platinum in Colombia and Mexico.
Subsequent singles, "Did It Again", "Give It Up To Me", and
"Gypsy", received moderate success on the charts.
On May 3, 2010, Shakira's official website confirmed that
she will embark on a global tour. The site announced that
the tour will kick-off in North America in September 2010.
The site also announced the first three confirmed dates and
stated that additional dates will be announced soon, adding
that "The tour will bring Shakira's spectacular show to top
arenas and a host of additional cities throughout the summer
and fall".
It was initially announced that Shakira would release a
Spanish album in 2010 after the release of "She Wolf",
similar to what she did with Oral Fixation Volumes 1 & 2,
but Shakira later stated that the album will now be a
bilingual project, which will contain Spanish, English, and
Latin songs.
Collaborations and other work
In 2003, Shakira wrote with musician Tim Mitchell a song
called "Come Down Love" for the Hollywood movie The Italian
Job starring South African actress Charlize Theron & Mark
Wahlberg, but finally the song was not included on the
soundtrack of the same.
In late 2006, Shakira and Alejandro Sanz worked together
again in the duet "Te lo Agradezco, Pero No", which is
featured on Sanz' album El Tren de los Momentos. The song
was a top ten hit in Latin America, and topped Billboard Hot
Latin Tracks chart.
Shakira worked with Miguel Bosé in the duet "Si Tú No
Vuelves", which was released in Bosé's album Papito, which
celebrates his 30-year career.
In early 2007, Shakira worked with American R&B singer
Beyoncé in the track "Beautiful Liar", which was released as
the second single from the deluxe edition of Knowles' B'Day.
In the week of April 7, 2007, the song jumped 91 positions,
from 94 to 3, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, setting the
record for the largest upward movement in the history of the
chart. It was also No. 1 on the official UK Singles Chart.
The song earned them a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop
Collaboration with Vocals. The song was one of Knowles' most
successful worldwide.The song was particularly popular in
Spanish-speaking countries such as Argentina and Spain,
where it landed at #1.
According to Billboard, Shakira, along with Lil Wayne would
collaborate on a new track for Carlos Santana's greatest
hits CD titled Ultimate Santana. However, this
collaboration has been cancelled, and Shakira and Lil' Wayne
have been replaced by Jennifer Lopez and Baby Bash.
Shakira is featured on Annie Lennox's record "Sing", from
the album Songs of Mass Destruction, which also features
other twenty-three female singers such as Madonna, KT
Tunstall, Faith Hill, Dido, Celine Dion, Melissa Etheridge,
Joss Stone, Fergie, Anastacia and Pink.
In late 2007, Shakira and Wyclef Jean recorded their second
duet “King and Queen”. This song is available on Wyclef
Jean’s 2007 album Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant.
Shakira performed on January 18, 2009 at the Lincoln
Memorial "We Are One" festivities in honor of the
inauguration of President Barack Obama. She performed "Higher
Ground" with Stevie Wonder and Usher. She also performed
during the evening of January 20, 2009 at the Neighborhood
Ball for the President's inauguration. The song she
performed was Van Morrison's "Bright Side of the Road". This
song featured Shakira on harmonica.
In March 2009, Shakira appeared on the album Cantora 1 of
the Argentinian folk singer Mercedes Sosa with the song "La
Maza", which both singers sang on the ALAS concert in
Buenos Aires in May 2008.
Shakira wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the music for two new
songs that are featured in the movie Love in the Time of
Cholera, based on the acclaimed novel by Colombian author
Gabriel García Marquez. García Marquez himself asked Shakira
to write the songs. The songs are called "Pienso en ti",
a song from Shakira's breakthrough album Pies Descalzos,
"Hay Amores" and "Despedida". All the songs can be
downloaded via iTunes, as well as the score by Antonio
Pinto.
"Despedida" was nominated for Best Original Song at the 65th
Golden Globe Awards but did not win. It was rumored that the
song would also be nominated for an Academy Award, but it
was not, with a source calling the fact that it was left off
the nominees the Academy's "worst snub."
Personal life
Shakira was raised Roman Catholic. Shakira currently
lives in The Bahamas. In 2000, she started dating Antonio de
la Rúa, the son of the then President of Argentina Fernando
de la Rúa, a romance that made headline news throughout
Latin America. In March 2001, he proposed to her. There have
been many rumors regarding the couple over the years. In
June 2007, Latin American media speculated that the couple
had finally split up. On the previous days, Shakira and
Antonio were seen in a restaurant in New York City, facing
and denying the rumors one more time. Shakira's future
mother-in-law Inés Pertiné claimed the wedding would take
place in September 2007 in the mansion which Shakira owns in
the Dominican Republic, but the wedding did not happen. She
also said that Shakira has already ordered Argentine
designer María Pryor to design her wedding dress. All
this was denied by Shakira herself in Mexico.
De la Rúa and Shakira remain engaged. A Twitter update
from her on September 4, 2009 stated (translated from the
Spanish) "We are neither married nor fighting [contrary to
rumors]. We are very together and very good. 9 years!"
Shakira has stated their relationship already works as a
married couple, and that "they don't need papers for that.".
Shakira is interested in world history and frequently
studies the history and languages of the countries she
visits. After her Oral Fixation tour ended in summer
2007, Shakira attended a class in Los Angeles at UCLA, on
the History of Western Civilization. She used her middle and
last names, Isabel Mebarak, and told the professor she was
visiting from Colombia so as to avoid being recognized as a
celebrity. Shakira is a cousin of model and
2005–2006 Miss Colombia, Valerie Domínguez.
In 1995, Shakira founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation. It
is a Colombian charity with special schools for poor
children all around Colombia. It was funded by Shakira and
other international groups and individuals. The name of the
foundation is taken from Shakira's third studio album called
Pies Descalzos, released in 1995.
During her career, Shakira has performed at a large number
of benefit concerts. In 2002 she sang at a Party in the Park
concert fundraising for the Prince's Trust. That same year
she performed at Divas Live which support VH1's Save the
Music Foundation. On July 2, 2005 she performed her hits "Whenever,
Wherever" and "La Tortura" on the Live 8 benefit concert at
the Palace of Versailles, near Paris. On July 7, 2007, the
singer opened the German leg of Live Earth in Hamburg. Her
set included "Don't Bother", "Inevitable", "Día Especial" (with
Gustavo Cerati) and "Hips Don't Lie". Shakira also
performed at the "Clinton Global Initiative", where she
performed her hits "Underneath Your Clothes", "Inevitable"
and "Hips Don't Lie". On May 17, 2008 Shakira and twenty
other Latin American and Spanish artists performed in Buenos
Aires and Mexico City to raise money for Shakira's Latin
America in Solidarity Action "America Latina en Accion
Solidaria" (ALAS Foundation) charity. This concert
attracted 150,000 people in Buenos Aires. Although tickets
were free, the demand exceeded the supply; some fans who
were fortunate enough to secure free tickets resold them.
Shakira is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is one of their
global representatives. "Shakira, like all our Goodwill
Ambassadors, was chosen based on her compassion, her
involvement in global issues, her deep commitment to helping
children, and her appeal to young people around the world.
We're very pleased to have Shakira join the UNICEF family. I
know she'll help bring UNICEF's mission to the audience who
will have the most impact on our future – young people
themselves", said UNICEF's Executive Director Carol Bellamy.
On April 3, 2006, Shakira was honored at a United Nations
ceremony for creating the Pies Descalzos Foundation. At the
event, the singer 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."
On September 28, 2007 at the Clinton Global Initiative, it
was revealed that Shakira received a commitment of $40
million from the Spanish government to help the victims of
natural disasters. An additional $5 million was to be
donated to four Latin American countries, to be spent on
education and health. As part of the May 2007 concerts, her
ALAS Foundation was able to solicit commitments of US$ 200
million from philanthropists Carlos Slim, Mexico’s richest
man, and Howard Buffett, son of U.S. investment guru Warren
Buffett, the singer announced on April 15, 2008.
In December 2007, Shakira visited Bangladesh to appeal for
the victims of Cyclone Sidr. She spent 3 days with the
victims and visited children affected by the disaster in
schools built by UNICEF and participated in the distribution
of family kits and warm clothes. She said that little was
left of the school she visited in the village of Mirzapur,
but it still provided an "oasis" for the children. "I am
more convinced than ever that education is the key to so
many of the difficulties that our children face in countries
like mine or in developing countries like this one. It's the
key to a better and safer world," she said.
Shakira served as the Honorary Chairperson for "Action Week"
2008 (April 21–27). The event is sponsored by the Global
Campaign for Education (GCE), to generate awareness about
the Education for All Act. She spoke with the U.S. Congress,
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and World Bank
President Robert Zoellick to promote a move towards Global
Education. Angelina Jolie served as last year's chair.
People En Español announced in their December 2008/January
2009 issue that Shakira is the "Humanitarian of the Year" as
part of their "Las Estrellas del Año" (Stars of the Year)
awards. Shakira was also ranked at number 48 on the list
of Top 50 Most Charitable Celebrities by OK! magazine. It
reported that she donates approximately $55,000 to charity
yearly.
On her 32nd birthday, Shakira opened a new $6-Million school
in her hometown Barranquilla, which was sponsored by herself
and her Pies Descalzos Foundation.
On December 7, 2009 Shakira was honored as a guest at the
University of Oxford to give a speech about her work with
children and education. She was chosen by the Oxford Union
and joined the ranks of Albert Einstein, several US
Presidents, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama XIV, as a
chosen speaker. During the speech, Shakira said, "That is
how I want the youth of 2060 to see us: That our mission for
global peace consisted of sending 30,000 educators to
Afghanistan, not 30,000 soldiers. That in 2010, world
education became more important than world domination."
In March 2010, she was awarded a medal by the United Nations'
International Labor Organization in recognition of being, as
UN Labor Chief Juan Somavia put it, a "true ambassador for
children and young people, for quality education and social
justice."
Acting
Shakira appeared in the Colombian telenovela El Oasis in
1995, playing the character of Luisa Maria. In December
2009, Shakira appeared as herself in the Ugly Betty episode
"The Bahamas Triangle". In 2010, Shakira appeared as herself
in an episode of Wizards of Waverly Place.
Records, achievements and trivia
According to BMI, Shakira is the highest-selling Colombian
artist of all time, having sold more than 50 million albums
worldwide. According to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, "Hips
Don't Lie" was the most-played pop song in a single week in
American radio history. It was played 9,637 times in one
week. Shakira became the first artist in the history of the
Billboard charts to earn the coveted number one spots on
both the Top 40 Mainstream and Latin Chart in the same week
doing so with "Hips Don't Lie".
"La Tortura" broke the record on the Billboard's Hot Latin
Tracks chart, appearing at #1 more than any other single (a
total of 25 non-consecutive weeks). According to
Yahoo!, "Hips Don't Lie" is the Best-Selling Single of the
Last 10 Years, which is apparently the best-selling single
since 2000. According to Forbes Magazine, Shakira was
the 4th highest-earning woman in music for 2008 behind
Madonna, Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion. According to
Nokia, Shakira has topped up more music downloads in the
last year than any other Latino artist. And Her She Wolf
totted the Top 10 Latino Downloads.
