Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born: Feb. 2, 1977 (34 years ago)) known simply as Shakira, شاكيرا in Arabic is a Colombian-Lebanese singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer and philanthropist who emerged as a musical prodigy in the music scene of Latin America in the early 1990 (21 years ago). 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, Portuguese and Italian.
After a series of 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 (16 years ago) she released Pies Descalzos, which brought her great fame in Latin America and Spain and marked Shakira as a musical phenomenon. But 1998's ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? remains most essential album of the artist that gained her highest critical success from influential issues such as Rolling Stone, All Music Guide and Billboard. Since then she has gained many fans in non-Spanish-speaking countries, especially in the United States. In 2001 (10 years ago), and aided by heavy promotion of the music video, "Whenever, Wherever", she broke through into the English-speaking world with the release of Laundry Service, which sold over thirteen 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 the most successful song in the twenty-first century to date, "Hips Don't Lie". Currently, Shakira is working on final touches of her upcoming eighth studio album that will be released in late 2009 (2 years ago).
She has won two Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammy 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 50 million albums worldwide, according to BMI. Additionally, she is the only artist from South America to reach the number-one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, Canadian Hot 100, the Australian ARIA chart, and the UK Singles Chart.
Shakira is to be awarded with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which will make her the first South American to receive this honor.
EARLY YEARS
Shakira was born on Feb. 2, 1977 (34 years ago) in Barranquilla, Colombia. She is the only child of Nidya del Carmen Ripoll Torrado, who is of Italian and Spanish ancestry, and William Mebarak Chadid who is an American born of Lebanese descent. She has 8 older half siblings from her father's previous marriage.
Shakira means "thankful" in Arabic. 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 even and simply 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 is noted for her keen intellect and is reported to have an IQ of 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 eight, after an older half-brother was killed in a motorcycle accident, Shakira wrote her first song entitled "Tus gafas oscuras" ("Your dark glasses"). The inspiration came from her father, who for years after the accident 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 a number she learned every Friday at school. "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 (wallpaper) 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 (21 years ago) 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 (20 years ago) 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 Feb. 1993 (18 years ago). 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 (18 years ago), 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 (26 years ago).
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 (16 years ago), released exclusively in Colombia. ¿Dónde Estás Corazón? was the only hit off the album. This allowed Sony to give Shakira a third attempt at making an album.
Shakira returned to recording in 1995 (16 years ago) 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 Feb. 1995 (16 years ago), 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 Oct. 6, 1995 (16 years ago). The tunes of the album are melodic, musically surprising and gritty, with intellectual lyrics and an electronic/acoustic blend. Shakira effectively broke the formulaic mold of Latin pop with an authentic sound that hadn’t been heard before.
The album released on Feb. 13, 1996 (15 years ago) 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 Aug. 1996 (15 years ago), RIAA certified the album platinum status.
In Mar. 1996 (15 years ago), 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. 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 4 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? and “MTV Unplugged"
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 sep. 28, 1998 (13 years ago). 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. All Music Guide 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 seven million copies worldwide. Shakira also received her first Grammy Award nomination in 1999 (12 years ago) for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album. Shakira's first live album, MTV Unplugged was recorded in New York City on Aug. 12, 1999 (12 years ago). Highly acclaimed by American critics, it is rated as one of her best-ever live performances. The acoustic album earned the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album in 2001 (10 years ago) and gained sales of 5 million CD’s worldwide. In Mar. 2000 (11 years ago), Shakira embarked on her Tour Anfibio, a two-month tour of Latin America and the United States. In Aug. 2000 (11 years ago), she won an MTV Video Music Award in the now-defunct category of People's Choice - Favorite International Artist for Ojos Asi. On sep. 9, 2000 (11 years ago), 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, 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 Oct. 2001 (10 years ago). 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, the fifth studio and the first English language album Laundry Service (Servicio De Lavanderia in Spanish countries) was released on Nov. 13, 2001 (10 years ago). 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 (9 years ago) worldwide, selling extremely well – 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".
At Aerosmith's MTV Icon in Apr. 2002 (9 years ago), Shakira performed "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)". Also in 2002 (9 years ago), Shakira joined the likes of Cher, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Mary J. Blige, Anastacia, and the Dixie Chicks (7 walls) for VH1 Divas Live Las Vegas. In sep. 2002 (9 years ago), 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 Oct. 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 Jun. and thus helped to establish Shakira's musical presence in the mainstream North American market.
In Nov. 2002 (9 years ago), Shakira’s label Sony BMG released her Spanish greatest hits compilation Grandes Éxitos. A DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and ten-track live album, called Live & Off the Record, was also released in 2004 (7 years ago), 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 (6 years ago) with Rick Rubin as the executive producer. Fijación Oral Vol. 1, the first album of the project, was released on Jun. 3, 2005 (6 years ago) in Ireland, on Jun. 6, 2005 (6 years ago) in Europe, and on Jun. 7, 2005 (6 years ago) 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 Apr. 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 Jun. 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 Feb. 8, 2006 (5 years ago), Shakira won her second Grammy Award. She was awarded in the category of Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album (Fijación Oral Vol. 1). Shakira received five more Latin Grammy Awards on Nov. 2, 2006 (5 years ago): Record of the Year and Song of the Year for ‘’La Tortura’’, Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Engineered Album for Fijación Oral Vol. 1. Award for Best Short Form Music Video for "La Tortura" she lost to Calle 13. Fijación Oral Vol. 1 sold over 4 million copies worldwide.
Before the release of Oral Fixation Vol. 2 Shakira appeared at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2005 (6 years ago) 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. Oral Fixation Vol. 2 was released on Nov. 29, 2005 (6 years ago) 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 (wallpaper) 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 (5 years ago), 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 (5 years ago). Shakira along with Red Hot Chili Peppers received the most number of nominations for the 2006 (5 years ago) 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 Feb. 10, 2007 (4 years ago), 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 (5 years ago). The tour had 125 shows between Jun. 14, 2006 (5 years ago) and Jul. 9, 2007 (4 years ago). 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 (4 years ago) 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 Jul. 9, 2006 (5 years ago) at the FIFA World Cup final in Germany - a great honor and the most watched sports TV program worldwide with 3.5 billion viewers. On Nov. 12, 2007 (4 years ago), the "Oral Fixation Tour (DVD) was released (November 13 in North America). It is also available in High Definition Blu-Ray format.
2008-present: She Wolf and forthcoming Spanish album
During an online chat with her fans in "El Heraldo", she revealed that she was going to start writing her New Album in Feb. 2008 (3 years ago). 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. 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 (5 years ago). 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 Jul. 2, 2008 (3 years ago), 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 (3 years ago), Forbes has named Shakira the fourth top-earning female artist in music industry,
Shakira's official website announced that "The full album is She Wolf due out in Oct. 2009 (2 years ago) from Epic" and it "features a predominantly English track list". The site also announced that a Spanish album will be released in 2010 (last year). The first single from the English 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 Jun. 2009 (2 years ago), several music journalists and reviewers got an advance listen of the track. The reviews were extremely positive. The Spanish version titled, "Loba", premiered on Jun. 29, 2009 (2 years ago).. Shakira premiered "She Wolf" on Z100 and KIIS-FM on Jul. 13, 2009 (2 years ago). On Jul. 14, 2009 (2 years ago) "She Wolf" and "Loba" became available to download from iTunes. The video for "She Wolf" Premiered on MTV, Jul. 30 at 8pm.
Shakira confirmed that she will embark on a tour in 2010 (last year) on the Elvis Duran & The Morning Show on Z100.
Collaborations and other work
In 2003 (8 years ago), 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 (135 walls) & Mark Wahlberg (3 walls), but finally the song was not included on the soundtrack of the same.
In late 2006 (5 years ago), 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 (4 years ago), 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 Apr. 7, 2007 (4 years ago), 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 (5 walls) 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 (30 walls) 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 (7 walls), Dido, Celine Dion, Melissa Etheridge, Joss Stone (13 walls), Fergie (19 walls), Anastacia and Pink.
In late 2007 (4 years ago), Shakira and Wyclef Jean recorded their second duet “King and Queen”. This song is available on Wyclef Jean’s latest album Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant.
Shakira performing with Usher (4 walls) and Stevie Wonder at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln MemorialShakira performed on Jan. 18, 2009 (2 years ago) 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 (4 walls). She also performed during the evening of Jan. 20, 2009 (2 years ago) 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.
Love in the Time of Cholera soundtrack
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.
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 ballots the Academy's "worst snub."
PERSONAL LIFE
In 2000 (11 years ago), Shakira started dating Antonio de la Rúa, the son of then president Argentina Fernando de la Rúa, a romance that made headline news throughout Latin America. In Mar. 2001 (10 years ago), he proposed to her. De la Rúa and Shakira remain engaged. She currently lives in The Bahamas. Shakira's future mother-in-law Inés Pertiné claimed the wedding would take place in sep. 2007 (4 years ago) 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.
In Jun. 2007 (4 years ago), Latin American media speculated that the couple had finally split up and that Shakira was involved romantically with Army Specialist Erik Pepen since both were seen in a Los Angeles disco. This rumor was immediately denied by Shakira's assistants, stating that she was invited by Penélope Cruz (11 walls), who later introduced Erik Pepen to Shakira. 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 is intensely interested in world history. She frequently studies the history and languages of the countries she visits. After her Oral Fixation tour ended in summer 2007 (4 years ago), Shakira audited 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.
DISCOGRAPHY
1996 (15 years ago): Pies Descalzos
1998 (13 years ago): Dónde Están Los Ladrones?
2001 (10 years ago): Laundry Service
2005 (6 years ago): Fijación Oral Vol. 1
2005 (6 years ago): Oral Fixation Vol. 2
2009 (2 years ago): She Wolf
TOURS
1996-1997: Tour Pies Descalzos
2000 (11 years ago): Tour Anfibio
2002–2003: Tour of the Mongoose
2006–2007: Oral Fixation Tour
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
Grammy Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Juno Awards
MTV Awards
ALMA Awards
NRJ Music Awards
People’s Choice Award
American Music Awards
Much Music Video Award
Billboard Music Awards / Latin Billboard Music Awards
Premios Lo Nuestro
Brit Awards
Urban Music Awards
International Dance Music Awards
Premio Juventud
World Music Award
World Soundtrack Awards
Ivor Novello Award
Nickeledon kids Choice Awards
Orgullosamente Latino
Los Premios Telehit
Ritmo Latino Music Awards
Source: en.wikipedia.org
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