Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, better known by her stage mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. She was born on February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia. Growing up, Shakira enjoyed watching her journalist father write on his typewriter. It inspired her to write her first poem at just 4 years old. She eventually got her own typewriter as a Christmas gift. She started turning her poetry into music at around age 8. At age 10, however, she was rejected by the choir in her Catholic school. Despite that, she was regularly performing as a singer at small events in her hometown by the time she was a young teen. At one of those early Shakira concert shows, she was discovered by theater producer Monica Ariza. He managed to get her 2 auditions with Sony Music Colombia in the capital city of Bogotá. Although she was rejected at her first try, Shakira got signed by the label at her second go.
Her debut album, “Magia”, came out in July 1991, when she was still just 14 years old. Despite poor sales numbers, the label was willing to produce another record with the young artist, but “Peligro” from 1993 also flopped - even Shakira herself criticized the quality of that record upon its release. However, her 1995 single “¿Dónde Estás Corazón?" for a compilation album became a massive hit in Colombia. This gave yet another opportunity to put out a full LP - “Pies Descalzos” was released in October 1995, and it became a hit for Shakira at last! It peaked at the #3 at the Top Latin Albums chart by Billboard in the US. As a result, she also got to go on her first international Shakira concert tour.
The Colombian pop diva released one more Spanish language album in 1998, before putting out her first English language record, “Laundry Service”, in November 2001. This brought her international success, as it peaked at #3 on the famous Billboard 200 chart in the US. It ended up selling 13 million copies worldwide, making it the best selling one in her discography. She has released 6 more albums since, thus she has 11 in total. The latest new Shakira album came out in May 2017, with the title “Eldorado”.
The biggest hits in the Shakira setlist to date are “Hips Don’t Lie” (2005), “Waka Waka” (2010, the official theme song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup), “Can't Remember to Forget You” (2014) featuring Rihanna, and “Chantaje” (2016) featuring Maluma. She dated Spanish soccer star Pique from 2011 until their highly publicized break-up in 2022.
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