Shakira Biography

Biographies | Shakira January 5, 2020

Shakira was born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoli on February 2, 1997, in Barranquilla, Colombia. She is artist, actress, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.

Shakira attended Roman Catholic school in her hometown. She enjoyed singing to her schoolmates, teachers, and nuns, although her music teacher thought she was not good enough for the school choir. Despite her teacher's open distaste of her musical talents, Shakira was not deterred in pursuing her musical ambitions. Through a local theater producer called Monica Ariza, Shakira was offered an audition in Bogota, in the presence of Sony Music executives. The latter were impressed by her performance that entailed singing three songs, and signed her to record three albums under their label.

The signing with Sony Music was the beginning of Shakira's music career. She recorded her first album, Magia, in 1990 at the age of only 13. The album was released in June 1991. It wasn't a success though, in terms of sales, selling only1200 copies worldwide. Her second album, Peligro, released in March 1993, performed a bit better than the first but still not a success in commercial terms. After the second album, she took a break from music to complete her high school education.

After graduating from high school, Shakira resumed music recording in 1995, this time with Sony Music and Columbia Music. This phase in her music career that marked her breakthrough into fame and wealth, began with release of her third album, Pies Descalzos, in February 1996. The album was great success, hitting number one in eight countries and selling over 5 million copies worldwide. It also received platinum status from Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

In September 1998, Shakira released her fourth album, Dónde Están Los Ladrones? The album consisted of some her greatest songs like, Tú, Si Te Vas, Ojos Asi, and Octavo Dia, and became one of the best selling Spanish albums in USA.

Shakira's fifth album, Laundry Service, was released in November 2001. It was her debut English language album and entailed some of her incredible songs like, Whenever Whenever, Underneath Your Clothes, The One, and Te Anuncio. The album sold over 20 million copies worldwide, making it her most successful album so far.

Her sixth album, Fijación Oral, Vol.1, released in June 2005, was immediately followed by release of her seventh album, Oral Fixation, Vol.1, in November 2005. Oral Fixation, Vol.1 consisted one of the world's best selling singles, Hips Don't Lie.

Shakira released her eighth album, She Wolf, in October 2009, and her ninth album Sale el Sol a year later in October 2010. The latter album consisted one Shakira's most popular songs, Waka Waka, whose music video in YouTube has received over 1.6 billion views.

In March 2014, Shakira released her tenth album, Shakira. It included some popular singles, Can't Remember to Forget you, and Empire.

Her eleventh and latest album, El Dorado, was released on May 26, 2017.

Having released eleven studio albums and sold over 125 million records worldwide, Shakira is, indeed, one of the greatest artists of all time. She has been heavily honored for this massive contribution to the music industry, with many awards that include the following:

1) 2 Grammy Awards 2) A Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame 3) 7 Billboard Music Awards 4) 5 MTV Video Music Awards 5) 13 Latin Grammy Awards, and 6) 33 Billboard Latin Music Awards

As an actress, Shakira played a significant role in a Disney 3D computer animated movie, Zootopia that was released in 2016. In the movie, Shakira voiced a character called Gazelle. She also contributed to movie's original song, Try Everything.The movie generated over $1 billion gross earnings. Even earlier in her career, she appeared in a TV drama, El Oasis (1994), by Colombia's Telenovela.

As an entrepreneur, Shakira has so far ventured into among other areas, beauty. In 2010, she launched her own beauty line, S by Shakira, in a collaboration with Spanish beauty and fashion company, Puig. Her beauty products confine to mainly perfume fragrances. So far, she has released 19 perfume fragrances.

Furthermore, Shakira is a very committed active philanthropist. Her passion for philanthropy is said to have been one of the reasons that motivated and drove her to becoming a famous artist. According to some documentary evidence, Shakira as a child was so overwhelmed and touched by a sighting of orphans in a local park, that she promised herself to help them if she were to become a famous artist. It is this early childhood concern about disadvantaged children that seems very obviously to have shaped Shakira's philanthropic activities. We will illustrate as thus.

In 1997, Shakira launched her own charitable organization called Pies Descalzos Foundation geared towards providing education for children from poor families in Colombia. The Foundation is funded by Shakira herself, and donations from some international charitable organizations and individuals. Shakira is also a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, as well as one of UNICEF's global representatives.

In recognition of her philanthropic activities, Shakira has been honored with the following awards:

1) Hero Award, April 2014, by Radio Disney Music Awards, for her Pies Descalzos Foundation initiative 2) Recording Academy Person of the Year, November 2011, by Latin Grammy Awards, for her contribution to philanthropy and Latin music 3) Free Your Mind Award, November 2010, by MTV European Music Awards, for her dedication in improving access to education for all children in the world 4) UN Medal, March 2010, by International Labor Organization (ILO), for her contribution to enhancement of quality education and justice

As an individual, Shakira who is extremely beautiful, is deeply loved and respected throughout the world. She is particularly very friendly, humble, and charismatic, with her often constant beautiful smile dubbed unique, addictive, and contagious; while her occasional expressionless look has been described as amazing and mystical. In addition, she is very intelligent, sophisticated and empathetic.

Shakira has made monumental career milestones. According to Celebrity Net Worth magazine, she had a net worth of $300 million as of 2019. However, inferring from her childhood dream mentioned earlier, in her view, the colossal financial wealth she has acquired is not meant to be for herself only. She seems to perceive her advantaged economic status as an opportunity for helping disadvantaged people in society, especially poor children. As shown in the preceding sections of this biography, that is exactly what Shakira has been pursuing through philanthropy. This inherent life philosophy and attitude that focus on humanity, put Shakira in a very special group of accomplished beautiful women who are extra-ordinarily very smart.

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Last update: May 11, 2023 ___________________________ © 2015 - 2023 JK Freelance Group. All Rights Reserved