Shakira Biography

Shakira

Why Is She Famous?
Shakira was catapulted to international fame with the phenomenal success of Laundry Service, "Whenever, Wherever," and "Hips Don't Lie." Her Oral Fixation album earned her a Grammy and three Latin Grammys. Among the top five most successful artists since 2000, this award-winning singer has the attention of audiences across the globe.

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Name
Shakira
Birth date
February 2, 1977
Birth Place
Barranquilla, Colombia
Birth Name
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll
Height
5'2

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Nationality
Colombian
Occupation
Musician
Known For
Album : 'Pies Descalzos'

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Awards
MTV Video Music Awards (Latin America)

Year : 2002

Category : Artist of the year ; Video of the year; Female artist of the year;

Pop artist of the year;

Won

Latin Grammy Award

Year : 2002

Category : Best Music Video

Won
Grammy Awards

Year : 2000

Category : Latin Pop Album

Won

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Biography

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll's musical journey began just a few short years after her birth on February 2, 1977, in Barranquilla, Atlantico, Colombia. Growing up, Shakira enjoyed watching her father create poetry on the family typewriter, and at age 4, she wrote her first one, "La Rosa de Cristal." Following the sudden death of her brother, Shakira penned her first song at age 8 and eventually turned to performing. She remembers her first performance as an impromptu dance on a restaurant table as a child, much to the delight of her family and fellow patrons.

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Shakira began singing for her classmates at school, but her unique voice kept her out of the school choir. Upon entering her teen years, she was introduced to Monica Ariza, a producer who set up an audition with Sony. The studio wasn't impressed, but a second audition won them over and Shakira signed a three-album contract. Unfortunately, her first two albums, 1991's Magia and 1993's Peligro, were met with mixed reviews and disappointing results, so Shakira focused on high school instead.

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shakira releases laundry service and oral fixation

Shakira's contribution to the Nuestro Rock album gave her a big hit in Colombia and a third album followed in 1995. The result was Pies Descalzos, which sold five million copies and paved the way for 1998's ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?, netting her worldwide exposure and offering eight singles including "No Creo" and "Inevitable." In 2000, a Grammy-winning MTV Unplugged album followed, as did an MTV Video Music Award.

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Shakira had yet to record an English-language album, so she made this her next goal, with the help of Gloria Estefan. To challenge herself, Shakira insisted on writing her first English album from scratch without translating her existing material. The subsequent release was Laundry Service, led by the single "Objection," and the album sold 13 million copies, including a third of them in North America. More fame and fortune followed with the release of Oral Fixation, a two-volume set with one album of Spanish and the other in English. Collectively, they earned her another Grammy and three Latin Grammys.

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shakira is named no. 38 in 2008 top 99In 2006,

Shakira enjoyed tremendous success with "Hips Don't Lie," a single from Oral Fixation Vol. 2 featuring Wyclef Jean. The song was one of the most successful dance releases in years, and it proved to be Shakira's first chart-topper in the U.S. and the UK, leading to a worldwide tour that lasted over a year and covered four continents. With her fans anxious for more, Shakira also released an accompanying tour DVD.

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Since then, Shakira has been busy with more collaborations. Most notably, she has worked with Carlos Santana on "Illegal," shared the stage with Lil Wayne and sung with Beyonce for the Top 5 single "Beautiful Liar." In 2007, Shakira also penned two songs for the soundtrack to Love in the Time of Cholera, earning a Golden Globe nomination for one of them, "Despedida." From there she went on to our Top 99 list of 2008, of course. Shakira's a sassy songbird with endless potential and, as the song says, her hips don't lie.

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Shakira Personal Quotes

The worst mistake of a woman is to go to the kitchen, because then she never gets out of there.

I admire a person who, for the love of art, is able to take off their clothes in front of a camera. But I'm not capable, I'm too cowardly for that".
"It's not easy to work with me, I recognize that. It's not easy if those people aren't as perfectionistic as I am".
"The worst frustration for a singer is choosing a career in making music and then not being able to make music because you're always giving interviews".
"My brain, I believe, is the most beautiful part of my body".

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Videos come definitely after the music has been created, but I have always felt, and especially today, that videos are vital in the album process. I think that we live in a very visual era and if you make a mistake with a video, those images will accompany the song forever. There is no way to divorce the image from the music once the video has been filmed and exposed.

I remember the first time I saw the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video. I will never forget that day. I just wanted to see Kurt Cobain's face. I had a feeling he was very cute. But, I couldn't see his face. When I finally did see him, he was even cuter than I imagined!

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People think I like to expose my body. But I don't. It's just because the dance moves require it.

You can laugh, but since I was a child I knew that I was going to be a well- known singer/songwriter; that was something I had no doubts about. It was almost like a prophecy.

I love reading about history. Sometimes, I feel I was born in the wrong era. There was more creativity in the air when people were still discovering new worlds.

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Writing in English was a major challenge. I didn't want other songwriters to write for me. I wanted to preserve the spirit of my songs in Spanish. I am the same Shakira in English as I am in Spanish.

I expect my beloved to be kind, generous, I expect him not to lie so I can look him straight in the eyes, and I expect him to fall in love with me 10 times a day.

I think my dad is the only Arabic descendent who is an unsuccessful businessman.

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I'm lucky to have family around me. Otherwise, I'll be taking the risk of falling in love with myself. But there are always people close to me who I trust, who will scold me and pull my ears if I need it. Fame isolates people from reality. That happens to many artists, and I don't want it to happen to me.

I have learned that I am an adult already. And to grow with something is sometimes painful. And its great; I don't say it's a bad thing-but many things change, and many more responsibilities come, and you have more closure in your life, and more possibilities. It's just that it's not as pink as before, but its more interesting.

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The cobra is deadly but mongoose can overcome it. We all have possibillity to defeat prejudiced and resentment in our lives. Fear is the thing that makes us attack, that makes us strike. We must overcome it. We must.

I'm a believer. I try to be near God, because when I feel that there's a certain distance, everything begins to look like a blur. It makes the road somewhat smoother. When I feel that I'm without God, I have to make an effort to drag my feet to keep on going.

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I think I look like a chipmunk.

The leaders are lacking love, and love is lacking leaders.

I cannot expect that I will be successful my whole life. We live so caught up in the moment, it's important to get some perspective. Ultimately, I know I've been very lucky.

When I perform, I find myself exorcised of everything that keeps me trapped in my everyday life.

A bed is still the first thing I look for when I have 20 free minutes. I still read a book if I have a free hour, and go to a movie if I have four.

I never went through an adolescence when kids become rebels and do drugs.I was always the good girl.

I had my first boyfriend when I was 12, and my parents knew about it. My dad was very jealous. I had an older sister in medical school, and he would not let her wear tight jeans.

Earlier I tried not to show my stomach, because I thought it wasn't perfect and I would have seemed fat. I would have died! But that does not bother me anymore. Like my dad says there is nothing more beautiful than some meat on the bones.

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I am a pop star, but I also have an opinion. I grew up in a country that has existed under the whip of violence for 40 years, so how can I not? You know in my country, a 5-year-old knows not only of Disney and Mickey Mouse but of guerrillas and paramilitaries. You grow up with that kind of awareness, of what the world is really like. To be political in my country doesn't mean

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you want to run for presidency, to be political simply means to have an opinion
Of course I am trying to make my accent not bother anyone, but I am not going to drive myself crazy trying to pretend I am an American girl when I am from Colombia.

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I've gone through everything with the paparazzi, where they are even hanging from the trees trying to get a picture. But I have a wonderful relationship with the press.

I don't feel mistreated. There is great communication between me and the media, and that makes me feel so lucky because I see how an artist can suffer. But I also live a life a journalist would find very boring. I've been dating the same guy for six years.

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I'm not a party animal, and you never see me shopping because I hate shopping.

Colombia is a country of victims, and not of murderers.

Technology scares me. We live surrounded by a battalion of sounds, engaged in ostentatious displays of new recording techniques. But, to me, the fundamental essence of a song lies in the melody and the lyrics.

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Every single project, it doesn't matter how big it is or how small it is, we take it with the same interest and the same enthusiasm, and we make the same effort. I feel the exact thing before I sing on Saturday Night Live as when I sang on a very small TV show in Colombia. Before the first singing contest I ever participated in, I felt the same nervousness I feel now. So part of me gets bigger and keeps evolving, but at the end of the day, you end up feeling the same things.

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On death: I always tried not to touch that subject, because it would really give me existential anxiety. Death is not only related to the physical death of the body, it's also related to the death of relationships or feelings. Every day, I feel a little bit older, a little less alive, more alive with the possibility of being less alive, closer to death.

Nationalism is cured by traveling
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I'm not a model for anyone and the truth is, I never even tried a hit of pot. I'm not saying that I've never ever felt curious, but I feel that if I were doped up I would not even be able to smell, or eat, or breathe, or sing. And I don't want to start using crutches when I know that I can walk. Drug addiction is a loss of freedom.

---Shakira