Profile of Shakira on Famous Like Me

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripolli, born in Barranquilla, Colombia on February 2, 1977, known simply as Shakira (meaning "Woman of Grace" in Arabic), is a singer and songwriter.

Biography

On February 2, 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia, Shakira was born to an American father of Christian Lebanese descent and a Colombian mother. She moved to Bogotá at the age of thirteen, and released her first album, Magia (Magic) a year later on the Sony label. The album achieved moderate success in her native country.

When her next release Peligro (Danger) did not fare better than its predecessor, Shakira turned to acting and played a role in a Colombian telenovela ("El Oasis"), but failed as an actress. She was approached by her record company to write a song for a Rock en Español compilation album, and, during her cab ride to the meeting with the music executives, wrote the song "Dónde Estás Corazón" to present to them. She returned to the music business in 1995 with the album Pies Descalzos (Barefeet), which included this song and established her commercial success. The hit Estoy Aquí became known internationally. The Remixes was created and featured remixes from the songs on Pies Descalzos, with some songs redone in Portuguese.

Following this, Shakira met Emilio Estefan, Jr., who would become the executive producer of her next album. ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? (Where are the thieves?) was a huge production on which over US$3 million were spent. It was a huge success which gained wide critical acclaim and which many consider to be her best album ever. The most notable singles from the album were "Inevitable" and the worldwide mega-hit, "Ojos Así". The album's successful blend of rock and Latin soundscapes made it an immense success. Shakira also produced Shakira MTV Unplugged, a live album based on ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?.

Shakira then focussed on the English-speaking market, improving her English enough to begin writing Laundry Service. With a more rock-edged feel, the album was aimed at the international English-speaking market, although it contained some Spanish songs. Some people claimed that Shakira's English skills were too weak for her to write in English, but Laundry Service was nevertheless a big success, best known for the infectious single "Whenever, Wherever" (English version of "Suerte"), and for being one of the top albums of 2002. Shakira is well known for intense, athletic live performances involving belly dancing, Arabic rhythms and other sensual movements. The single "Whenever, Wherever" for example, includes the now-famous lyric, "Lucky that my breasts are small and humble so you don't confuse them with mountains."

In 2002, Shakira also released the greatest hits volume Grandes éxitos. Shakira: Live & Off the Record, a DVD and a 10-song CD from her 2002-03 world tour (the "Tour of the Mongoose"), was released March 30 2004. The name of the tour was derived from the fact that mongoose can defeat a cobra without being killed by its poison. The concerts were interspersed with visuals of a mongoose fighting a cobra.

Shakira's latest project has been split into two volumes. The first album, the Spanish-language Fijación Oral 1 was released in June 2005. The follow-up, the English-language Oral Fixation 2, is slated for a November 29 2005 release.

She co-writes and co-produces her songs with Luis Fernando Ochoa and Lester Méndez. Vocal co-compilation, as well as direction of background vocal sessions by Rita Quintero.

Shakira is considered by many to be a great talent. As Gabriel García Márquez once wrote of her, "Shakira's music has a personal stamp that doesn't look like anyone else's and no one can sing or dance like her, at whatever age, with such an innocent sensuality, one that seems to be of her own invention."

Since 2000, she has been engaged to Antonio de la Rúa, the son of the disgraced former president of Argentina Fernando de la Rúa. In light of the humanitarian and social crisis in Argentina, many members of the press lampooned the relationship as frivolous and arrogant. In response, Shakira gave a nonprofit concert in Buenos Aires and further promoted her humanitarian children's foundation "Pies Descalzos" (Bare feet), named after her third album. This was decried by many as a simple celebrity public relations move, even though such foundation was started by the singer shortly after the success of the Pies Descalzos album (1995-1996). Shakira has since built three elementary schools in Colombia to aid children that were displaced due to the guerrilla wars in her country. In October 2003 UNICEF named Shakira a Global Goodwill Ambassador for the organization. She was 26 at the time, making her the youngest UNICEF Ambassador in its history.

Current album

It was announced April 8 2005 that Shakira would be releasing two albums this year. Fijación Oral Vol. 1, a Spanish-language album, was released first in Ireland on 3 June 2005, the rest of the EU on 6 June and then on June 7 in the U.S.A, 2005. Controversy surrounded her album release. Ritmo Latino, America's biggest latin music retailer, refused to sell Shakira's album. They felt that she had forgotten her latin fans. Oral Fixation 2, an English-language album, is scheduled to hit store shelves in November. The first single off Fijación Oral 1, La Tortura (The Torture), features Spanish pop-star Alejandro Sanz.

The April 26 episode of MTV's "Making the Video" showed behind-the-scenes clips of "La Tortura" and ended with the premiere of the video. This was notably the first time the show had been aired entirely in Spanish (with English subtitles).

As the launch of Shakira's second English Language album, Oral Fixation Vol. 2 nears, short clips of two songs from the new album, Don't Bother - the first single, and How Do You Do? are now available in many musical stream outlets.

It has been confirmed that Don't Bother will be distributed electronically by SonyBMG to radio stations in the United States and other locations on October 11th 2005. Online music stores such as iTunes are expected to have the single for download on October 18th , a strategy which proved successful in the marketing campaign for La Tortura.

Charts

The video for La Tortura made its debut on Total Request Live (TRL) at number nine, and was the second Spanish music video ever to be included in the countdown. It reached a peak of number four on the countdown, setting a record for highest position on the chart.

Fijación Oral 1 was simultaneously released in all of Latin America and charted at number one in almost all of its countries. It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and is currently the best-selling Spanish first-week sales album (180,000), breaking Ricky Martin's self-titled album (#12 , selling 63,000). It was also well-received in non-Spanish speaking countries like Germany, where it reached number one, and Austria, at number three. The album also has made history in Europe reaching #2 for several weeks with the single La Tortura staying in the Top 10 singles for a while.

Also, Shakira's "La Tortura" achieved some success on the MTV Top 20 and VH1 Top 20 Countdown.

Shakira, who performed at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards in Miami, Florida on August 28, 2005, was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards: "Best Female Video", "Best Dance Video", and "Viewers Choice" for her smash "La Tortura". Her VMA performance made history as being the first performance on the VMAs ever that was completely in Spanish.

Shakira is now nominated for 6 MTV Latin America awards (2005). The awards will be held in Mexico City on October 20, 2005.

Discography

Albums

• Magia (1991)
• Peligro (1994)
• Pies descalzos (1995) - #5 LAT; US sales: 1 million, WW 5 million
• The Remixes (1997)US sales:200,000WW sales 1 million
• ¿Dónde están los ladrones? (1998) -#1 LAT US sales: 1 million, ww sales: 5 million
• MTV Unplugged (2000) - #1 LAT US sales: 500,000, ww 1-2 million
• Laundry Service (2001) - #3 US; #2 UK; #1 CAN; #1 GER;US sales: 3.3 million Worldwide sales: 13 million
• Grandes éxitos (2002) #1 LAT US Sales:250,000
• Live & Off the Record (2004) - #1 US (Music Videos), #45 US; Worldwide sales: 2 million
• Fijación Oral 1 (June 2005) - #1 LAT; #4 US; #7 CAN; #1 GER; #3 AU;US sales: 600,000 Worldwide Sales: close to 4 million*

Oral Fixation 2 (November 2005)

Singles

• 1996: "Estoy Aqui" - #2 LAT
• 1997: "Donde Estas Corazon?" -#5 LAT
• 1997: "Antologia" - #15 LAT
• 1997: "Se Quiere Se Mata" - #8 LAT
• 1998: "Ciega Sordomuda" - #1 LAT
• 1999: "Tu" - #1 LAT
• 1999: "Inevitable" - #3 LAT
• 1999: "Ojos Asi" - #22 LAT
• 1999: "Moscas en la Casa" - #25 LAT
• 2000: "No Creo" - #9 LAT
• 2001: "Whenever, Wherever / Suerte" - #6 US; #2 UK; #1 AU; #2 CAN; #1 LAT; #1 GER; #1 NL
• 2002: "Underneath Your Clothes" - #9 US; #3 UK; #1 AU; #1 CAN; #2 GER; #1 NL
• 2002: "Objection (Tango)" / "Te Aviso, Te Anuncio (Tango)" - #16 LAT #55 US; #17 UK; #1 AU; #12 CAN; #19 GER; #4 NL
• 2002: "Te Dejo Madrid" - #45 LAT; #1 SPA
• 2003: "The One"- #5 PRT; #15 FRA; #16 AU; #26 NL
• 2003: "Que Me Quedes Tu" - #1 LAT
• 2005: "La Tortura" (feat. Alejandro Sanz) - #1 LAT; #23 US; #21 CAN; #1 SPA; #4 GER; #3 ITA; #2 SWZ
• 2005: "No" - #1 LAT
• 2005: "Don't Bother" - Oct 2005

DVDs, films

• MTV Unplugged (2000)
• Live & Off the Record (2004)

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