Shakira Bio and Facts
Shakira is a well-known Colombian artist/band. Find biography and interesting facts of Shakira's career and personal life. Discover detailed information about Shakira's height, real name, wife, girlfriend & kids. Shakira Wiki, Facebook, Instagram, and socials. Shakira Height, Age, Bio, and Real Name.
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Shakira Biography Facts
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Born 02 February, 1977 (48 years old).
What is the zodiac sign of Shakira ?
According to the birthday of Shakira the
astrological sign is
Aquarius .
Career of the Shakira started in 2000 .
Shakira Wiki
Colombian singer-songwriter In this Spanish name, the first or paternal family name is Mebarak and the second or maternal family name is Ripoll.
Shakira | |
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Shakira in 2011 | |
Born | Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll 2 February 1977 Barranquilla, Colombia |
Other names | La Shak, Shaki |
Occupation | Singer songwriter record producer director dancer actress philanthropist |
Years active | 1990–present |
Organization | Barefoot Foundation |
Partner | Antonio de la Rúa Gerard Piqué |
Children | 2 |
Awards | Full list |
Musical career | |
Genres | Pop rock Latin |
Instruments | Vocals guitar harmonica drums cajón sampler keyboards |
Labels | Columbia Epic RCA Sony Music Latin |
Website | shakira.com |
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ; born 2 February 1977) is a Colombian singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress, and philanthropist. Born and raised in Barranquilla, Shakira has been referred to as the Queen of Latin Music and is noted for her versatility in music. She made her recording debut under Sony Music Colombia at the age of 13. Following the commercial failure of her first two Colombian albums, Magia and Peligro , she rose to prominence in Hispanic countries with her next albums, Pies Descalzos and Dónde Están los Ladrones? . Shakira entered the English-language market with her fifth album, Laundry Service . It sold over 13 million copies, spawned the international number-one singles "Whenever, Wherever" and "Underneath Your Clothes", and propelled her reputation as a leading crossover artist.
Her success was further solidified with the Spanish albums Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 , Sale el Sol , and El Dorado , all of which topped the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and were certified diamante by the Recording Industry Association of America. Meanwhile, her English albums Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 , She Wolf and Shakira were all certified gold, platinum, or multi-platinum in various countries worldwide. Some of her songs have charted at number one in multiple countries, including "La Tortura", "Hips Don't Lie", "Beautiful Liar", "Waka Waka ", "Loca", and "Chantaje". Shakira served as a coach on two seasons of the American singing competition television series The Voice .
Shakira has received numerous awards, including three Grammy Awards, twelve Latin Grammy Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, seven Billboard Music Awards, thirty-nine Billboard Latin Music Awards, six Guinness World Records and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2009, Billboard listed her as the Top Female Latin Artist of the Decade. Having sold more than 75 million records worldwide, Shakira remains one of the world's best-selling music artists.Forbes reported that as of 2018, Shakira has become the Female Latin artist who has sold the most albums in history. She is also ranked as the most-streamed Latin artist on Spotify and became one of only three female artists to have two YouTube videos exceeding two billion views. For her philanthropic work with her Barefoot Foundation and her contributions to music she received the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year and Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year awards in 2011. She was appointed to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in the US in 2011, and Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 2012. Forbes ranked her among the top-earning women in music in 2008 and 2019. Shakira is the first artist to perform three times at the FIFA World Cup.
Early life
Born on 2 February 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia, she is the only child of William Mebarak Chadid and Nidia Ripoll Torrado. Her paternal grandparents emigrated from Lebanon to New York City, where her father was born. Her father then immigrated to Colombia at age 5. The name Shakira is Arabic for "grateful", the feminine form of the name Shakir . From her mother's side, she has two Spanish surnames - Ripoll and Torrado, the former of which is Catalan and originates in four brothers who immigrated to coastal Colombia in the 19th century.. She was raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools. She has eight older half-siblings from her father's previous marriage. Shakira spent much of her youth in Barranquilla, a city located on the northern Caribbean coast of Colombia, and wrote her first poem, titled "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 that typewriter at the age of seven, and has continued writing poetry since then. These poems eventually evolved into songs. When Shakira was two years old, an older half-brother was killed in a motorcycle accident; six years later, at the age of eight, Shakira wrote her first song, titled "Tus gafas oscuras/Your dark glasses", which was inspired by her father, who for years 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. She started dancing on the table, and the experience made her realize that she wanted to be a performer. She enjoyed singing for schoolmates and teachers at her Catholic school, but in second grade, she 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 was often sent out of the class because of her hyperactivity . She says she had also been known as "the belly dancer girl", as she would demonstrate every Friday at school a number she had learned. "That's how I discovered my passion for live performance," she says. To instill gratitude in Shakira for her upbringing, her father took her to a local park to see orphans who lived there. The images 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 10 and 13, Shakira was invited to various events in Barranquilla and gained some recognition in the area. It was at this approximate 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". Undaunted and still convinced that Shakira had talent, Vargas 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.
Artistry
On her music, Shakira has said that, "my music, I think, is a fusion of many different elements. And I'm always experimenting. So I try not to limit myself, or put myself in a category, or... be the architect of my own jail." Shakira has frequently stated she is inspired by oriental music and Indian music, which influenced many of her earlier works. She has also been influenced by her Arabian heritage, which was a major inspiration for her breakthrough world hit "Ojos Así". She told Portuguese TV, "Many of my movements belong to Arab culture." She also cites her parents as having been major contributors to her musical style. She is also strongly influenced by Andean music and South American folk music, using her native instrumentation for her Latin dance-pop songs.
Her earlier Spanish albums, including Pies Descalzos and Dónde Están los Ladrones? were a mix of folk music and Latin rock. Her cross-over English album, Laundry Service and later albums were influenced by pop rock and pop Latino. "Laundry Service" is primarily a pop rock album, but also draws influences from a variety of musical genres. The singer credited this to her mixed ethnicity, saying: "I am a fusion. That's my persona. I'm a fusion between black and white, between pop and rock, between cultures – between my Lebanese father and my mother's Spanish blood, the Colombian folklore and Arab dance I love and American music."
The Arabian and Middle Eastern elements that exerted a high influence on Dónde Están los Ladrones? are also present in Laundry Service, most prominently on "Eyes Like Yours"/"Ojos Así". Musical styles from different South American countries surface on the album. Tango, a style of fast-paced ballroom dance that originated in Argentina, is evident on "Objection ", which also combines elements of rock and roll. The uptempo track features a guitar solo and a bridge in which Shakira delivers rap-like vocals.
She Wolf is primarily an electropop album that combines influences from the musical styles of various countries and regions, like Africa, Colombia, India, and the Middle East. Shakira termed the album as a "sonic experimental trip", and said that she researched folk music from different countries in order to "combine electronics with world sounds, tambourines, clarinets, oriental and Hindu music, dancehall, etc." Her 2010 album, Sale el Sol, is a return to her beginnings containing ballads, rock songs, and Latin dance songs like "Loca". In 2017, Deutsche Welle's journalist Kate Müser commented on Shakira's "globalized sound": " Latin beats, spiced with Middle Eastern and other world elements and made comfortably familiar by being churned through the pop machine, make you feel like a citizen of the world."
Led Zeppelin, Shakira's biggest influence early in her career
As a child, Shakira was influenced by rock music, listening heavily to rock bands like Led Zeppelin,The Beatles, Nirvana, The Police and U2, while her other influences included Gloria Estefan, Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette, Marc Anthony, Meredith Brooks and The Cure.
Dance
Shakira is well known for her dancing in her music videos and concerts. Her distinctive dancing style is said to combine Latin dancing with Middle Eastern belly dancing, which is derived from her Lebanese heritage, and her hip shaking is mentioned in songs, such as Fifth Harmony's "Brave Honest Beautiful". She is noted for usually employing minimal production, usually taking the stage with minimal makeup and natural hair, and without background dancers in her performances, preferring to focus on her vocals, dance moves, and stage presence. She often performs barefoot, a form of dance she learned as a young teen to overcome her shyness. She also mentioned in a MTV interview that she learned how to belly dance by trying to flip a coin with her belly.
Singing
Shakira is known for her "unique and mesmerizing" singing voice which includes her "trademark" yodeling. Analyzing Shakira's cover of Je l'aime à mourir, vocal teacher Beth Roars also noted Shakira's use of yodeling, explaining that there is "heaviness at the bottom of her tone" which "flips up" into "her head voice", as well as her ability to execute "complex" "melisma". She also noted Shakira's use of "Arabic scales", then stating that she uses "harmonic minor scales instead of pentatonic scales".
Other ventures
Shakira has ventured into many other businesses and industries. She acted in the Colombian telenovela El Oasis in 1994, playing the character of Luisa Maria.
Shakira began her own beauty line, "S by Shakira", with parent company Puig, in 2010. Among the first perfumes it released included "S by Shakira" and "S by Shakira Eau Florale", along with lotions and body sprays. As of 2019, she has released 30 fragrances, not counting deluxe editions. On 17 September 2015, she was featured as a playable bird in the game Angry Birds POP! for a limited time, and also in a special tournament in the game Angry Birds Friends after a few weeks. On 15 October 2015, Love Rocks starring Shakira was the first video game that featured the pop star.
On 14 August 2015, at Disney's D23 Expo, it was announced that Shakira would play a character in the Disney animated movie Zootopia; in it, she would give voice to Gazelle, the biggest pop star in Zootopia. Shakira also contributed an original song to the film, titled "Try Everything", which was written and composed by Sia and Stargate. It opened to a record-breaking box office success in several countries and earned a worldwide gross of over $1 billion, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2016 and the 43rd highest-grossing film of all time.
Philanthropy and politics
Main article: Pies Descalzos Foundation Shakira, Alejandro Sanz and Juan Carlos I, The King of Spain during the Ibero-American Summit of El Salvador
In 1997, Shakira founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation, a Colombian charity with special schools for poor children all around Colombia. It was funded by Shakira and other international groups and individuals. The name of the foundation was taken from Shakira's third studio album, Pies Descalzos, which she released in 1995. The foundation's main focus is on aid through education, and the organization has five schools across Colombia that provide education and meals for 4,000 children. On 27 April 2014 Shakira was honored with the Hero Award at the Radio Disney Music Awards for her Fundación Pies Descalzos work.
In 2005, Shakira became a founding member of Latin America in Solidarity Action, a coalition of artists and business leaders seeking to promote integrated early childhood public policies. In 2008, she served as the Honorary Chair of the Global Campaign for Education Global Action Week. Later, in 2010, she collaborated with the World Bank and the Barefoot Foundation to establish an initiative that distributes educational and developmental programs for children across Latin America.
Shakira is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is one of their global representatives. On 3 April 2006, Shakira was honored at a UN ceremony for creating the Pies Descalzos Foundation. In March 2010, she was awarded a medal by the UN International Labour Organization in recognition of being, as UN Labour Chief Juan Somavia put it, a "true ambassador for children and young people, for quality education and social justice". In November 2010, after performing as the opening act of the MTV European Music Awards, the Colombian singer also received the MTV Free Your Mind award for her continuing dedication to improve access to education for all children around the world.
In October 2010, Shakira expressed disagreement with French president Nicolás Sarkozy and his policy of expelling Romani people from the country. In the Spanish edition of the magazine GQ, she also directed a few words to Sarkozy, "We are all gypsies". In the interview she made her viewpoint very clear: "What is happening now to them will happen to our children and our children's children. We must turn to our citizens to act for the fundamental rights of human beings and condemn all that seems to us indictable", she declared.
In February 2011, the FC Barcelona Foundation and Pies descalzos reached an agreement for children's education through sport. Shakira was honored at the Latin Grammys as the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year on 9 November 2011, for her philanthropy and contributions to Latin Music. Also in 2011, she was appointed by President Barack Obama to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. The World Literacy Foundation announced Shakira as the recipient of the 2020 Global Literacy Award for "her significant contribution to the improvement of literacy for disadvantaged children around the world."
On 2 November 2018, during a visit to her birthplace, Barranquilla, for the construction of a school through her Barefoot Foundation , Shakira spoke about the educational policies of the government under Ivan Duque 2018–2022). Speaking against the government's intentions to reduce the national education budget from 13% to 7%, she said, "This is unacceptable. It shows that instead of progressing forward we are moving backward. We need to invest more in education and we need to build more schools in places where there are none". She also talked about social inequality and unschooling. In 2020, Shakira was appointed by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge as a voters’ council member for the ‘’Earthshot Prize’’ which provides 50 environmental pioneers with the funds needed to further their work in tackling major problems impacting the environment.
Personal life
Shakira began a relationship with Argentinian lawyer Antonio de la Rúa in 2000. In a 2009 interview, Shakira stated their relationship already worked as a married couple, and that "they don't need papers for that".
After 10 years together, Shakira and de la Rúa separated in August 2010 in what she described as "a mutual decision to take time apart from our romantic relationship". She wrote that the couple "view this period of separation as temporary", with de la Rúa overseeing Shakira's "business and career interests as he has always done". As first reported in September 2012, de la Rúa sued Shakira in April 2013, asking for $100 million he believed he was owed after Shakira suddenly terminated her business partnership with him in October 2011. His lawsuit was dismissed by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge in August 2013.
Shakira entered a relationship with the Spanish football player Gerard Piqué, centre back for FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team in 2011. Piqué, who is exactly ten years her junior, first met Shakira in the spring of 2010, when he appeared in the music video for Shakira's song "Waka Waka ", the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Shakira gave birth to the couple's first son Milan on 22 January 2013 in Barcelona, Spain, where the family had taken up residence. Shakira gave birth to their second son Sasha on 29 January 2015.Forbes listed Shakira and Gerard in their list of "World's Most Powerful Couples".