Shakira

Shakira's performance
in "Good Morning
America" (June 2005)

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born February 2, 1977), better known as Shakira, is a five-time Grammy winner Latin pop singer and songwriter.

Biography

Childhood and beginning

Shakira was born in Barranquilla, Colombia to a Roman Catholic family, to a mother of Spanish and Italian descent and an American-born father of Lebanese background. Shakira is a native Spanish speaker, and has sung in English, Portuguese, Arabic, and French, with varying success.

She was received by Pope John Paul II who nominated her a Goodwill ambassador in 1998.

Shakira had began writing and composing music at the age of eight. One of the first songs she wrote was "Tus Gafas Oscuras", whose lyrical message revolved around her father and his grief over a son who had passed away due to a car accident. At the age of ten, Shakira applied for her school choir, but she was rejected because her voice had been noted as "too strong." Friends teased her by saying she sounded like a goat. Shakira was deeply hurt and considered giving up on singing, but instead of that she started looking for other singing opportunities. She decided to compete in a weekly television singing competition for children, Vivan Los Niños. Shakira won the contest.

Between the ages of ten to thirteen, Shakira was invited to various events in Barranquilla, and became a local celebrity. At that time she met local theatre producer Monica Ariza, who was impressed with Shakira and helped to make her known outside Barranquilla. During a flight from Barranquilla to Bogotá, Ariza happened to be sitting next to Sony Colombia executive Ciro Vargas. Vargas agreed to hold an audition for Shakira, which took place a few weeks later in a hotel lobby. Vargas was impressed and returned to the Sony office and gave Shakira's cassette to the song and artist director, but he was not excited at all, and thought Shakira was "a lost cause."

Vargas was convinced that Shakira had talent, and set up a surprise audition in Bogotá. He tricked the Sony Colombia executives to this bar, and around midnight he announced he had a surprise: Shakira. She sang three songs, and her performance was a hit. Shakira was subsequently signed to write and record three albums.

1995–2000: Spanish market success

Shakira returned to the music business in 1995 with the album Pies Descalzos (English: Bare Feet), which established her commercial success. The album The Remixes was subsequently recorded and features remixes from the songs on Pies Descalzos, with some songs re-recorded in Portuguese.

Following the release of The Remixes, Shakira became acquainted with Emilio Estefan, Jr., who ended up working as an executive producer on Shakira's fourth studio album, ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? (English: Where Are the Thieves?) It was an expensive production, costing approximately $3 million. Singles from the album include "Ciega Sordomuda", "Moscas en la Casa", "No Creo", "Inevitable", "Tu", and the worldwide success "Ojos Así." The album's blend of rock and Latin sound scapes made it a big success. Shakira also produced Shakira MTV Unplugged, a live album based on the singles from ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? In March 2000, she started her three-month long "Tour Anfibio" through Latin America and the United States starting in Panama and ending in Argentina upon popular request. In August 2000, she won the now-defunct International Viewer's Choice Award at the MTV Video Music Awards with "Ojos Asi." She won on the Northern Region of MTV Latin America (based in Mexico, also for Central America, the Caribbean, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru). "Ojos Asi" was also nominated in the Southern region (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia), but it lost to "La Vida" by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.

2001–2003: English market crossover

Upon the success of ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?, Shakira began working on a crossover album to the English language. Collaborating with Gloria Estefan, Shakira wrote and recorded English versions of the tracks from ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?, and new songs were also composed to create Laundry Service. Although it was aimed at the English language market, the rock and Spanish dance-influenced album also features four Spanish songs, including "Que Me Quedes Tú". Some critics claimed that Shakira's English skills were too weak for her to write in it (she was satirized in a MAD TV sketch), but Laundry Service was a success, yielding the worldwide hit "Whenever, Wherever" and singles "Underneath Your Clothes" (a Canadian number-one), "Objection (Tango)", and "The One". The album and its singles established Shakira's musical presence in the mainstream North American market.

In 2002, Shakira also released the Spanish greatest hits volume Grandes éxitos. A DVD and ten-track compilation album called Live & Off the Record, was released in 2004 commemorating Shakira's 2002-2003 world tour, the "Tour of the Mongoose". 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.

In September 2002, Shakira was one of the last artists to win the now-defunct International Viewer's Choice Award at the MTV Video Music Awards with Suerte. She won in the North Region, which was made up by the countries of Mexico, Central America, The Caribbean, Venezuela, and Colombia. She was also nominated for the other two regions' awards, but was defeated by Juanes in the Southwest Region and Diego Torres in the Southeast Region.

In October of that year, she won 5 MTV Video Music Awards Latin America for Best Female Artist, Best Pop Artist, Best Artist—North (Region), Video of the Year (for Suerte), and Artist of the Year. At Aerosmith's MTV Icon in 2002, Shakira performed "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)".

2005–2006: Career comeback

Fijación Oral Vol. 1, Shakira's first Spanish language album since ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?, was released on June 6, 2005 in Europe and on June 7, 2005 in North America and Australia. The lead single "La Tortura" (The Torture, featuring Alejandro Sanz) became one of the only Spanish songs to debut on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100; though it took time, it eventually reached number twenty-three on the chart, the highest position for a Spanish song in the United States. In Canada, "La Tortura" also became the highest-charting Spanish song when it debuted and peaked at number twenty-one. Its success across the rest of the world was widespread and it managed to peak within the top ten of the majority of the charts it entered; it reached number four in Germany and number two in Switzerland. In the U.S., "La Tortura" spent a still-record twenty-five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart, making it the most successful Latin single ever.

The video for "La Tortura" made its debut on MTV's Total Request Live at number nine, and was the second Spanish music video ever to be included in the countdown. It reached a peak position of number four on the countdown, setting a record for highest Spanish position ever on the chart; it also achieved some success on VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown.

Fijación Oral Vol. 1 was simultaneously released in 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 (157,000 copies), breaking Ricky Martin's self-titled album (number twelve, selling 60,000 copies). It was also well-received in non-Spanish speaking countries such as Italy and Germany, where it reached number one, Austria, where it reached number three, and Canada and Hungary, where it reached number seven.

The second single from Fijación Oral Vol. 1, "No" (English: No), was released in September 2005. It failed to match the international chart success of "La Tortura", however peaked at number one in Colombia for fourteen non-consecutive weeks. It also reached number one in Spain and many other Latin America countries like Chile, Ecuador and Mexico.

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 "La Tortura". Her performance at the awards ceremony made history as being the first performance ever that was sung completely in Spanish.

On October 30, 2005 at the Hackney Empire in Hackney, East London, England, Shakira presented her new album Oral Fixation Vol. 2 to more than two hundred and fifty competition winners and selected members of the British press. The concert (at which Shakira performed four tracks from the album as well as previous work) was hosted by MTV and was featured in the MTV 5 Star campaign following her performance. Shakira is one of the first artists to be featured for the campaign.

The third single from Fijación Oral Vol. 1 was "Día De Enero" (English: January's Day) in Latin America, but in Spain "La Pared" (English: The Wall) was the third single.

On November 3, 2005, Shakira won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Female, becoming the first Latin artist to ever win an MTV Award outside of Latin America. Also, she was nominated because of the realese of Fijación Oral Vol. 1, which was completely in Spanish, unlike her previous nominations in 2002 for her crossover album, Laundry Service

Shakira's second English album, Oral Fixation Vol. 2, was released on November 29, 2005 in North America and Australia, and also at this time in Continental Europe. "Don't Bother" has been well-received by music-critics as the album's lead single, but thus far has failed to peak within the U.S. top forty, reaching number forty-two.

On December 8, 2005, Shakira won a Grammy Award in the category of Best Latin Rock Album for Fijación Oral Vol. 1.

Later that month, it was announced that she had won 5 tongues at the MTV Video Music Awards Latin America for Best Female Artist, Best Pop Artist, Best Artist—Central(Region), Video of the Year (for La Tortura), and Artist of the Year.

Oral Fixation Vol. 2 was placed in pre-order status weeks before its release at the iTunes Music Store. Under this status, it gave a pre-order song which would not be available after its release date. The remix of "Don't Bother" was available in the other stores as a purchasable song, which was the pre-order song in the United States. The album is included with a digital version of the booklet.

The Album Cover of Oral Fixation is inspired from The Adam & Eve painting by Alexander Durer. The previous album's cover was inspired by the Freudian idea of a mother and child.

The UK division of Sony BMG were reprimanded by Shakira's PR agency for incorrectly promoting the album in time for its worldwide release, resulting in the UK release date being postponed to February 27, 2006. To help promotion in the UK, which has always been a difficult area for Shakira, a DualDisc version of Oral Fixation Vol. 2 will be released worldwide.

Shakira has recently confirmed that she will embark on her second worldwide tour in early 2006. She has also confirmed interest in beginning a family with her fiancé, as well as in taking a more relaxed approach to music.

Shakira's latest single, "Hips Don't Lie" (featuring Wyclef Jean), has a mix of Colombian, Haitian, Oriental and Caribbean rhythms. Airplay for the song debuted via L.A. radio station (KIIS-FM on the Ryan Seacrest Morning Show) on February 14, 2006. The entire song can be heard at Shakira's official website. The original, entitled "Dance Like This" (featuring Claudette Ortiz), is featured in the movie Dirty Dancing Havana Nights. She is re-releasing Oral Fixation Vol. 2, which will include "Hips Don't Lie" and an alternative version of her smash hit La Tortura (Alternative Version).