Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born: February 2, 1977) known simply as Shakira, ( in English ‭) is a Colombian singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer and philanthropist who has been a major figure in the pop music scene of Latin America since the mid-1990s. She is a native Spanish speaker and also speaks fluent English, Portuguese, Italian, and some Arabic. In 2001, she broke through onto the English-speaking world with the release of Laundry Service, which sold over thirteen million copies worldwide. Shakira is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, according to BMI. She has also won numerous awards worldwide, including two Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammy Awards, fifteen Billboard Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, a People's Choice Award and receiving a Golden Globe nomination. She is also the only artist from South America to reach the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100, the Australian ARIA chart, the United World Chart and the UK Singles Chart.

According to the United World Chart, Shakira is as of 2008 the sixth most successful artist so far for the last decade, in terms of single sales. She is also the first, and currently only, artist to have two songs in the top ten of the most successful singles since 1999. Los Angeles Times declared Shakira "the most completely adapted crossover performer in contemporary pop music".

Shakira will be awarded with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, making her the first Colombian to receive this honor.

Early life

Shakira means "thankful" (شاكِرة) in Arabic . It is the feminine form of the name Shakir. Her second name, Isabel, is also that of her paternal grandmother, meaning "my god is my oath", "my god's house" or "my god is abundance". Her family name Ripoll is Catalan. She spent much of her youth in Barranquilla, a city located in northern Colombia. Shakira is widely noted for her keen intellect and is reported to have an IQ of 140.

Shakira wrote her first poem, entitled "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 her wish at age seven and continued writing poetry. These poems eventually evolved into songs. At the age of eight, after an older half-brother was killed in a motorcycle accident, Shakira wrote her first song entitled "Tus gafas oscuras" ("Your dark glasses"). The inspiration came from her father, who for years after the accident 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. Before she knew it, Shakira was dancing on the table, as restaurant patrons responded by clapping enthusiastically. It was then that Shakira said she knew she wanted to be a performer. She enjoyed singing for schoolmates and teachers (and even the nuns) at her Catholic school, but in the second grade 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 says she had been known as "the belly dancer girl", as she would demonstrate a number she learned every Friday at school. "That's how I discovered my passion for live performance," she says.Katz, Gregory. "Shakira it up with Shakira". USA Weekend. December 11, 2005.