On February 2, 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia, Shakira was born to an American father of Christian Lebanese descent and a Colombian mother of Italian and Spanish descent. She moved to BogotA with her family 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 worse than its predecessor, Shakira decided to turn 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 EspaAol compilation album, and, during her cab ride to the meeting with the music executives, she wrote "ADAnde EstAs CorazAn?" to present to them. She returned to the music business in 1995 with the album ''Pies Descalzos'' (Barefeet), which established her commercial success. The hit ''Estoy AquA'' 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. ''ADAnde EstAn Los Ladrones?'' (Where are the thieves?) was an expensive 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 AsA" which was sung in both Spanish and Arabic. 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 ''ADAnde EstAn Los Ladrones?''.
English Crossover
Upon the success of ''ADAnde EstAn Los Ladrones?'', Shakira began working on a crossover album to the English-speaking market. Working with Gloria Estefan, Shakira wrote and recorded English versions of the ''ADAnde EstAn Los Ladrones?'' album. It was decided however, that new songs should be written rather than translated songs. Shakira improved 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 (even being satirized in a MAD TV sketch), but ''Laundry Service'' was nevertheless a big success. It is best known for the infectious single "Whenever, Wherever" (English version of ''Suerte'', English lyrics written by Gloria Estefan) and for being one of the top albums of 2002. Some of the originally recorded "translated" versions by Gloria Estefan still remain, namely ''Eyes Like Yours'' (English version of ''Ojos Asi''). Shakira is well known for passionate, 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 Acxitos''. ''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 ''FijaciAn Oral 1'' was released in June 2005. The follow-up, the English-language ''Oral Fixation 2'', was released on November 29 2005. She co-writes and co-produces her songs with longtime partners Luis Fernando Ochoa and Lester MAcndez. Vocal co-compilation, as well as direction of background vocal sessions by Rita Quintero. Also, Gustavo Cerati wrote 2 songs and played guitar on both albums.Today, Shakira is considered by many to be a great talent. As Gabriel GarcAa MArquez 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 Rua the son of the former president of Argentina Fernando de la RAoa. 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. Many saw this as 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 albums
Cover of Shakira's Album "Oral Fixation Vol 2"
It was announced April 8 2005 that Shakira would be releasing two albums this year. ''FijaciAn 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'', the English-language follow-up, was released on November 29. The first single off ''FijaciAn 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).''Don't Bother'' is the first single of Oral Fixation Vol 2 and was distributed electronically by SonyBMG to radio stations in the United States and other locations on October 11th 2005. Online music stores such as iTunes had the single available for download on October 18th. The single has been received well by radio stations and currently is among the fastest growing singles in terms of airplay.On October 30th 2005 at the intimate Hackney Empire in Hackney, East London, Shakira presented her new album "Oral Fixation Volume 2" to more than 250 competition winners and selected members of the British press. The concert (at which Shakira performed four tracks from the album as well as some previous work) was hosted by MTV and will be used in their upcoming "MTV 5 Star" campaign.Shakira is one of the first artists ever to be used for "MTV 5 Star", and from November 24th MTV will air a two hour programming block around the world which is fully focused on Shakira. The block will culminate in the transmission of the presentational concert in London, and the third "Diary of Shakira" that Shakira has appeared in.From November 22 2005, MTV will stream the entire Oral Fixation Volume 2 as part of their "The Leak" campaign. The album was released November 28 in most of Europe and November 29 in the USAThe 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 at least February 27, 2006. To help promotion in the UK, which has always been a difficult area for Shakira, a DualDisc version of Oral Fixation 2 will be released worldwide. This will contain bonus content.Shakira has confirmed that she will embark on her second worldwide tour in 2006. The tour is expected to kick off in April of that year. The Tour and recently released album is expected to be Shakira's last for some time, as she has expressed an interest in starting a family with her long-term boyfriend, Antonio De La Rua, and taking a more relaxed approach to making music.
Charts
Cover of Shakira's Album "Fijacion Oral Vol 1The 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 Spanish position ever on the chart.''FijaciAn 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 Italy and 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.
La Tortura broke the record set by Son by Four in 2000 by spending more than 20 non consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks and it has spent more weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 than Shakira's most successful single Whenever Wherever.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.On November 3, 2005 she won the Best Female award at then MTV Europe Music Awards in Portugal.Shakira is now nominated for 6 MTV Latin America awards (2005). The awards were to be held in Playa del Carmen, on the Mayan Riviera (Mexican Caribbean) on October 20, 2005 but were postponed because of Hurricane Wilma that caused unprecedented damage to the zone.Shakira got nominated on December 8th 2005, for a Grammy in the Latin Rock Album Category for Fijacion Oral Vol 1.- Colombian singer/songwriter Shakira has signed a worldwide, long-term publishing agreement with Famous Music, the publishing division of Paramount Pictures. The new deal covers administration rights in Shakira's entire catalog-representing more than 30 million albums sold worldwide. The deal also covers greatest-hits and unplugged releases that may come about during the term of the contract.Shakira's previous administration deal, with Sony/ATV, expired November 5. Sony/ATV had scooped her up as a songwriter from the onset of her recording career, which began when she signed with Sony Colombia more than 10 years ago.Shakira's camp first approached Famous president/COO Ira Jaffe more than a year ago. Sources close to the deal say the advance given to Shakira was in the several millions.