Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born in the Clinica Asuncion de Barranquilla, Colombia, on a Wednesday, February 2, 1977. Daughter of a respected jeweler of Lebanese descent. In naming the newborn, her mother had shuffled through several names containing the letter "K" to go well with the sound of the "K" in Mebarak. She had considered Karime and Katiuska but finally chose Shakira, an arabic name derived from the word "Shukram which means "Grace" the most literal translation is "woman full of Grace" , even though Shakira has said she identifies more with its second meaning, "Grateful." Colombians said that the newborn was chubby and had curly hair, thick eyebrows, and a healthy set of lungs. What nobody knew was that those lungs would inscribe her name in Music History
Her mother is a Colombian named Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado which is a Spanish-Catalan descent. While his father was a descendant of Lebanese-born American Catholic named William Mebarak Chadid.
Shakira revealed many talents at the school as a perpetrator of life, showing vocal abilities with a rock and roll, Latin and Middle Eastern influences with his own original twist on belly dancing. Shakira is a native Spanish speaker and also speaks fluent English and Portuguese as well as some Italian, French and Arabic.
In 2000, she started dating Antonio de la Rúa. In a 2009 interview, Shakira stated their relationship already worked as a married couple, and that "they don't need papers for that." On January 10, 2011, Shakira announced on her website that after 11 years together, she and de la Rúa had separated in August 2010 after making "a mutual decision to take time apart from our romantic relationship." She wrote that the couple "view this period of separation as temporary and as a time of individual growth as we continue to be partners in our business and professional lives", with de la Rúa overseeing Shakira's "business and career interests as he has always done."
Shakira has been currently dating with Gerard Piqué (10 years younger centre back for FC Barcelona). Shakira officially confirmed their relationship on March 29, 2011 via Twitter and Facebook posting a picture of the two with a caption reading, "I present to you my sunshine." It was the first time she'd ever spoken of the relationship on the social network.
Shakira has been working in the field of music since the age of 8 years. And, little by little he became famous, until her first album Magia recorded in 1991. From 1995-2000 he was the success of Latin America and Spain. Then his first English language album, Laundry Service was launched in 2001.
After the commercial flops with local producers in his first two albums, and a little-known outside Colombia, Shakira decided to produce its own brand of music. In 1995 he released the Pies Descalzos, which brought great fame in Latin America and Spain, and her album ¿Dónde 1998 Están los Ladrones? critical success. Since then he has gained many fans in countries with semi-Hispanophone, and the countries of non-Spanish speaking a lot, especially the United States. In 2001, and assisted by heavy rotation of music videos, "Whenever, Wherever", he broke into the English speaking world with the release of Laundry Service, which sold more than 13 million copies worldwide. Four years later, Shakira released the project's second album called Fijación Oral Vol. Oral Fixation 1 and Vol. 2. Both reinforced his success, especially with one of the most successful song in the 21st century so far, "Hips Do not Lie" From October-November 2009 Shakira released a new album around the world She Wolf .
She has won two Grammy Awards, seven Latin Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Latin Music Awards and been nominated for Golden Globe. She is also the highest selling Colombian artist of all time, and the second most successful female Latin singer has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. In addition, he is the only artist from South America to reach the number one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, Australian ARIA chart, and the UK Singles Chart. Shakira will be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 1995, Shakira founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation. It is a Colombian charity with special schools for poor children all around Colombia. During her career, Shakira has performed at a large number of benefit concerts. Among the most famous are the Live 8 Benefit Concert in July 2005, the Concert of Live Earth in Hamburg where she headlined the show, as well as the "Clinton Global Initiative" created by former US President Bill Clinton. She was also invited to the Oval Office by President Barack Obama in February 2010 to discuss early childhood development.
In 2008, Shakira turned down a role in a movie because it involved nudity. The movie, Love In The Time Of Cholera, has a nude scene, which would require Shakira to strip naked. The 34-year-old singer, who has been nominated for a Golden Globe for her soundtrack for the Mike Newell film, revealed that Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who wrote the original book, wanted her to do the main part. However Shakira has turned the offer down, as she was scared doing a nude scene might anger her parents.
"There was nudity involved, so I said no. My parents wouldn't like it at all. So I said thank you, but no thank you," Contactmusic quoted her, as saying.
In the fall of 2009, Shakira released her sixth album She Wolf worldwide. Shakira's "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", was chosen as the official song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The song has received generally positive critical reception, and has become a worldwide smash hit and the biggest selling World Cup song of all time. On YouTube, the English version of the music video is the 3rd most watched video of all time with over 300 million views. Her seventh studio album, the bilingual Sale el Sol, was released October 2010 and has shipped over 4 million copies worldwide.
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