SHAKIRA

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll is from Barranquilla, Colombia, and she was born on February 9, 1977. When Shakira was thirteen years old, she moved to Bogota to become an actress. Sony Music saw her talent, and they instead gave her a recording contract. She recorded her first album "Magia" when she was just fourteen years old, but it was not a success. After the failure of her first two albums, Shakira became an actress again. In 1995, after she took a year-long break from music, she returned to recording and produced the album "Pies Descalzos." The song "Estoy Aquí" was very successful en Latin America, and it reached number one on the music charts. The following singles, "Dónde está corazón," "Pienso en ti," and others were also very successful. She recorded "¿Dónde están los ladrones?" en 1998, and she performed "MTV Unplugged" in 2000. In 2001, she recorded her first English language album, "Laundry Service." She had always been popular in the United States, but only in the language Spanish. Now, millions of copies of her CD have sold. She combines beautiful melodies with intelligent lyrics. She says that her music is sincere, every day, and authentic.