Jump to content

Shakira

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by DavidConrad (talk | contribs) at 23:08, 28 May 2006 (→Childhood and beginning: copyed). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Infobox musical artist 2 Shakira Isabell Mebarak Ripoll (born February 2 1977), better known simply as Shakira, is a Colombian Latin pop singer-songwriter.

Biography and music career

Childhood and beginning

Shakira was born in Barranquilla, Colombia to a mother of Spanish and Italian descent and an American-born father of Lebanese Catholic background. Shakira began writing and composing music at the age of eight. One of the first songs she wrote was called "Tus Gafas Oscuras", whose lyrical message revolved around her father and his grief over a son who had died 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. [1] Shakira started looking for other singing opportunities, and competed in a weekly television singing competition for children, Vivan Los Niños.

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.

Magia (Magic) was Shakira's debut album, recorded with Sony Colombia in 1991, at the age of 13. The songs were penned by her from the time she was 8, however it was hampered by a lack of recording and production cohesion and did not fare well commercially. Less than one thousand copies were sold and the album is now a sought after as a collector's item.

Peligro (Danger) was Shakira's second album. It was released in 1993 through Sony Colombia, when Shakira was just 15. This album fared better than Magia, but Shakira decided to take a break from recording and graduate from high school. The recording itself is a collection of self-penned songs but is once again marred by a lack of cohesive production.

1995–2000: Spanish market success

Shakira's breakthrough album, Pies Descalzos.

Shakira returned to the music business in 1995 with the album Pies Descalzos (Bare Feet), which established her commercial success by selling over 5 million copies worldwide. 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? (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", "Tú", "Si Te Vas", "Octavo Día" and the worldwide success "Ojos Así" made it possible for the album to reach the amount of 7 million copies sold worldwide. 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".

2001–present: English market crossover

File:LaundryService.jpg
Laundry Service, Shakira's first English album.

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, selling more than 13 million CDs worldwide, yielding the worldwide hit "Whenever, Wherever" and singles "Underneath Your Clothes" (a Canadian number-one), "Te Dejo Madrid", "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 reaching sales of 3 million CDs worldwide, 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. 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)". Also in 2002, Shakira joined the likes of Celine Dion, Anastacia, Cher and The Dixie Chicks for VH1 Divas Live Las Vegas.

Template:Sample box start variation 2 Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end

Fijación Oral Vol. 1 was released on June 6 2005 in Europe and on June 7 2005 in North America and Australia. The lead single "La Tortura" (English: The Torture, featuring Alejandro Sanz) eventually reached number one in Spain and number twenty-three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, 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. In the U.S., "La Tortura" spent a still-record twenty-five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart, and it became the most successful Latin single ever.

Fijación Oral Vol. 1 was simultaneously released in Latin America. It debuted at number one in Spain and at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200,where is currently the best-selling Spanish first-week sales album. 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", although it peaked at number one in Spain and Colombia, here for fourteen non-consecutive weeks. So far, Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 has sold close to 5 million copies worldwide.

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 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.

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 failed to peak within the U.S. top forty. On February 8 2006, Shakira won a Grammy Award in the category of "Best Latin Rock Album" for Fijación Oral Vol. 1.

"Hips Don't Lie" (featuring Wyclef Jean), was released in 2006 as the second single from Oral Fixation Vol. 2. On March 28, 2006, she re-released "Oral Fixation Vol. 2" with Hips Don't Lie and an Alternate (Spanglish) Version of La Tortura.

On April 3 2006, Shakira was honored at an United Nations ceremony [2] because she created the Pies Descalzos Foundation, a charity that helps to protect children from violence in Colombia. At the event she said: "Let's not forget that at the end of this day when we all go home, 960 children will have died in Latin America".

On April 27 2006 she received 6 Latin Billboard Awards, making her the biggest winnner of the night. These awards included Female Latin Pop Album of the Year for Fijacion Oral Vol. 1 and Hot Latin Song of the Year for La Tortura. She was also honored with the Spirit of Hope Award for her foundation Pies Descalzos, which helps children in her native Colombia.

Now, she is preparing her Oral Fixation World Tour. Also, Shakira is going to sing a new version of "Hips Don't Lie" called 'Bamboo Version' at the closing ceremony of the 'FIFA World Cup 2006' on July 9 2006.

Personal life

Shakira is 5'2"[3]. In 2000, she started dating Antonio de la Rúa, the son of the former president of Argentina Fernando de la Rúa, a romance that made headline news all over Latin America. In March of 2001, he proposed to her.

De la Rúa and Shakira remain engaged, with no announced marriage plans.

Following the release of Fijación Oral Vol. 1 & Oral Fixation Vol. 2, Shakira says she plans to some day issue her most important "super production" in two parts: her children. Shakira told the Latin television program Don Francisco Presenta that she hopes to have two children - a boy and a girl - with her fiancé following his graduation from college in the spring of 2007. But, she says that Antonio sees things differently: "It makes him furious. He would like to have four or five and I tell him: 'not with me'."

Shakira says that it was love at first sight when she saw Antonio dining four tables away from her at a restaurant. She says that they are great friends, but like all couples sometimes have arguments, adding, "If we didn't argue I'd be worried."

Discography

Main article: Shakira discography

Albums:

See also

References

Wikiquote has quotations related to Shakira.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shakira&oldid=55643941"