Shakira… Latin Pop's Biggest Female Crossover Artist

I like how this lady can carry herself gracefully yet so vibrant… as the Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez said, “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." She's a child prodigy who wrote her first song at age eight… a blond-locked Colombian who speaks three languages and loves only in Spanish. She's a perfectionist who spends hours in the studio… she needs to be close to nature but her passion is the crackle of electric guitars. Noted for her aggressive, rock-influenced approach, Shakira maintained an extraordinary degree of creative control over her music, especially for a female artist; she wrote or co-wrote nearly all of her own material… and in the process gained a reputation as one of Latin music’s most ambitiously poetic lyricists. When she released her first English material in late 2001, she became an instant pop sensation… well, that’s because of her quirky poetic sense and sexy video image built on her hip-shaking belly-dance moves.

Want to know more about her???

• Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born February 2, 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia, into a poor family. Her mother was a native Colombian and her father was of Lebanese descent

• Announced engagement to Antonio de la Rua, son of the President of Argentina. [March 2001]

• Is the youngest of eight siblings.

• Shakira is Arabic for "grateful" or "full of grace."

• Is of Colombian and Lebanese heritage

• Named her album "Laundry Service" because when she is in love she feels "clean and fresh"

• Has an IQ of 140!

• Fluent in Portuguese, Italian, and English, in addition to Spanish and Arabic

• Hates to wear jewelry.

• Her Lebanese grandmother taught her the art of Arabian Belly Dancing so she can stay true to her middle eastern roots

• Has perfect pitch (the ability to recognize any note upon hearing it or sing any note without prior to hearing it)

• Her manager for Latin America, Patricia Tellez, the woman who helped her go from being local artist to Grammy-winning global artist, died of a heart attack in Bogota on 17 August 2004.

• Ranked #9 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002).

• She likes chocolate balls.

• Father's name is William Mebarak Chadid and mother's name is Nidia del Carmen Ripolli Torrado.

• Her mother is half Colombian and half Italian and her father is American with Lebanese ancestry.

• She has 5 half brothers Alberto, Edward, Moises, Tonino and Robin and 3 half sisters Ana, Lucy and Patricia.

• Steven Spielberg offered her the role of Elena Montero in The Mask of Zorro (1998) back when he was originally in talks to direct it. But, she turned the offer down because she felt that not only was she a bad actress, but her English wasn't good enough.

• When she was two years old her oldest half-brother died in an accident while he was riding a motorcycle and a drunk man hit him with his car.

• Her oldest half-sister Lucy is a surgeon, Alberto, her half-brother, is a lawyer, Moises is the third child, Tonino is the fourth child and the closest to Shakira, having worked many years as her road manager. Then is Patricia who lives in Spain, she is a special education teacher, and finally there is Antonio and Edward, the youngest who lives in Miami.

• The first English song she wrote was Objection, from the album Laundry Service.

• She loves to eat corozos, a little Colombian fruit that is sweet-sour.

• Lost her suitcase with all her songs from Donde Estan Los Ladrones in an airport in Bogota Colombia. This happened a couple of months before she walked into the recording studio to begin on that album.

• Mattel put out several Barbie dolls inspired by Shakira and her look.

• Her album 'Fijacion Oral Vol.1' is #1 on the Billboard Latin Albums Chart in September 2005.

• Attended La Ensenanza School in Barranquilla.

• Her English language album 'Oral Fixation 2' will be released in November 2005.

• Lists John Lennon as her #1 musical influence.

• Her cousin is fashion designer and Miss Colombia 2006 Valerie Dominguez Tarud

• Ranked as #76 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. (2005)

• Was featured as #15 in Maxim Magazine's "Hot 100 of 2002" supplement. (2002)

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