Shakira

Who Is Shakira?

Shakira is a Colombian singer. She also writes her own songs. She dances on stage. She helps make the music in the studio. People call her the Queen of Latin Music. She is known for bright beats and smooth voice. She has helped many people hear Spanish songs around the world. She makes fans feel happy and want to move. Her music is full of rhythm and heart. She shares her love for music with every fan.

Shakira is more than a singer. She writes lyrics that tell a story. She moves with graceful steps. She works with many other artists. She has won many awards for her songs. Her name is heard in many countries. She brings a smile to people who listen. She is friendly and warm when she talks to fans. Her energy makes concerts feel like a big party.

Early Life and Background

Shakira was born on February two, nineteen seventy seven.

Career and Claim to Fame

Shakira started as a singer and songwriter. She writes her own words and sings them. She also dances in her videos and on stage. She produces the music that plays on radio and TV. Her style mixes pop, rock and Latin sounds. This mix made her very popular. She is called the Queen of Latin Music because she helped bring Latin songs to many new ears.

She has helped other Latin artists find a place in the world market. Her songs have been sung in many languages. The world knows her name and her smile. The official site is https en wikipedia org wiki Shakira.

Birthday, Age and Zodiac

Shakira was born on February two, nineteen seventy seven. She is forty nine years old. Her zodiac sign is Aquarius. Aquarius people are known to be kind and curious. They like to help others. They think of new ideas. They love to share their thoughts with friends.

Fun Facts and Legacy

Shakira is a Colombian singer who writes songs and dances. She was born on February two, nineteen seventy seven and is now forty nine. Her sign is Aquarius and she shows the kind and curious traits of that sign. She is called the Queen of Latin Music and she helped bring Spanish songs to many ears. Her official page can be found at https en wikipedia org wiki Shakira. Fans love her bright beats and warm smile.

Shakira - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Shakira

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( shə-KEER-ə,; born 2 February 1977), known mononymously as Shakira, is a Colombian singer-songwriter, dancer, and record producer. Referred to as the "Queen of Latin Music", she has had a significant impact on the musical landscape of Latin America and has been credited with popularizing Hispanophone music globally, contributing to increased learning and use of the Spanish language worldwide. She is also credited with opening the doors of the international market in popular music for other Latin artists. Her accolades include four Grammy Awards and fifteen Latin Grammy Awards.

This profile of Shakira covers Early Life and Family Background, 1990–1993: Magia and Peligro, 1994–2000: Breakthrough with Pies Descalzos and Dónde Están los Ladrones?, 2001–2004: Laundry Service and English transition and 2005–2007: Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation, Vol. 2.

Shakira made her recording debut with Sony Music Colombia at the age of 14. She rose to prominence with the albums Pies Descalzos (1995) and Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998). Her first English release, Laundry Service (2001), sold over 13 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album by a female Latin artist. Her success was further solidified with the Spanish-language albums Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 (2005), Sale el Sol (2010), El Dorado (2017), and Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (2024), all of which topped the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, making her the first woman with number-one albums across four different decades. Her English albums Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 (2005), She Wolf (2009), and Shakira (2014) achieved platinum status worldwide.

Shakira is among the world's best-selling musicians with numerous number-one singles, including "Estoy Aquí", "Ciega, Sordomuda", "Whenever, Wherever / Suerte", "Underneath Your Clothes", "Objection (Tango)", "La Tortura", "Hips Don't Lie", "Beautiful Liar", "She Wolf", "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", "Loca", "Rabiosa", "Can't Remember to Forget You", "Dare (La La La)", "La Bicicleta", "Chantaje", "Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53", "TQG", and "Dai Dai". Shakira served as a coach on two seasons of the American singing competition television series The Voice (2013–2014), had a voice role in the animated films Zootopia (2016) and Zootopia 2 (2025), and executive produced and judged the dance competition series Dancing with Myself (2022). Billboard named her the Top Female Latin Artist of the Decade twice (2000s and 2010s), and she was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2026. Involved with the FIFA World Cup at various points since 2006, Shakira is described as the tournament's artistic, publicity, and humanitarian icon.

Shakira has written or co-written a vast majority of music and lyrics she performed during her career and is rated as an "international phenomenon", known for blending Western and Middle Eastern influences. She received the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year and Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year awards in 2011, for her philanthropic and humanitarian work, such as the Barefoot Foundation, and was appointed to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. Also, she was granted the honor of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 2012, and advocates for equitable development of the Global South, the rights and interests of children, the Latino minority in the U.S. And Canada, women, and other under-represented groups.

Early Life and Family Background of Shakira

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born on 2 February 1977 in Barranquilla, a city located on the northern Caribbean coast of Colombia. She is the only child of William Mebarak Chadid and Nidia Ripoll Torrado. Her parents are of Lebanese, Catalan, and Colombian descent, though she has distant Italian roots through an ancestor with the surname Pisciotti. She was raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools. Shakira has eight older half-siblings from her father's previous marriage.

Shakira wrote her first poem, titled "La Rosa de Cristal" ('The Crystal Rose'), when she was four years old, and continued to write poetry. As her music interests crystallized, the poetry turned into song lyrics. When she was two years old, her half-brother was killed at the age of nineteen, in a motorcycle accident. Six years later, writing lyrics on her typewriter and having been given a guitar by her aunt, she composed her first song, titled "Gafas Oscuras" ('Dark Glasses'). It was inspired by her father, who for years wore dark glasses to hide his grief.

Shakira grew up in reasonably comfortable family conditions until her father, a jeweler, went bankrupt when she was eight. Her parents sent her to stay for a while with relatives in Los Angeles. When she came back, their two cars, furniture and color TV were gone and she had to adjust to a different reality. She could buy her parents a car when she was 14, after receiving some money for the release of the Magia album.

When she was four, Shakira's father took her to a local Middle Eastern restaurant, where she first heard the doumbek, a traditional festive Arabic music drum, also used to accompany belly dancing. Spontaneously, she climbed onto a table and started to dance; soon she wanted to do it for anyone who would watch. At her Catholic school, she demonstrated belly dancing on every Friday morning, encouraged by her parents, teachers and students in the audience, who were convinced of her bright future as a performer. A former classmate recalled, "Just her, singing and dancing on the stage." but in second grade, Shakira was rejected for school choir because, according to the music teacher, her vibrato was too strong; classmates told her she sounded like a goat. She was often sent out of class because of her hyperactivity. To make Shakira appreciate more the modest conditions of her upbringing, her father took her to a local park so she could see orphans who lived there. The images stayed with her and she said to herself, "one day I'm going to help these kids when I become a famous artist". Having regained some confidence in her singing, she entered a local TV station talent contest when she was ten and won the top prize, a bicycle.

Between the ages of ten and thirteen, Shakira attended various events around Barranquilla and gained some recognition singing and dancing in the area. She met local theater producer Monica Ariza, who was impressed with her and told Sony Music Colombia executive Ciro Vargas about "a talented girl who composed songs, sang and danced". He held an audition for her, liked the performance and arranged for other Sony Music people to be present during another audition in Bogotá. Shakira sang three of her songs there and was signed, at the age of 13, for recording of three albums to be released by Sony.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakira), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.