Shakira

From her curly blonde locks to her firmly planted feet, she's an entertainer. What began at an early age has led to the performance of a lifetime on arguably one of the largest and most influential stages in the world. She has wowed fans world-wide and does not seem in any position to quit. But how has all of this come about? Let's take a look at the life, times, and accomplishments of Shakira.

Let me see you move like you come from Colombia

The lady today known by only her first name was born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll on February 2, 1977. Her mother is Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado, a Colombian with some Catalan to her. Her father, William Mebarak Chadid is American-born and of Lebanese descent, but the couple settled in Barranquilla, Colombia and raised their family. Shakira was the only child of her parent's marriage, and says that she felt like an only child in her nuclear family, though she is not without siblings. In fact, her father had five sons and three daughters during a previous marriage. She actually had six brothers, but when she was 2 years old, she says she recalls that her mother received a phone call telling the family that a brother had died in a motorcycle accident when he was struck by a drunk driver. This, Shakira says, is her first memory.

It's not her fault she's so irresistible

Shakira grew up with the influence of all her parent’s personality and background, with a healthy dose of local culture and American rock and roll. Her father enjoyed discussing politics and other deep topics with his family, which may or may not have had an influence on his young daughter's romantic taste in later life.

She started writing songs when very young (her first song was “Your Dark Sunglasses”, a ‘romantic’ song focusing on an imaginary little boy/boyfriend- circa 1985), which then progressed to talent show competitions and a failed modeling career in Bogotá in 1990. The failed modeling career was actually probably the most important break of all, as soon after, she got signed by the Colombian division of Sony. She released her debut album, Magia, the following year, at the tender age of 13.

Cause all we really needed was our bare feet and a pair of wings to fly

As previously stated, Shakira’s childhood and career began to blend together. Magia started her on her way to intranational recognition, but the album did not break onto the world scene. Her second album, Peligro, was rather poppy for the budding starlet’s taste, and instead of doing more recording, she took a role on the soap opera El Oasis around 1994. At age 17, she was young and experimentational. Her acting was personally admitted to be a little lukewarm.

“But I was too young, and I was a little overacted, and I don't feel too proud, you know? I don't like to watch the episodes of that series.”

After this little foray into an alternate art, Shakira returned to music. In 1995, she released Piez Descalzos, which began spawning hit after hit. This allowed her to break into the international market with force. She managed to reach the top of the charts in not five, nor six, but eight different countries. This success was pretty encouraging to a girl who had to get two auditions to get signed, and she enlisted the help of Emilio Estefan (husband of another Latina star, Gloria Estefan) as manager to keep things rolling. 1998’s album with Estefan's leadership, Donde Estan los Ladrones, marks the point where I actually started caring about Shakira. This multi-hit album fielded the wonderfully catchy and Arabian-infused hit "Ojos Asi". This song gave a vigorous and toe-tapping nod to Shakira’s Lebanese roots, personal strength, and ridiculously seductive belly-dancing technique. More on that later.

Emilio’s lovely wife soon offered to translate "Ojos Asi" for Shakira, who was beginning to see the immense opportunity inherent in the English-speaking market. She began to learn English so that she could write her own lyrics in the future, purely in English and featuring her unique style of poetry inherent in her Spanish hits. Out popped Laundry Service, a pretty-much English language album featuring the hits "Whenever, Wherever" and "Objection (Tango)". There are also random songs that have taught me how to mouth words in Spanish with large levels of accuracy (see: "Te Dejo Madrid"). The album hit triple platinum a year after release. Obviously, something went right. The bilingual ability allowed her to focus her lyrics on what she was actually trying to get across.

“The Spanish album is strictly romantic. . . but the English album embraces more social-oriented topics. I always talk about my opinions in Spanish”

2002 saw a greatest hits album, a remix CD of Laundry Service, followed by a DVD and, as always, was peppered with touring sets (which consequently allowed a Live album). By 2005, international audiences were being wowed by Fijacion Oral, a new Spanish language album created at her home studio in the Bahamas. It introduced us to the multi-national superhit "La Tortura", and a greased-up Shakira gyrating and shaking everything her mother had instilled in her in her music video as if she were filled with live serpents and lovely, lovely dreams. The English “version” of the album (actually the second volume) was titled Oral Fixation and led to an absolutely spectacular single, “Hips Don’t Lie”, featuring Wyclef Jean. This hit was well received in America and around the world. Millions of people listened to it purposely and with gusto. Millions more may have been accidentally exposed during her performance with Wyclef during the 2006 World Cup Final halftime show in front of the sold-out stadium and countless more televisions worldwide.

The things I deserve, for being such a good girl, honey

To date, Shakira has been nominated for 13 Latin Grammys and won seven of them-

• 2000-Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Pop ("Ojos Así")
• 2000-Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Rock ("Octavo Día")
• 2002-Best Music Video Music Video ("Suerte")
• 2006-Album of the Year (Fijación Oral Vol. 1)
• 2006-Record of the Year ("La Tortura")
• 2006-Song of the Year ("La Tortura")
• 2006-Best Female Vocal Pop Album Pop (Fijación Oral Vol.)
• 2006- Engineered Album Production (Fijación Oral Vol. 1)

She was also nominated for four Grammys, winning two of them-

• 2001-Best Latin Pop Album
• 2006-Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album

There are also numerous number ones and top tens and debut albums and ridiculous accolades that can be attributed to the lovely Colombiana, but my family’s already mad at me for noding away my vacation. Suffice it to say, she has stormed the charts in numerous countries, and she has done it well.

Nothing like your smile made of sun

I don’t know if I’ve expressed this sufficiently, but Shakira is truly a lovely woman. She has gone through several hair color and style iterations, from brown and curly to brown and straight, through an outstanding state of fuscia and settling currently on bouncy blonde curls. They really look quite striking with her lightly tanned complexion and big brown eyes. She’s got the body of a dancer, which she often enjoys showing off in her videos. Let’s just face it, people. The lady has some serious belly-dancing, hip swinging, back-breaking moves. And she does it all without the dirty pop-tart look so common in the music of the day. For lovely examples of her dancing, check out the videos for "La Tortura" or "Hips Don’t Lie".

Me quede tu abrazo, y el beso que inventas cada día

Despite her stint on the soap opera, Shakira says she is not really in to acting currently, though she does agree that art can be appreciated in all its forms. What’s in store for her music? Who knows!

"My music, I think, is a fusion of many different elements. . . And I'm always experimenting. So I try not to limit myself, or put myself in a category, or . . . be the architect of my own jail, you know?"

I am sure you’re looking forward to it, so I will tell you now that Shakira has been romantically linked with Antonio de la Rua since 2000. The two have been engaged for some time, and may eventually get married. Their relationship did stop Tower Records from selling her albums in Argentina for a while, considering her squeeze’s rather personal entanglement with the politics there.

Shakira has necrophobia- following the death of her brother, she herself fears her death, relatives dying, and even the eventual death of relationships.

So there you have it, as best as I can provide- a brief and hopefully informative synopsis of the life and times of the lady behind the hips. Stay tuned for further developments and, God willing, better gossip.

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SHAKIRA

Shakira is awesome! isn't she? Well, the ones who don't know her yet, must do it.
Shakira is very famous round the world, but it isn't luck! Actually, it's the result of a hard working life.

In this article, you'll know more about her career and her contribution to the musical and social world.

Early years and Career

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born in Barranquila, Colombia on February 2, 1977. She is a Lebanese, Spanish and Italian descendent, and it has contributed a lot to the definition of her music style.

Yet on her childhood she discovered she wanted to be a performer and she used to perform her belly dancing at school on Fridays.
After going through some difficult events in her family, she also decided she would help orphans when she became famous.

Shakira's career started early. She wrote her first poem when she was just four and never stopped. When she was only thirteen, her first album, called "Magia", was released and in 1993 she took part of an International Song Festival, where she performed the ballad "Eres". After that, she recorded her second Album, "Peligro", but any of them were considered official albums.

In 1995, after the success of the song "Dónde Estás Corazón?", she recorded her first official album, "Pies Descalzos", which sold nearly one million copies and brought her three Billboards Latin Music Awards for Album of the Year, Video of the Year and Best New Artist.

Her second official Album was released in 1998. "Dónde Están los Ladrones" was inspired by an incident in an airport in which a suitcase full of her written lyrycs was stolen and became a bigger hit than "Pies Descalzos". This Album has sold seven million copies worldwide.

In 1999, Shakira received her first Grammy Award Nomination for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album and in the same year she recorded her first live album, "MTV Umplugged". With this Album, she earned the Grammy Award for best Latin Pop Album in 2001.

After that, Shakira worked for over a year on an English album named "Laundry Service". She was hardly criticized by her Latin fans for creating an album for the English market and also by the critics who said "Shakira's magic was lost in translation". Despite this, the album became the best selling album of 2002 and sold more than thirteen million copies worldwide. Shakira embarked on her first worldwide tour on that year.

Only in 2005, Shakira's fourth album, "Fijación Oral - Vol.1", was released. It was another big success and sold over one million copies in only three days. "Oral Fixacion - Vol. 2", her fifth studio album, was released in the end of the same year.

From June, 2006 to July, 2007 she made 125 shows in her second worldwide tour.

Shakira also made many duets with another artists at this time.

In 2009, "She Wolf", her sixty album, was released and in 2010 she went to her third worldwide tour. Yet in this year Shakira performed "Waka Waka", the World Cup theme song, at the competition's kick-off and closing, and released her seventh album, "Sale el Sol".

From September 2010 to October 2011 she embarked on another Tour and recorded for the Live Album "Shakira: Live from Paris". There is a expectation now for her next album and the amazing new songs.

Shakira says that her music is a fusion of many different elements, like Folk and oriental music and that she's always experimenting. We can see that by the different elements through her albums. Here first Spanish albums were a mix of folk music and Latin rock, while her cross-over English album, Laundry Service and her later albums were influenced by pop rock and pop Latino. Her 2009 album, "She Wolf", is more like electropop and dance music and "Sale el Sol" is a return to her beginnings containing ballads, rock songs and Latin dance songs, like "Loca".

Discography

1995 - Pies Descalzos
1998 - Dónde Están los Ladrones?
2001 - Laundry Service
2005 - Fijación Oral Vol. 1
2005 - Oral Fixation Vol. 2
2009 - She Wolf
2010 - Sale el Sol

Shakira Awards

According to Sony, Shakira is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold more than 60 million albums worldwide. There are also the information that "Hips Don't Lie" was the most-played pop song in a single week in American radio history. It was played 9,637 times in one week. Regarding this, Shakira has many other impressive achievements. Here goes some a list of her the awards she gained. Inspite oh that, she was also nominated for many others:

- ALMA Awards

2008 Won NCLR ALMA Humanitarian Award

2006 Won ALMA Award - category Spanish-Language Album of the Year for "Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1"

2006 Won ALMA Award - category Outstanding Female Performer

- Amadeus Awards

2003 Won Amadeus Award - category Single of the Year, International (Single des Jahres International) for "Whenever, Wherever"

- American Music Awards

2010 Won American Music Award - category Favorite Latin Artist

2006 Won American Music Award - category Favorite Latin Artist

2005 Won American Music Award - category Favorite Latin Artist

- Billboard Latin Music Awards

2012 Won Billboard Latin Music Awards - category Songs Artist of the Year, Female

2012 Won Billboard Latin Music Awards - category Albums Artist of the Year, Female

2012 Won Billboard Latin Music Awards - category Latin Pop Songs Artist of the Year, Solo

2012 Won Billboard Latin Music Awards - category Social Artist of the Year

2011 Won Billboard Latin Music Award - category Latin Pop Airplay, Artista del Ano, Solista

2011 Won Billboard Latin Music Award - category Hot Latin Songs, Artista del Ano, Femenino

2011 Won Billboard Latin Music Award - category Latin Digital Albums, Disco del Ano for "Sale El Sol"

2011 Won Billboard Latin Music Award - category Social 50, Artista Latino del Ano

2011 Won Billboard Latin Music Award - category Descarga Digital Latina del Ano for "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)"

2011 Won Billboard Latin Music Award - category Top Latin Albums, Artista del Ano, Femenino

2010 Won Billboard Latin Music Award - category Hot Latin Songs Artist of the Year, Female

2007 Won Billboard Latin Music Award - category Hot Latin Song of the Year, Vocal Duet for "Hips Don't Lie" (shared with Wyclef Jean)

2006 Won Billboard Latin Music Award - category Hot Latin Song of the Year for "La Tortura" (shared with Alejandro Sanz)

2006 Won Billboard Latin Music Award - category Hot Latin Song of the Year, Vocal Duet for "La Tortura" (shared with Alejandro Sanz)

2006 Won Billboard Latin Music Award - category Latin Pop Album of the Year, Female for "Fijacion Oral Vol. 1"

2006 Won Billboard Latin Music Award - category Latin Pop Airplay Song of the Year, Duo or Group for "La Tortura" (shared with Alejandro Sanz)

2006 Won Billboard Latin Music Award - category Latin Ringtone of the Year for "La Tortura" (shared with Alejandro Sanz)

- Billboard Music Awards

2012 Won Billboard Music Awards - category Top Latin Artist

2011 Won Billboard Music Award - category Top Latin Song for "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" (shared with Freshleyground)

2011 Won Billboard Music Award - category Top Latin Artist

2005 Won Billboard Music Award - category Latin Pop Album Artist of the Year

2005 Won Billboard Music Award - category Latin Pop Album of the Year for "Fijacion Oral Vol. 1"

2005 Won Billboard Music Award - category Latin Song of the Year for "La Tortura" (shared with Alejandro Sanz)

- BMI Latin Music Awards

2007 Won BMI Latin Music Award - category Song of the Year for "La Tortura" (shared with Luis F. Ochoa, songwriter)

2007 Won BMI Latin Music Award - category Ringtone of the Year for "La Tortura" (shared with Luis F. Ochoa, songwriter)

- Grammy Awards

2006 Won Grammy Award - category Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album for "Fijacion Oral Vol. 1"

2001 Won Grammy Award - category Best Latin Pop Album for "MTV Unplugged"

- International Dance Music Awards

2007 Won International Dance Music Award - category Best Latin/Reggaeton Track for "Hips Don't Lie"

2006 Won International Dance Music Award - category Best Latin Dance Track for "La Tortura"

- Latin Grammy Awards

2011 Won Latin Grammy Award - category Best Female Pop Vocal Album for "Sale El Sol"

2006 Won Latin Grammy Award - category Record of the Year for "La Tortura"

2006 Won Latin Grammy Award - category Album of the Year for "Fijación Oral Vol. 1"

2006 Won Latin Grammy Award - category Song of the Year for "La Tortura" (shared with Luis F. Ochoa; Alejandro Sanz)

2006 Won Latin Grammy Award - category Best Female Pop Vocal Album for "Fijación Oral Vol. 1"

2002 Won Latin Grammy Award - category Best Music Video for "Suerte"

- MTV Europe Music Awards

2005 Won MTV Europe Music Award - category Best Female Act

- MTV Video Music Awards Latin America

2006 Won MTV Video Music Award Latin America - category Song of the Year for "Hips Don't Lie"

2002 Won MTV Video Music Award Latin America - category Best Female Artist

2002 Won MTV Video Music Award Latin America - category Best Pop Artist

2002 Won MTV Video Music Award Latin America - category Best Artist from the North Region

2002 Won MTV Video Music Award Latin America - category Artist of the Year

2002 Won MTV Video Music Award Latin America - category Video of the Year

- MuchMusic Video Awards

2002 Won MuchMusic Video Award - category People's Choice - Favorite International Artist

2002 Won MuchMusic Video Award - category Best International Video (Artist) for "Whenever, Wherever"

- NRJ Music Awards

2011 Won NRJ Music Award - category International Female Artist of the Year

2011 Won NRJ Music Award - category International Song of the Year for "Waka Waka"

2006 Won NRJ Music Award - category Best International Song of the Year for "La Tortura"

People's Choice Awards, USA

2007 Won People's Choice Award - category Favorite Pop Song for "Hips Don't Lie"

- Premio Lo Nuestro

2011 Won Premio Lo Nuestro - category Pop Artist of the Year - Female (Pop Artista Femenino del Ano)

2010 Won Premio Lo Nuestro - category Video del Ano (Video of the Year) for "Loba"

2007 Won Premio Lo Nuestro - category Artista Femenina (Female Artist of the Year - Pop Genre)

2006 Won Premio Lo Nuestro - category Grupo O Duo Del Ano (Group or Duo of the Year - Pop Genre, shared with Alejandro Sanz)

2006 Won Premio Lo Nuestro - category Cancion Del Ano (Song of the Year - Pop Genre) for "La Tortura"
shared with Alejandro Sanz

2006 Won Premio Lo Nuestro - category Album del Ano (Album of the Year - Pop Genre) for "Fijacion Oral Vol. 1"

2004 Won Premio Lo Nuestro - category Artista Femenina (Best Female Artist); (in Pop Genre)

2003 Won Premio Lo Nuestro - category Premio Del Pueblo Internet (People's Internet Award); (in Rock Genre)

2003 Won Premio Lo Nuestro - category Artista Femenina (Best Female Artist); (in Pop Genre)

- Premios Juventud

2010 Won Premio Juventud - category Mi Video favorito (My favorite Video) for "Loba"

2007 Won Premio Juventud - category Mi idolo es... (My Idol Is...)

2007 Won Premio Juventud - category iQue rico que se mueve! (El o La que mejor baila) (Best Moves)

- Ritmo Latino Music Awards

2002 Won Ritmo Latino Music Award - category Meilleur Video for "Whenever, Wherever"

1999 Won Ritmo Latino Music Award - category Meilleur Chanteuse Pop

- Teen Choice Awards

2010 Won Teen Choice Award - category Choice Activist

- TMF Awards

2002 Won TMF Award - category Best International New Artist

- Walk of Fame

2011 Won Star on the Walk of Fame - category Recording (At 6270 Hollywood Blvd.)

- World Music Awards

2010 Won World Music Award - category World's Best Selling Latina American Artist

2006 Won World Music Award - category World's Best Latin Artist

2003 Won World Music Award - category Best Latin Female Artist

1998 Won World Music Award - category Latin Female Artist of the Year

Phylantrophy

Shakira is famous for her remarkable work with her Pies Descalzos (Barefoot) Foundation, which she started when she was 18 and which has now opened its sixth school. The foundation aims to provides education and nutrition to over six thousand poor children in Colombia and is expanding its work to other countries, including projects in Haiti and South Africa.

At shakira's official web site there are more information available about her social career and how she became a leading advocate for Education and Early Childhood Development, a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador and the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.

The informations for this entry were takem from:
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/shakira/awards.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakira
http://shakira.com/

Hope you all Enjoy!