Shakira

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Born on 02-02-1977 Nationality Colombian		Buy Shakira Contact Information Posters and Photos Music		Search for Shakira Mailing Address		Shakira Fun Love Match
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Biography

Latin beauty and singing star, Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born on February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia. Her mother is Catalan and Italian and her father is American born of Lebanese decent. She was raised in a Catholic household. She began her interest in music at a very early age. She was writing and composing at the young age of eight.

A local theatre producer, Monica Ariza, had met the young Shakira and was impressed with her talent. Not long after this Ariza was on a flight from Barranquilla to Bogotá, and ended up sitting next to a Sony Colombia executive, Ciro Vargas. She convinced him to give Shakira an audition. The audition took place a few weeks later in a hotel lobby. While Ciro Vargas was impressed Sony's artist director at the time was not. Upon hearing her demo he dubbed her "a lost cause." Vargas, however, did not give up on the young Latin singer so easily. He felt she had great talent. Thus, he tricked several Sony Colombia executives by bring them to a bar and surprising them with a performance by Shakira at midnight. She sang three songs and the executives were duly impressed. She was then signed to Sony to record three CD's.

Her first CD, entitled Magia or Magic, was recorded in 1991. She was only thirteen at the time. All of the songs were written by her, some at the time she was only eight years old. It did not sell well however, and was condidered a loss. After her subsequent success, the CD Magia has become a highly sought after collectors item. Her second CD, Peligro (Danger) was released in 1993; Shakira was just 15 at the time. Although this album sold better than Magia, Shakira decided to take a hiatus from music to complete high school. In 1995 she released Pies Descalzos (Bare Feet). The CD sold over five million copies worldwide. Her fourth CD, Dónde Están Los Ladrones?, sold seven million copies and established her as a musical force to be reckoned with. She followed up these successes with Laundry Service, Grandes Exitos, Live & Off the Record, and Fijación Oral.

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