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Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (this is her whole name) was born in Baranquilla, Colombia, on 2nd February 1977. His father, William Mebarak, was born in New York, but his family comes from Lebanon; her mother, Nidia Ripoll, is colombian; but in her family there are spanish roots, as well as italian... so she's a "Cocktail", just as she likes to name herself!

Shakira (its arabic meaning is "full of grace") has been fond of music since her childhood: the ones who tells about little-shaky remember her as the child who walked barefeet in the streets, always singing some songs.

But some of them weren't able to see the great talent hidden in that little girl, above all his music teacher, who used to say she had the voice of a sheep and didn't let her sing in the church choir with the other children. And that was only because she had the "defect" of making waving her vocal chords...

In spite of that, Shakira didn't give up: she was very young, but she learnt to play guitar and harmonica, she wrote her first song when she was only 8 years old and when she was 13 her career oficially started with her first album "Magia". She collected her first successes and two years later she will record a second album, "Peligro".

In spite of that, the her actual career started in 1995, when she moved to Bogotà and released "Pies Descalzos", the album that let her conquer South America! Portoguese countries as well could not resist to the charm of her music and they have been rewarded with a special version of three songs from Pies Descalzos, singed just in portoguese. These songs, together with some remixes, would have been part of her 4th album, "The Remixes".

The raise of Shakira went on and with her masterpiece "Donde Estan Los Ladrones", which carryed the name of Emilio Estefan as a co-worker, her music spreaded even out of South America: she cross the ocean and reach Spain and, going north, United States. This album let Shakira get a lot of prizes, such as the platinum, a Grammy and 2 Latin Grammy Awards.

Just after this great success Shakira had turned into the icon of latin pop. It was inevitable: her songs and her unique voice conquered the latin world!
But again, she was ready to surprise her audience: here it comes her Mtv Unplugged, the best evidence of the power of her voice, of her art as a composer and of her musicians' talent, too. This concert gave birth to a CD/DVD, which is an important stage of her career: now she was ready to leave for Europe!

Now Shakira needed to make her know in the other side of the ocean; but to reach Europe the colombian singer, who has been singing in spanish so far, needed to record some english songs. At the beginning she tried to translate some of her spanish songs, even with the help of Gloria Estefan, one of the greatest icon of latin music, but she soon felt that she needed to write something new which suited better her new feelings and emotions. So she gave birth to "Laundry Service", her visiting card for Europe and North America. The album got a huge success, her first single "Whenever Wherever" was the a super hit and the most sold in Europe during 2002, as well as the 3rd single most sold in the world in the history of music! Maybe this work had been influenced by musical businnes, but it doesn't lack of originality at all! Every single song has something new, a mix of different sounds and rhythms on a pop and overwhelming backround!

Beyond to her voice and her music, Shakira was able to conquer the european audience also thanks to her talent in Belly Dancing. So, she is also well known as the "Belly Dancer"!

Thanks to her popularity, Shakira was soon called to be testimonial for some commercial, such as Reebok and Pepsi, writing also two songs for it.

Right after the huge success of Laundry Service her world tour started, the "Tour of The Mongoose". Shakira gave this explanation to this odd name: "The mongoose is the ony animal that can defeat the cobra without being killed by the poison... So, you know, if the mongoose can defeat the cobra... then there's hope!"
The concerts were fantastic, scenographic, and solidarity message had a big importance, above all against the war in Iraq.
This tour gave birth to a cd/dvd, which includes the show in Rotterdam and a "documentary" where she speaks about herself, about her music and, again, where she sends solidariety messages. Her commitment in social issues is very strong and she undertakes both actively (for example, her fundation "Pies Descalzos") and through the messages that she can sends to her fans thanks to her popularity.

Just after the tour, Shakira kept on working hard. So she could record in one year and an half over 60 songs and give birth to two new albums, Fijacion Oral vol. 1 (in spanish, now in stores) and Oral Fixation vol. 2 (in english, coming on november). Now she's travelling around the world promoting her new album and performing everywhere her fantastic hit "La Tortura"!