At high-school with her friendsss

Back to school..!!! lolz...

Beginning

She was one of seven siblings, one of whom is her road manager. Shakira attended a Catholic school and in second grade was rejected for the school choir because her vibrato was too strong.[1] She began writing and composing music at the age of eight and later choreographed dance routines. At school, she says she had been known as "the belly dancer girl", as she would demonstrate a number she learned every Friday at school. "That's how I discovered my passion for live performance," she says.[2] One of the first songs she wrote was called "Tus Gafas Oscuras" (Your Dark Glasses), which was about her father's grief over a son who had died in a car accident. Between the ages of ten and thirteen Shakira was invited to various events in Barranquilla and gained some recognition in the area. It was at about this time that she met local theater producer Monica Ariza, who was impressed with her and as a result tried to help her career. During a flight from Barranquilla to Bogotá, Ariza convinced Sony Colombia executive Ciro Vargas to hold an audition for Shakira in a motel lobby. Vargas held Shakira in high regard and, returning to the Sony office, gave the cassette to a song and artist director. However, the director was not overly excited and thought Shakira was something of "a lost cause". Vargas, not daunted, was still convinced that Shakira had talent, and set up an audition in Bogotá. He arranged for Sony Colombia executives to arrive at the audition, with the idea of surprising them with Shakira's performance. She performed three songs for the executives and impressed them enough for her to be signed to record three albums. Magia (Magic) was Shakira's debut album, recorded with Sony Colombia in 1991, when she was 15. The album did not fare well commercially, selling less than one thousand copies. After Magia, Shakira released Peligro (Danger) in 1993. The album was better received than Magia, but Shakira decided to take a hiatus from recording so that she could graduate from high school.

Childhood

Shakira was born to a Colombian mother of Catalan descent, Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado, and an American-born father of Lebanese Catholic descent, William Mebarak Chadid, in Barranquilla, Colombia, where she says she grew up among the Lebanese, Jewish and Italian communities. Her father was born in New York, when his family migrated from Lebanon, but he soon migrated to Colombia. Shakira, which means "grateful" in Arabic (شاكرة), is named after her paternal grandmother.

Background Information

Birth name Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll Reath Born February 2, 1977 (age 29) Barranquilla, Colombia Genre(s) Latin pop Pop Rock Alternative Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, Record producer Instrument(s) Vocals Guitar Harmonica Years active 1991–present Label(s) Sony BMG, Epic Website shakira.com

Info about Shakira

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born February 2, 1977), known simply as Shakira, is a two-time Grammy Award and eight-time Latin Grammy Award-winning Colombian singer-songwriter, musician and record producer who has been a major figure in the pop music scene of Latin America since the mid-1990s. In 2001, she broke through into the English-speaking market with the release of her first album in that language, Laundry Service, which has sold over 3.5 million copies in the United States and 15 million copies worldwide. Shakira has the honor of being the highest selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold almost forty million copies of her albums, and the only artist from that country to reach the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart. Shakira is best known for mixing different sound styles in her songs and albums, for her praised voice, for her critically acclaimed lyrics, and for her dancing style which primarily features belly dancing.