Florence Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, in the small И Tuscan town of Vinci, near  Florence. He was the son of a  wealthy Florentine notary and a peasant woman. In the mid-1460s the family settled in Florence, where Leonardo was given the best education that Florence, the intellectual and artistic center of Italy, could offer. He rapidly advanced socially and intellectually. He was handsome, persuasive in conversation, and a fine musician and improviser. About 1466 he was apprenticed as a garzone (studio boy) to Andrea del Verrocchio, the leading Florentine painter and sculptor of his day. In Verrocchio's workshop Leonardo was introduced to many activities, from the painting of altarpieces and panel pictures to the creation of large sculptural projects in marble and bronze. In 1472 he was entered in the painter's guild of Florence, and in 1476 he is still mentioned as Verrocchio's assistant. In Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ (circa 1470, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence), the kneeling angel at the left of the painting is by Leonardo.

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, bom in Barranquilla, Colombia on February 2 1977, known simply as Shakira, is an internationally famous singer.
Shakira was born to a Lebanese father and a Colombian-Italian mother, and moved to Bogota at the age of thirteen. She released her first album, Magia (Magic), one year later, on the Sony label. The album was only moderately successful, and Peligro (Danger), her second album, was no better received.

Shakira turned to acting and played a role in a Colombian telenovela ("El Oasis"), but re¬turned to the music business in 1995 with the album Pies descalzos (Barefeet), which established her commercial success. The hit "Es-toy aqui" became known internationally. The Remixes was created and featured remixes from the songs on Pies descalzos.
Following this, Shakira met Emilio Estefan, Jr., who would become the executive producer of her next album. Donde estan los ladrones? (Where are the thieves?) was a huge production which cost over US$3 million. It was a huge hit which gained wide critical acclaim1 and which many consider to be her best album ever.