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.

It produced the singles "Inevitable" and the worldwide mega-hit, "Ojos asi". Its successful blend of rock and Latin soundscapes made it an immense success. Shakira also produced a live album based on Donde estan los ladrones? She became widely known throughout the entire Spanish speaking world.

Shakira next turned her sights towards the English-speaking market, improving her English enough to begin writing Laundry Service. With a more rock-edged feel, it was aimed at the international English market although it contained some Spanish songs. Some people said that Shakira's English skills were too weak for her to write in English, but Laundry Service was nevertheless a big hit, best known for the infectious single "Whenever, Wherever" (English version of "Suerte"), and for being one of the top albums of 2002. Shakira is well known for intense, athletic performances involving belly dancing and Arabic rhythms.

In 2002, Shakira also released the greatest hits volume Grandes exitos. Shakira: Live & Off the Record, a DVD and a 10-song CD from her 2002-03 world tour (the "Tour of the Mongoose2"), was released March 30 2004. "The Tour of the Mongoose" was so-called because a mongoose can defeat a cobra without being killed by its poison3. The concerts were interspersed with visuals of a mongoose fighting a cobra.
Shakira is considered by many to be a great talent. As Gabriel Garcia Marquez once wrote of her, "Shakira's music has a personal stamp that doesn't look like anyone else's and no one can sing or dance like her, at whatever age, with such an innocent sensuality, one that seems to be of her own invention."

Since 2000, she has been engaged to Antonio de la Riia, the son of the former President of Argentina. In light of the humanitarian and social crisis in Argentina, many members of the press lampooned the relationship as frivolous and arrogant6. In response, Shakira gave an unprofitable concert in Buenos Aires and further promoted her humanitarian children's foundation "Pies Descalzos" (Bare feet), named after her third album. This was decried by many as a simple celebrity public relations move.

FUN FACTS ABOUT SHAKIRA
•    Her name is Arabic for "woman full of grace"
•    The song "Ojos asi" has a verse in Arabic
•    Shakira doesn't eat candy, drink alcohol or drink coffee
•    She doesn't smoke
•    Shakira's favorite thing to paint is "fried eggs"