Who is Shakira ?

She is known for being  a Colombian singer and musician, but she is also a very talented dancer and model.  Most people only know her by her first name Shakira, Her name is of arabic origin and means thankful. She was born on February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla where she was also raised. Besides from Spanish she also speaks fluent English and Portuguese as well as some Italian, Catalan and Arabic. She started to show an interest in singing, dancing and writing poems at a very young age. She has a very unique style and doesn‘t always use choreographers but rather makes up her own moves.

 

 

Childhood

Shakira is the only child of Nidia Ripoll and William Mebarak Chadid. Her paternal grandparents emigrated from Lebanon to New York, And that is where her father was born. Shakira‘s mother is Nidia Ripoll she is of Spanish and Italian descent. She has eight older half-siblings from her father's previous marriage. When she was two years old her older half-brother was killed in a motorcycle accident, the first song she wrote was called „Your dark glasses" and it was inspired by her Father who used to wear dark glasses for many years after his sons death to hide his grief, she was eight years old when she wrote it.

 She wrote her first poem „The crystal rose" when she was four years old. When she was seven years old she got a typewriter for christmas to write her poems on, When she got older she started writing songs instead of poems. She also started dancing when she was very young, her father took her to a local middle eastern restaurant when she was four years old, they played doumbek music which usually accompanies belly dancing and Shakira ended up dancing on the table.

 She went to a catholic school where she enjoyed singing for her schoolmates and teachers. But when she tried out for the choir when she was in the second grade she was rejected, because her vibrato was too strong. The music teacher told her that she sounded „like a goat" Today she is known for her unique voice so apparently her music teacher didn‘t appreciate her special singing style. She also used to practice bellydancing and perform for her fellow students, because of her regular bellydancing performances she became known in her school as „the belly dancer girl" She has said that was the time she „discovered her passion for live performance"

 

 

                                              Career                           

When Shakira was only ten years old she had started to get invitations to some events in her hometown Barranquilla. She became known in the area, around this time she also met a local theater producer called Monica Ariza, She was impressed with her talents and tried to help her career. For an example she got her an audition with Sony executive Ciro Vargas. Vargas liked Shakiras performance and gave her cassette to a song and artist director, but the director did not like it much and dismissed her as a lost case. Vargas however was convinced that Shakira could make it and arranged for her to make a surprise performance for his fellow executives at Sony, She performed three songs for them and they were so impressed they got her signed to record three albums.