Shakira Biography

Name Shakira
Birth date February 2, 1977
Birth Place Barranquilla, Colombia
Birth Name Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll
Height 5'2
Nationality Colombian
Occupation Musician and Singer
Known For Album : 'Pies Descalzos'


The talented Latin pop singer Shakira was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, on February 2, 1977. Her full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll which in Arabic means " A woman full of grace" . She is 5' 2" tall with gifted body shape. She is a singing sensation who seize the hearts of millions of blokes around the world. She inherits an exotic appearance with the blend of Lebanese-Colombian blood from her parents. She exposes a combination of Latino , Arabic tastes and sounds in her music.

FAMILY

Skakira's mother Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado was from Colombia and her father William Mebarak Chadid was from Lebanon. She is the youngest daughter in the family who occupies gifted talent and innovations. Her father was a writer and she was deeply influenced by her father. That's why we can find Arabic tastes and sounds in her music.

EARLY LIFE

In her early age she was devoted to music and wanted to become somebody. She used to participate in various local and nationwide talent hunt contests and won most of them. She listened to the music of her parents' culture as well as English-language songs, preferably those came from Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, The Police, and The Cure . At the age of only 8 she started writing her own songs and became a local celebrity. At the age of 13 she left her poor family hoping to become somebody.

HOW STARTED

Shakira moved to Botoga hoping to start a career in modeling. Instead of becoming a model her remarkable talent was noticed by Miguel E. Cubillos and Pablo Tedeschi of Sony Colombia. She signed a contract deal with sony International.Next year at the age of only 14 her first album ' Magia ' was released that contained songs written by Shakira between the age of 8 and 13.Her second album ' Peligro' came to masses in 1993 that received the same response as Magia.Shakira was disheartened by the album's results and turned to acting.She appeared in a Colombian show named El Oasis in 1994. In 1995 she returned to music and came up with her third album " Pies Descalzos " which means 'barefeet'. She composed her songs with more rock and roll rhythms blended with the Arabic touch. This meticulous album unpredictably became number one in eight different countries with almost 4 million copies sold worldwide. This album put Shakira on the map.