Happy Birthday :: Shakira [ 2nd of February ]

February | Tuesday | 02, 2016 :: Happy Birthday :: Shakira [ 2^nd of February ]

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( born February 2, 1977), is a Colombian singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, record producer, choreographer, and model. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she began performing in school, demonstrating Latin, Arabic, and rock and roll influences and belly dancing abilities. Shakira released her first studio albums, Magia and Peligro, in the early 1990s, failing to attain commercial success; however, she rose to prominence in Latin America with her major-label debut, Pies Descalzos (1996), and her fourth album, Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998).

Shakira was born on February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia. She is the only child of William Mebarak Chadid (Lebanon) and Nidia Ripoll (Colombia). From her mother, Nidia Ripoll, she has Spanish (Catalan and Castilian) and Italian ancestry. She has eight older half-siblings from her father’s previous marriage. Shakira spent much of her youth in Barranquilla, a city located on the northern Caribbean coast of Colombia. Shakira wrote her first poem, titled “La Rosa De Cristal” (“The Crystal Rose”) when she was only four years old. As she was growing up, she was fascinated watching her father writing stories on a typewriter, and asked for one as a Christmas gift. She got a typewriter at the age of seven and has continued writing poetry since then. These poems eventually evolved into songs.