Sabir shakira biography wikipedia

Shakira was already a pop superstar in Latin America when her first English-language album, Laundry Service , hit the international charts in The exotic beauty, whose name means "woman full of grace" in Arabic, draws on rock'n'roll, her mum's Colombian roots and her father's Lebanese culture as the inspiration for her award-winning career.

As a child, she seemed destined for showbiz, learning how to belly dance at four, writing her first song aged eight, and playing the guitar at 11 all without formal lessons. The aspiring star began entering talent and beauty pageants, travelling to Bogota for a modelling shoot when she was just While in the city, however, she was sidetracked from a fashion career when a family friend set up a meeting with a Sony executive.

After singing acapella for the record boss in a hotel lobby, she was signed to the label, and released a self-penned debut, Magia Magic , in Her breakthrough disc, 's Pies Descalzos Bare Feet sold four million copies and put the young star at number one in eight countries. The big-hearted chanteuse used the title for her Pies Descalzos Foundation, a charity to help poor children in her native Colombia and other developing countries.

Shakira made five Spanish-language albums before her raw energy, wild blonde mane and belly dance moves helped make Whenever, Wherever an MTV staple. The single, inspired by a long-distance relationship with boyfriend Antonio de la Rua, son of a former Argentine president, was the first release from her English-language debut, Laundry Service.

The singer came up with the unusual album title because she felt "washed clean of the way I looked at things in the past". The language transition, however, was a complicated one for the 5ft singer-songwriter, who used rhyming dictionaries and read poetry to translate her lyrics.

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But, she adds, "Afterwards that became such a natural process. It was a process she pursued on another English release Oral Fixation Vol. The English language record spawned the immensely popular Wyclef Jean collaboration Hips Don't Lie , which shot to the top of the charts in 45 countries, Don't Bother , and Illegal featuring Carlos Santana.

After her Oral Fixation tour ended that year, she enrolled at university in LA to study the history of western civilization — using her middle and last name Isabel Mebarak — and telling the professor she was visiting from Colombia so she wasn't recognised as a celebrity.