Shakira Height Weight Bra Size Age Biography Family Wiki Net Worth, Affairs, Marriage & much more. Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born 2 February 1977) is a Colombian singer. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the “Queen of Latin Music” and is noted for her musical versatility. She made her recording debut with Sony Music Colombia at the age of 13. Following the commercial failure of her first two albums, Magia (1991) and Peligro (1993), she rose to prominence in Hispanic countries with her next albums, Pies Descalzos (1995) and Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998). She entered the English-language market with her fifth album, Laundry Service (2001), which sold over 13 million copies worldwide. Buoyed by the international success of her singles “Whenever, Wherever” and “Underneath Your Clothes”, the album propelled her reputation as a leading crossover artist. Broadcast Music, Inc., described Shakira as a “pioneer” who extended the global reach of Latino singers.
Her success was further solidified with the Spanish albums Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 (2005), Sale el Sol (2010), and El Dorado (2017), all of which topped the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and were certified diamond (Latin) by the Recording Industry Association of America. Meanwhile, her English albums Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 (2005), She Wolf (2009) and Shakira (2014) were all certified gold, platinum, or multi-platinum in various countries worldwide. Some of her songs have charted at number one in multiple countries, including “La Tortura”, “Hips Don’t Lie”, “Beautiful Liar”, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)”, “Loca”, and “Chantaje”. She served as a coach on two seasons of the American singing competition television series The Voice (2013–2014).
With a catalog of 145 songs, Shakira has sold over 80 million records, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Forbes Colombia reported that as of 2018, she is the top-selling female Latin artist of all time.She is credited with opening the doors of the international market for other Latin artists. She has received numerous awards, including three Grammy Awards, twelve Latin Grammy Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, seven Billboard Music Awards, thirty-nine Billboard Latin Music Awards, six Guinness World Records and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was named the Top Female Latin Artist of the Decade by Billboard twice (2000s and 2010s). For her philanthropic work with her Barefoot Foundation and her contributions to music she received the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year and Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year awards in 2011. She was appointed to the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in the US in 2011, and Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 2012.
Early life
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born on 2 February 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia. She is the only child of William Mebarak Chadid and Nidia Ripoll Torrado. She is of Colombian and Lebanese descent. Her father William was born in New York City to a family from Lebanon. When he was five, his family moved to Colombia.Her Colombian mother side has two Spanish surnames, Ripoll and Torrado, the former of which is Catalan and originates from four brothers who immigrated from Catalonia to coastal Colombia in the 19th century. She has also claimed to have distant Italian roots through an ancestor with the surname “Pisciotti”. The name Shakira (Arabic: شاكرة) is Arabic for “grateful”, the feminine form of the name Shakir (Arabic: شاكر). She was raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools. 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’s business acumen is often attributed to a high IQ, which is reported in the entertainment press to be 140.
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 that typewriter at age seven,and has continued writing poetry since then. These poems eventually evolved into songs. When Shakira was two years old, an older half-brother was killed in a motorcycle accident; six years later, at age eight, Shakira wrote her first song, titled “Tus gafas oscuras” (‘Your dark glasses’), which was inspired by her father, who for years wore dark glasses to hide his grief.
When Shakira was four, her father took her to a local Middle Eastern restaurant, where Shakira first heard the doumbek, a traditional drum used in Middle-Eastern music and which typically accompanied belly dancing. She started dancing on the table, and the experience made her realize that she wanted to be a performer. She enjoyed singing for schoolmates and teachers (and even the nuns) at her Catholic school, but in second grade, she was rejected for the school choir because her vibrato was too strong. The music teacher told her that she sounded “like a goat”.She says she had also been known as “the belly dancer girl”, as she would demonstrate every Friday at school a number she had learned. “That’s how I discovered my passion for live performance,” she says. To instill gratitude in Shakira for her upbringing, her father took her to a local park to see orphans who lived there. The images stayed with her, and she said to herself: “One day I’m going to help these kids when I become a famous artist.”
Between ages ten and thirteen, Shakira was invited to various events in Barranquilla and gained some recognition in the area.It was at this approximate time that she met local theater producer Monica Ariza, who was impressed with her and as a result tried to help her career. During a flight from Barranquilla to Bogotá, Ariza convinced Sony Colombia executive Ciro Vargas to hold an audition for Shakira in a hotel lobby. Vargas held Shakira in high regard and, returning to the Sony office, gave the cassette to a song and artist director. However, the director was not overly excited and thought Shakira was something of “a lost cause”. Undaunted and still convinced that Shakira had talent, Vargas set up an audition in Bogotá. He arranged for Sony Colombia executives to arrive at the audition, with the idea of surprising them with Shakira’s performance. She performed three songs for the executives and impressed them enough for her to be signed to record three albums.
Singing
Shakira is a contralto. Shakira is known for her “unique and mesmerizing” singing voice which includes her “trademark” yodeling.Analyzing Shakira’s cover of “Je l’aime à mourir”, vocal teacher Beth Roars also noted Shakira’s use of yodeling, explaining that there is “heaviness at the bottom of her tone” which “flips up” into “her head voice”, as well as her ability to execute “complex melisma”. She also noted Shakira’s use of “Arabic scales”, then stating that she uses “harmonic minor scales instead of pentatonic scales”.
Shakira Measurements Height Weight Bra Size Age Affair Much & More
Personal life
Shakira began a relationship with Argentinian lawyer Antonio de la Rúa in 2000. In a 2009 interview, Shakira stated their relationship already worked as a married couple, and that “they don’t need papers for that”.
After 10 years together, Shakira and de la Rúa separated in August 2010 in what she described as “a mutual decision to take time apart from our romantic relationship”. She wrote that the couple “view this period of separation as temporary”, with de la Rúa overseeing Shakira’s “business and career interests as he has always done”. As first reported in September 2012, de la Rúa sued Shakira in April 2013, asking for $100 million he believed he was owed after Shakira suddenly terminated her business partnership with him in October 2011. His lawsuit was dismissed by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge in August 2013.
Shakira entered a relationship with the Spanish football player Gerard Piqué, centre back for FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team in 2011. Piqué, who is exactly ten years her junior as they share a birthday, first met Shakira in the spring of 2010, when he appeared in the music video for Shakira’s song “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)”, the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Shakira gave birth to the couple’s first son Milan on 22 January 2013 in Barcelona, Spain, where the family had taken up residence. Shakira gave birth to their second son Sasha on 29 January 2015. Forbes listed Shakira and Piqué in their list of “World’s Most Powerful Couples”. In 2022, the couple confirmed in a joint statement that they would be separating after being together for 12 years.
In 2020, Shakira announced her completion of an Ancient Philosophy course through the University of Pennsylvania, describing it as an impractical hobby of hers.
Financial controversy
In November 2017, Shakira was named in the Paradise Papers. It was revealed that she was the sole shareholder of a Malta-based company which was being used to transfer $30 million in music rights. Her attorneys insisted that her use of the company was entirely legal.
In 2018, due at least in part to information revealed in the Paradise Papers, Spanish authorities began an investigation into Shakira’s finances. Prosecutors argued that she did not pay taxes in Spain between 2012 and 2014, during which time she was living in Spain with Piqué and their family, while Shakira argued that she maintained her primary residence in the Bahamas during that period and otherwise was touring internationally. In July 2021, a Spanish judge ruled that there was “evidence of criminality” sufficient for Shakira to be brought to trial on charges of tax fraud.
In 2021, the Pandora Papers showed that Shakira submitted applications for three offshore companies in 2019. Her representatives told LaSexta that this paperwork was not filed for purposes of establishing new companies but as part of the process of dissolving existing companies. They further claimed that the companies had no income or activities and that Spanish authorities had been made aware of their existence.
Discography
- Magia (1991)
- Peligro (1993)
- Pies Descalzos (1995)
- Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998)
- Laundry Service (2001)
- Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 (2005)
- Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 (2005)
- She Wolf (2009)
- Sale el Sol (2010)
- Shakira (2014)
- El Dorado (2017)
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Shakira: The Documentary Film | Herself | Documentary |
| 2007 | Pies Descalzos Foundation | Herself | Documentary |
| 2011 | Hagamos que Salga El Sol | Herself | Documentary |
| 2011 | A Day with Shakira | Herself | Documentary |
| 2016 | Zootopia | Gazelle | Voice role |
| 2020 | Miss Americana | Herself | Documentary |
| 2022 | Jennifer Lopez: Halftime | Herself | Documentary |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | El oasis | Luisa Maria Rico | |
| 2002 | Popstars Brazil | Mentor assistant | Season 1 |
| 2002 | Taina | Herself | Episode: “Abuelo Knows Best” |
| 2005 | 7 vidas | Herself | Episode: “Todo por las pastis” |
| 2009 | Ugly Betty | Herself | Episode: “The Bahamas Triangle” |
| 2010 | Wizards of Waverly Place | Herself | Episode: “Dude Looks Like Shakira” |
| 2011 | Dora and Friends: Into the City | Herself | Episode: “Dora’s Explorer Girls: Our First Concert” |
| 2013–2014 | The Voice | Coach/Mentor | Seasons 4 and 6 |
| 2014 | Dreamland | Herself | Episode: “3” |
| 2020 | Global Goal: Unite for Our Future | Herself | Television special |
| 2020 | The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II | Herself | Television special |
| 2022 | Dancing With Myself | Herself |
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