Shakira – the woman behind the hips

This clearly allowed her to develop a sense of expression which would go a long way in her ability as a song writer. Shakira wrote her first poem, entitled “La Rosa De Cristal” (“The Crystal Rose”) when she was only four years old.

At the age of seven she showed her skill as a belly dancer at a Middle Eastern restaurant where she was able to mimic the moves of the resident belly dancers. It’s a talent that would later stun the music and entertainment world as it became part of her signature performances.

In 1991 at the age of 14 Shakira recorded her first album, Magia and despite the fact that it did not do well, she recorded her second album in 1993 entitled, Peligro. It was at Chile’s Vino del Mar music festival that Shakira’s star power firmly took root when she captured third place with her delivery of “Eres”. In 1995 her third album Pies Descalzos allowed her to spread her wings throughout Latin America as her fan base began to grow rapidly as the album sold four million copies.

When translated from its Arabic form, Shakira means “woman full of grace” and her stature as a music icon was solidified with her fourth album, Donde Estan Los Landrones. Released in 1998, Emilio Estefan of Miami Sound Machine and husband of Gloria Estefan, was executive producer on this album which went on to have eight hit singles of the 11 songs on the album.

Shakira took America by storm when she appeared on MTV’s first Spanish edition of MTV Unplugged. The album release of the concert programme led to Shakira’s first Grammy Award. In the first ever Latin Grammy Awards she walked away with the awards for Best Female Pop Vocal and Best female Rock Vocal; two titles which proved the versatility of her voice.

In 2001 her flight on the wings of fame continued with the release of Laundry Service, which sold over 15 million copies worldwide.

A two-time Grammy Award-winning, seven-time Latin Grammy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated artist, Shakira is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide according to BMI. She is also the only artist from South America to reach the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100, the Australian ARIA chart, the United World Chart and the UK Singles Chart.

According to the United World Chart, Shakira is, as of 2007, the sixth most successful artist so far from the 2000s. She is also the only artist to have two songs in the top ten of the most successful singles since 1999.

In 2002, Shakira also released her Spanish greatest hits volume Grandes ?xitos. A DVD and 10-track compilation album, called Live & Off the Record, was also released in 2004, reaching sales of three million CDs worldwide, and commemorating Shakira’s world tour, the Tour of the Mongoose.

In September 2002, Shakira won the International Viewer’s Choice Award at the MTV Video Music Awards with “Suerte.” In October of that year, she won five MTV Video Music Awards Latin America for Best Female Artist, Best Pop Artist, Best Artist — North (Region), Video of the Year (for Suerte), and Artist of the Year.

In 2005 she announced the Oral Fixation project. Fijaci?n Oral Vol 1, the first album of the project, was released on June 3, 2005 in Ireland, on June 6, 2005 in Europe, and on June 7, 2005 in North America, Latin America and Australia. The lead single from the album, “La Tortura”, which features Alejandro Sanz, was released as a single in April and achieved large-scale success in different radio and chart formats. It spent a record of 25 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart.

Fijaci?n Oral Vol 1 was very well received by the public. It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart on the week of June 15. According to that publication, the album sold 157,000 copies in its first week of release in the US, becoming the highest debut ever for a Spanish language album. In Latin America, on the very day of its official release in Venezuela, it went Platinum, in Colombia, triple Platinum and in Mexico, it was sold-out. The album sold over one million copies in three days.

The second single from the album, “No”, was released in July 2005, and peaked at number one in Argentina, Spain and Colombia, there for 14 non-consecutive weeks. This single was number one in several countries in Latin America, but it did not have the same success of the previous two singles in the United States.

On February 8, 2006, Shakira won her second Grammy Award. She was awarded in the category of Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album. In late 2006, Shakira released “La Pared” as the fourth single from Fijaci?n Oral Vol. 1. The song reached number one in her native Colombia, Argentina and Spain.

Later in 2007, “Las de la Intuici?n” was released as a single in Spain and Latin America. It became an instantaneous success, topping the radio chart Los 40 Principales for eight non-consecutive weeks and peaking at number one, charting just four weeks in Argentina.

Oral Fixation Vol 2 was released on November 29, 2005 in North America and Australia, and in continental Europe. “Hips Don’t Lie”, the second single released from the album, became Shakira’s first number one single on the US Billboard Hot 100. “Hips Don’t Lie” became the most played song in pop radio history and in its first week of being released it created online history with 266,500 downloads on the Internet.

In early 2007, Shakira worked with American R&B singer Beyonc? Knowles in the track “Beautiful Liar”, which was released as the second single from the deluxe edition of Beyonc?’s B’Day.

In the week of April 7, 2007, the song jumped 91 positions, from 94 to three, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, setting the record for the largest upward movement in the history of the chart. It was also No 1 on the official UK Singles Chart. The song earned them a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

Shakira wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the music for two new songs “Hay Amores” and “Despedida”, that are featured in the movie Love in the Time of Cholera, based in the acclaimed novel by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

In 1995, Shakira founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation aimed at helping Colombian children who are victims of violence. As a non-governmental not for profit organisation, its aim is to provide education, nutrition, health coverage and emotional support to the children.

The singer is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is one of their global representatives. “Shakira, like all our Goodwill Ambassadors, was chosen based on her compassion, her involvement in global issues, her deep commitment to helping children, and her appeal to young people around the world. We’re very pleased to have Shakira join the UNICEF family. I know she’ll help bring UNICEF’s mission to the audience who will have the most impact on our future — young people themselves,” said UNICEF’s Executive Director Carol Bellamy.

On April 3, 2006, Shakira was honoured at a United Nations ceremony for creating the Pies Descalzos Foundation. At the event, the singer said, “Let’s not forget that at the end of this day when we all go home, 960 children will have died in Latin America.”