Shakira was born on February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia, and is an international pop singing superstar who has sold over 50 million albums worldwide. Shakira's debut album, Magia (Magic), was recorded with Sony Music in 1991 when she was only 15-years-old, but the album wasn't well received. In 1993, Shakira released her sophomore album, Peligro (Danger), which performed marginally better than her first, though it was still not a commercial success.

Instead of releasing a third album right away, Shakira decided to finish High School, after which she released her third album, the 1995 offering, Pies Descalzos (Bare Feet), which was a major success in Latin America. As the album took off, selling 4 million copies of the singles Estoy Aquí (I'm Here), Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos (Bare Feet, White Dreams), and Dónde Estás Corazón (Where Are You, Heart?), Shakira released a remixed version of the album for the Brazilian market entitled The Remixes, which sold 1 million copies.

With her musical status quickly rising, Shakira released her fourth album, Dónde Están Los Ladrones (Where Are The Thieves?) in 1998 to even greater success and also started to open her music to non-Spanish speaking fans. In March 2000, Shakira kicked off her Tour Anfibio (Amphibian Tour) in the United States and Latin America and in the same year, she also won an MTV Video Music Award. In 2001, Shakira began the transition to English music and an even bigger market. Shakira worked for over a year on the English album with Gloria Estefan and the result was her fifth album, Laundry Service, which sold over 13 million copies. In 2002, Shakira took home 5 MTV Video Music Awards Latin America and then stayed out of the limelight until 2005.

In 2005, Shakira returned with Oral Fixation Vol. 2, her second English album, which proceeded to sell over 5 million copies worldwide. In 2006 Shakira received 6 Latin Billboard Awards for the Spanish version Oral Fixation Vol.1. In addition to her musical career, Shakira is also a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.

www.shakira.com