Shakira Biography

"I am the mongoose. Only the mongoose dares challenge the cobra. I like to feel I have mongoose qualities." "I am lucky that my breasts are small and humble, so you don't confuse them with mountains". With these and a volley of equally bizarre statements, Shakira came to worldwide attention in 2001 with her multi-million selling album Laundry Service and single, Whenever, Wherever. To some people she's probably just the belly dancing lady with the goat-like yodel but armed with an iron-will and a very strange English phrase book, the Colombian-born singer rose to become Latin pop's biggest female crossover artist since Jennifer Lopez.

Shakira Mebarak was born on February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia into a poor family. Her mother was Colombian and she was the only child of her Lebanese father's second marriage. She has eight brothers by his first marriage. Shakira began entering talent competitions when she was 10-years-old. The slightly dippy megastar claims she had a musical epiphany when she heard Depeche Mode's Enjoy The Silence. "It was like a message from God," says Shak. "I knew I must make music that makes me feel like Depeche Mode." Mmm.

By 13, she had signed a record deal with Sony in Colombia, which resulted in her first album, "Magia (Magic)," a compilation of songs she wrote between the ages of 8 and 13. It was an effort that put Shakira in Colombia's musical map, and led to her being chosen to represent her country at the Fesival OTI in Spain. Because she was under the minimum age of 16, she wasn't allowed to participate. So instead, Shakira recorded a second album of original material, "Peligro (Danger)." At that point, Shakira took a break from music, graduated from high school (at age 15-really) and came back with a vengeance. The result was the phenomenally successful "Pies Descalzos," a hit-laden smash, which has sold close to four million copies worldwide. Shakira became an international sensation touring for an almost solid two years, playing her songs to sold-out audiences throughout the world. In Brazil alone, "Pies Descalzos" sold in excess of 900,000 copies, leading Shakira to record remixes in Portuguese for her Brazilian fans. She abandoned the light pop format she had been doing and declined her label's suggestion to explore more commercial avenues. Instead, she insisted on recording her very own brand of music: a blend of pop and rock that was unprecedented for a Colombian musician, much less a woman. Such a smashing hit seems impossible to surpass. But Shakira has done it with "Donde Estan los Ladrones," a collection of potential hits that further explores the realms of rock 'n' roll without losing Shakira's authenticity. Produced by ?ber-producer Emilio Estefan -- who also became her manager -- the album is the perfect blend of gritty, thought-provoking lyrics and rock-laden tracks, while still preserving the Shakira that her original fans knew and loved. No wonder, then, that it was Shakira who was chosen among dozens of female Latin singers to grace the cover of Time Magazine in a recent article titled "Era of the Rockera". For the most exciting singer/songwriter to come out of Latin America in years, the possibilities are endless. For the millions that already buy her albums, she is already the voice of a new generation.