Grammy-winning Latina pop singer Shakira was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, on February 2, 1977. Her father is a Lebanese-American immigrant and her mother a native of Colombia of Italian and Spanish decent. Shakira began her musical career at age 12 and quickly captured fans throughout Latin America. She won the 2001 Best Latin pop Grammy for her "MTV Unplugged" album.
While
very popular in many parts of the world, Shakira has not reached major record on the U.S. pop charts. He moved to Miami with his family to further its objectives, and teaching himself to write songs in English. He asked Emilio Estefan, Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine fame, to act as manager and producer. Her first album in English, Laundry Service (2001), provided that Shakira with success in the United States that he missed this album was No. 3 on the charts, selling over 200,000 copies in its first week. The songs "Whenever, Wherever" and "Under Your Clothes" both big hits.Over the course of her career, Grammy winner Shakira has sold close to sixty million albums. Her collaborations with such stars as Beyonce and Alejandro Sanz have helped keep her audience expanding continually. She is the only artist from South America to have a Number One song in the US, and her performance was a highlight of the 2009 concert celebrating President Obama inauguration. She has four of the twenty top-selling hits of the decade, more than any other artist—including 2006's unforgettable "Hips Don't Lie," the biggest-selling single of the 21st Century, which reached the Number One spot in an astonishing 55 countries.
“Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” along with its Spanish language version, "Waka Waka (Esto es África)," was yet another worldwide sensation. It sold over two million singles, making it the biggest World Cup song ever released. The official video has seen over 200 million YouTube hits, making it the Number Four most watched video of all time and the Number Three most watched music video. Including unofficial "Waka Waka" videos, the total cumulative views are over 400 million. The track was also the soundtrack to Shakira's 1Goal campaign for universal education.
