Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born on Wednesday, February 2, 1977 and is the youngest in the family of eight children. She is better known simply as Shakira. In Arabic it means "grateful" but in Aramaic it means "strong drink."

She was born in in the coastal city of Barranquilla, Colombia to a Colombian mother and a Lebanese descent father. At the age of thirteen she moved to Bogotá. A year later, Shakira was signed up by Sony and she released her first album, "Magia" (Magic). The album was was a compilation of songs she wrote between 8 and 13 years old. It wasn't a commercial success, and Peligro (Danger), her second album, was no better received.

Shakira turned to acting, and played a role in a Colombian telenovela ("El Oasis"), but returned to music business in 1995 with the album "Pies Descalzos" (Barefeet), which established her commercial success. The hit "Estoy Aquí" became known internationally. Shakira: The Remixes was created featuring remixes from the songs on "Pies Descalzos."

Later, Shakira met Emilio Estefan, Jr. the husband of Latin pop diva Gloria, who later became the executive producer of her next album. ¿Dónde Están los Ladrones? (Where are the Thieves?). It was a huge production which cost over US$3 million. It was a huge hit which gained wide critical acclaim and which many consider to be her best album ever as it went multiplatinum. .

It produced the singles "Inevitable" and the international hit, "Ojos Así". Its successful blend of latin and rock soundscapes made ¿Dónde Están los Ladrones? an immense success. MTV asked Shakirar to perform an acoustic set in August 1999. Her performance landed on the album "MTV Unplugged," making her the first solo Latina artist to grace MTV's coveted venue.

Shakira now turned her sights towards the English-speaking market after being proposed to sing in English. Improving her English she began to write "Laundry Service" to expand her international reach. Laundry Service was a big hit, best known for the infectious single "Whenever, Wherever," (English version of "Suerte") and one of the top albums of 2002.

Shakira also released her greatest hits volume Grandes Éxitos in 2002.

Shakira: Live & Off The Record, a DVD and a 10-song CD from her 2002-03 World Tour (the "Tour of the Mongoose"), was released March 30th, 2004.

Shakira is considered by many to be a great talented singer and belly dancer. As Gabriel García Márquez once wrote of her, "Shakira's music has a personal stamp that doesn't look like anyone else's and no one can sing or dance like her, at whatever age, with such an innocent sensuality, one that seems to be of her own invention. " Yo soy una fusion. I am a fusion," says Shakira. "That's my persona. I'm a fusion between black and white, between pop and rock, between cultures—between my Lebanese father and my mother's Spanish blood, the Colombian folklore and Arab dance I love and American music."

Shakira is engaged to Antonio de la Rúa, the first son of the Argentine former President Fernando de la Rúa in 2001. She also appeared in TV commercial for Pepsi.