82 Facts About Shakira

1. Shakira's made her recording debut with Sony Music Colombia at the age of 13.

2. Shakira's entered the English-language market with her fifth album, Laundry Service, which sold over 13 million copies worldwide.

3. Shakira's served as a coach on two seasons of the American singing competition television series The Voice.

4. Shakira's is credited with opening the doors of the international market for other Latin artists.

5. Shakira's was appointed to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in the US in 2011, and Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 2012.

6. Shakira's is the only child of William Mebarak Chadid and Nidia Ripoll Torrado.

7. Shakira spent much of her youth in Barranquilla, a city located on the northern Caribbean coast of Colombia.

8. Shakira wrote her first poem, titled "La rosa de cristal", when she was only four years old.

9. Shakira's got that typewriter at age seven, and has continued writing poetry since then.

10. When Shakira was four, her father took her to a local Middle Eastern restaurant, where Shakira first heard the doumbek, a traditional drum used in Middle-Eastern music and which typically accompanied belly dancing.

11. Shakira's started dancing on the table, and the experience made her realize that she wanted to be a performer.

12. Shakira's enjoyed singing for schoolmates and teachers at her Catholic school, but in second grade, she was rejected for the school choir because her vibrato was too strong.

13. Shakira arranged for Sony Colombia executives to arrive at the audition, with the idea of surprising them with Shakira's performance.

14. Shakira's performed three songs for the executives and impressed them enough for her to be signed to record three albums.

15. Shakira performed the ballad "Eres" and won the trophy for third place.

16. In March 1996, Shakira went on to her first international tour, named simply the Tour Pies Descalzos.

17. Shakira received her first Grammy Award nomination in 1999 for the Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album.

18. In March 2000, Shakira embarked on her Tour Anfibio, a two-month tour of Latin America and the United States.

19. In September 2000, Shakira performed "Ojos Asi" at the inaugural ceremony of the Latin Grammy Awards, where she was nominated in five categories: Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for MTV Unplugged, Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Octavo Dia", Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Music Video for the video for "Ojos Asi".

20. Shakira's worked for over a year on new material for the album.

21. Around this time, Shakira released four songs for Pepsi for her promotion in the English markets: "Ask for More", "Pide Mas", "Knock on My Door", and "Pideme el Sol".

22. In 2002, at Aerosmith's MTV Icon in April 2002, Shakira performed "Dude".

23. Shakira's joined Cher, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Mary J Blige, Anastacia, and the Dixie Chicks for VH1 Divas Live Las Vegas.

24. Shakira's received four Latin Grammy Awards in November 2006, winning the awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year for "La Tortura", Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Fijacion Oral, Vol.

25. In February 2007, Shakira performed for the first time at the 49th Grammy Awards and earned the nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Hips Don't Lie" with Wyclef Jean.

26. Shakira collaborated with Miguel Bose on the duet "Si Tu No Vuelves", which was released in Bose's album Papito.

27. Shakira was featured on Annie Lennox's song "Sing", from the album Songs of Mass Destruction, which features other 23 other female singers.

28. Shakira wrote the lyrics, and jointly composed the music, for two new songs that are featured in the movie Love in the Time of Cholera, based on the acclaimed novel written by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

29. The songs that Shakira lent to the soundtrack were "Pienso en ti", a song from Shakira's breakthrough album Pies Descalzos, "Hay Amores", and "Despedida".

30. In January 2009, Shakira performed at the Lincoln Memorial "We Are One" festivities in honor of the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

31. In May, Shakira collaborated with the South African group Freshlyground to create the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

32. In October 2010, Shakira released her ninth studio album, titled Sale el Sol.

33. On 9 November 2011, Shakira was honored as Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year and performed a cover of Joe Arroyo's song "En Barranquilla Me Quedo" at the Mandalay Bay Events Center as a tribute to the singer, who had died earlier that year.

34. Shakira announced that she would focus on her new album in the fall and eventually returned for the show's sixth season in February 2014.

35. On 13 July 2014, Shakira performed "La La La" with Carlinhos Brown at the 2014 FIFA World Cup closing ceremony at the Maracana Stadium.

36. Shakira began work on her eleventh studio album in the beginning of 2016.

37. On 7 April 2017, Shakira released the song "Me Enamore" as the second official single taken from her eleventh studio album El Dorado, which was released on 26 May 2017.

38. Shakira's released the song "Perro Fiel" featuring Nicky Jam as a promotional single for the album on 25 May 2017.

39. In January 2018, Shakira won her third Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album for El Dorado, making her the only female Latin artist to do so.

40. Shakira appeared in two television specials performing her songs during the COVID-19 pandemic, including Global Goal: Unite for Our Future and The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II (with "Try Everything").

41. In January 2021, Shakira sold her catalog of 145 songs to Hipgnosis Songs Fund.

42. On 16 July 2021, Shakira released a single titled "Don't Wait Up".

43. Shakira confirmed in May 2022 that work on the album was finished and it would be an electronic infused album with hints of urban and rock music.

44. Shakira's told Portuguese TV, "Many of my movements belong to Arab culture.

45. Shakira's is strongly influenced by Andean music and South American folk music, using her native instrumentation for her Latin dance-pop songs.

46. The uptempo track features a guitar solo and a bridge in which Shakira delivers rap-like vocals.

47. Shakira is well known for her dancing in her music videos and concerts.

48. Shakira's mentioned in an MTV interview that she learned how to belly dance by trying to flip a coin with her belly.

49. Shakira is known for her "unique and mesmerizing" singing voice which includes her "trademark" yodeling.

50. Shakira is the first artist of the rock en espanol generation to become a star in the US So for her, crossing over meant a linguistic, but not stylistic, switch.

51. Shakira is a prominent figure in Latin music, commonly hailed as the 'Queen of Latin Music' for her successful crossover to the global market.

52. In 2005, Sanz and Shakira performed "La Tortura" at the MTV Video Music Awards.

53. In 2010, Google revealed that Shakira was the most searched female entertainer of the year.

54. In 2020, Shakira was the most Googled musician of the year.

55. In December 2021 Shakira was named by Kiss FM as one of the most influential female artists of the 21st century highlighting her achievements in the international market.

56. Newspaper El Correo del Golfo wrote that Shakira was the greatest exponent of Middle Eastern music in the West, citing her interest in Arabic music and dance.

57. Shakira's is the recipient of three Grammy Awards and twelve Latin Grammy Awards—the most for a female artist.

58. Shakira is the female artist with most top-ten hits on the Billboards Hot Latin Songs chart.

59. Shakira's is the female artist with most number-one hits on the Latin Airplay chart.

60. In 2011, Shakira was honored at the Latin Grammys as Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year, and by the Harvard Foundation as Cultural Rhythms Artist of the Year.

61. Shakira's received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6270 Hollywood Blvd.

62. In 2014, Shakira became the first musical act to perform three times at the FIFA World Cup.

63. In 2008, Shakira was named as the Honorary Chair of the Global Campaign for Education Global Action Week.

64. In 2020, Shakira became the first female artist to have 4 songs from different decades to have over 100 million streams on Spotify, marking her as the only artist with Spanish songs, the only Latin artist, and third overall after Michael Jackson and Eminem to achieve this milestone.

65. Shakira's acted in the Colombian telenovela El Oasis in 1994, playing the character of Luisa Maria.

66. Shakira began her own beauty line, "S by Shakira", with parent company Puig, in 2010.

67. On 15 October 2015, Love Rocks starring Shakira was the first video game that featured the pop star.

68. Shakira contributed an original song to the film, titled "Try Everything", which was written and composed by Sia and Stargate.

69. In 1997, Shakira founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation, a Colombian charity with special schools for poor children all around Colombia.

70. On 27 April 2014 Shakira was honored with the Hero Award at the Radio Disney Music Awards for her Fundacion Pies Descalzos work.

71. In 2005, Shakira became a founding member of Latin America in Solidarity Action, a coalition of artists and business leaders seeking to promote integrated early childhood public policies.

72. Shakira is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is one of their global representatives.

73. On 3 April 2006, Shakira was honored at a UN ceremony for creating the Pies Descalzos Foundation.

74. Shakira was honored at the Latin Grammys as the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year on 9 November 2011, for her philanthropy and contributions to Latin Music.

75. In May 2020, Shakira donated more than 50,000 face masks and ten respirators to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in her hometown of Barranquilla.

76. Shakira began a relationship with Argentinian lawyer Antonio de la Rua in 2000.

77. Shakira's wrote that the couple "view this period of separation as temporary", with de la Rua overseeing Shakira's "business and career interests as he has always done".

78. Shakira entered a relationship with the Spanish football player Gerard Pique, centre back for FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team in 2011.

79. Shakira gave birth to the couple's first son Milan on 22 January 2013 in Barcelona, Spain, where the family had taken up residence.

80. In 2020, Shakira announced her completion of an ancient philosophy course through the University of Pennsylvania, describing it as an impractical hobby of hers.

81. In November 2017, Shakira was named in the Paradise Papers.

82. In 2021, the Pandora Papers showed that Shakira submitted applications for three offshore companies in 2019.