Shakira Mebarak (full name:
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll) was born February 9, 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia,
into a poor family. Her mother was a native Colombian and her father was of Lebanese
descent, and so as a child Shakira soaked up music from both cultures.In 1990,
at age 13, Shakira moved to Bogotá in hopes of pursuing a modeling career,
but wound up signing a record deal with Sony's Colombian division instead. Her
1991 debut album, Magia (Magic), was comprised of songs she'd written over the
past five or six years, including some of her earliest efforts. Dissatisfied with
the pop inclinations of the follow-up, 1993's Peligro (Danger), Shakira changed
direction for a time, joining the cast of the Colombian soap opera El Oasis in
1994.
When Shakira
returned to recording in 1995, she asserted more control over the direction of
her music, and worked more rock & roll rhythms -- as well as occasional Arabic
tinges -- into her Latin pop material. The first results were Pies Descalzos (Bare
Feet), which was initially released in 1995; a slow seller at first, the album
gradually caught on thanks to the rock-tinged single "Estoy Aqui," which
became a hit all over Latin America, as well as Spain. After that breakthrough,
Pies Descalzos just kept spinning off singles: "Dónde Estás
Corazón?," "Antología," "Pienso en Ti,"
"Un Poco de Amor," "Se Quiere, Se Mata." The album hit number
one in eight different countries and eventually went platinum in the U.S. as well.
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Shakira Nude Gallery