Shakira
Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll is a Colombian singer, songwriter, dancer and record producer. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she began performing in school, demonstrating Latin American, Arabic, and rock and roll influences and belly dancing abilities. Shakira released her first studio albums, Magia and Peligro, in the early 1990s, failing to attain commercial success; however, she rose to prominence in Latin America with her major-label debut, Pies Descalzos, and her fourth album, Dónde Están los Ladrones?...
ProfessionPop Singer
Date of Birth2 February 1977
CityBarranquilla, Colombia
We know that many boys and girls leave school because of poverty, because they have to work. However, there are an important number of children who abandon their studies because of the abuses they're subject to by teachers and their own parents.
In the full light of day, I don't want to think about the sunset.
I'm a firm believer that education is the most efficient tool we have to make people aware and make our children aware, and to protect them from the scourge of the century, which is AIDS
The music teacher thought I sang like a goat. It was kind of devastating. A few months after that, I participated in a music contest and won. I took my little trophy to school and rubbed it in his nose. I said to him, "What do you say now?"
I want some day to be able to love with the same intensity and unselfishness that parents love their children with.
Writing in English was a major challenge. I didn't want other songwriters to write for me. I wanted to preserve the spirit of my songs in Spanish. I am the same Shakira in English as I am in Spanish.
I started the Pies Descalzos foundation in Colombia when I was 18, and since then I have been very involved in the crusade for education.
I have such a respect and fascination for dance. I can be light as air or stay grounded. Dance is really another universe.
The schools play an important role when it comes down to protecting children against violence.Violence is one of the principal reasons why children don't go to school. It's also one of the causes of the alarming school dropout rates.
It's not easy to work with me, I recognize that. It's not easy if those people aren't as perfectionistic as I am.
I love reading about history. Sometimes, I feel I was born in the wrong era. There was more creativity in the air when people were still discovering new worlds.
I feel a real sense of duty to use the voice and the platform I've been afforded by my fame to speak out for those whose voices don't get a chance to be heard.
I always had the intuition, even as a little child, that I was called for a big project.
There's no better makeup than self-confidence.