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Shakira
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Colombian native Shakira is one of the most successful crossover Latin pop stars. At 13, she moved from Barranquilla, Colombia, to Bogota to pursue a modeling career but instead got a Sony record deal and released her debut, Magia, in 1991. After a brief stint on a Colombian soap opera in 1994, Shakira released Pies Descalzos in 1995, which became a hit in Latin America. She began to break into the U.S. market with 1998’s Dónde Están Los Ladrones? and crossed over to English-language songs with 2002’s wildly successful Laundry Service, on which she wrote or cowrote nearly all the songs. The album produced two Top 10 singles and went triple platinum in less than a year after its release.
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The sales of Shakira's music continued to be slow until the single "Estoy Aqui" from Pies Descalzos began to take off and climb the singles charts in Spanish speaking countries around the world. It was followed by several more singles from the album. With the release of the album Donde Estan los Ladrones? in 1998, Shakira became an even bigger star and she began to crack the American music market. Her album spent 11 weeks at the top of the Billboard Latin album chart.
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In 2002, allegations arose that Shakira had made anti-semitic comments. However, her attackers made the mistake of comparing her to Hitler, at which point she immediately and automatically won the argument. The ADL acknowledged, "We have no reason to believe Shakira is anti-Semitic. It's not her fault. She's so irresistible." The JDL filed an objection (tango), claiming they were tired of this triangle, and "All the damage she's caused isn't fixable," but were overruled.
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Shakira has had one No. 1 hit after another in the Spanish-speaking world. She is certainly Colombia's most famous singer and is arguably the world's leading rockera. And her albums have sold well outside Spanish-speaking countries too, even though it wasn't until 2001 that she released an album in English.
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Shakira is half lebanese, one quarter Spanish, and one quarter Italian. She was born to a Colombian mother of Catalan and Italian descent, Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado, and a lebanese father, William Mebarak Chadid, in Barranquilla, Colombia, where she says she grew up among the Lebanese and Italian communities. Her father was born in Lebanon, and immediately after that, his family migrated to New York, but he soon migrated to Colombia. Shakira, which means "grateful" in Arabic (شاكرة), is named after her paternal grandmother. She was one of seven siblings, one of whom is her road manager. Shakira attended a Catholic school and in second grade was rejected for the school choir because her vibrato was too strong.[2] She began writing and composing music at the age of eight and later choreographed dance routines.
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Shakira soon returned to the music business with the release of her 1995 album Pies Descalzos (Bare Feet). This album allowed her to express control and musical style direction by incorporating Latin Pop, Rock and Roll, as well as Arabic. Many hit singles were born from this album such as "Estoy Aqui, "Dónde Estás Corazón?" "Antología," "Pienso en Ti," "Un Poco de Amor,", and “Se Quiere, Se Mata." Pies Descalzos reached number one in eight different countries eventually attaining platinum status in the United States.
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Shakira