**Shakira**

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born February 2, 1977), is better known simply as Shakira.

Shakira was born in Barranquilla, Colombia to a half-Colombian and half-Italian mother Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado of Spanish and Catalan descent and an American-born father William Mebarak Chadid of Lebanese-Macedonian descent. Her oldest half-sister Lucy is a surgeon; her half-brother, Alberto, is a lawyer; Moises is the third child; Tonino is the fourth child and the closest to Shakira, having worked many years as her road manager. Then there is Patricia who lives in Spain, she is a special education teacher, and finally there is Antonio and Edward, the youngest who both live in Miami. Shakira began writing and composing music at the age of eight. One of the first songs she wrote was called "Tus Gafas Oscuras" (Your Dark Glasses), whose lyrical message revolved around her father and his grief over a son who had died in a car accident. At the age of ten, Shakira tried out for her school choir, but she was rejected because her voice had been noted as "too strong." Friends teased her by saying she sounded like a goat. Shakira started looking for other singing opportunities, and competed in a weekly television singing competition for children, Vivan Los Niños (Long Live The Kids).

In 2000, Shakira started dating Antonio de la Rúa, the son of the then president of Argentina Fernando de la Rúa, a romance that made headline news throughout Latin America. In March of 2001, he proposed to her. During the senior De la Rúa's presidency, the economy of Argentina collapsed, leading to the subsequent December 2001 riots; in response to the turmoil, Tower Records decided to no longer sell Shakira's albums as Antonio was directly involved in the management of his father's administration. De la Rúa and Shakira remain engaged, with no announced marriage plans.

Shakira is well-known for her dancing in various music videos. The moves are based on the art of belly dancing, a part of her Lebanese heritage, which Shakira says she learned as a young teen to overcome her shyness. The intense training has afforded her a fluidity in her body movement most seen in the video to her hit La Tortura. When she was first introduced to the English business, she was noticed for the way she shook her hips (which can be seen in various of her videos like Whenever, Wherever, Objection (Tango) and Ojos Así). She then wrote a song along with Wyclef Jean about her hips, which became her biggest single — Hips Don't Lie. In an MTV interview, she said people told her she never moved her chest when dancing, so she danced with her chest (as well as her usual belly dancing moves) in the videos for La Tortura and Hips Don't Lie.

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