Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll is known simply as Shakira (Arabic: Woman full of grace.), She was born in February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia. She is a ten-time Grammy, fourteen Billboard Music Awards, four World Music Awards and ALMA Award winning Colombia singer and she a songwriter, Instrumentalist, record producer, actress and dancer who has been a major figure in the pop music scene of Latin America since the mid-1990's.
According to Wikipedia, In 2001, she broke through into the English speaking market with the release of her first album in that language, highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold almost fifty million albums worldwide. She is also the only artist from that country to reach the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and UK singles Chart.
In 2001, upon the success of ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?, Shakira began working on a crossover album to English. Collaborating with Gloria Estefan, she wrote and recorded English versions of the tracks from ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?. However, she later decided against using translations of older songs for the album and worked for over a year on new material for the album. The result was Laundry Service. Although it was created with the intent of selling to an English language market, the rock and Spanish dance-influenced album also featured four Spanish songs, including "Que Me Quedes Tú" (I Hope You Stay With Me). Some critics claimed that Shakira's English skills were too weak for her to write in it, but Laundry Service was a success, with more than 13 million sales worldwide, yielding the worldwide hit "Whenever, Wherever" and singles "Underneath Your Clothes" (a Canadian number-one), "Te Dejo Madrid" (I Leave You Madrid), "Objection (Tango)", and "The One". The album and its singles helped to establish Shakira's musical presence in the mainstream North American market.
In 2002, Shakira also released her Spanish greatest hits volume Grandes éxitos. A DVD and ten-track compilation album, called Live & Off the Record, was also released in 2004, reaching sales of 3 million CDs worldwide, and commemorating Shakira's world tour, the Tour of the Mongoose.
In September 2002, Shakira won the now-defunct International Viewer's Choice Award at the MTV Video Music Awards with "Suerte". In October of that year, she won 5 MTV Video Music Awards Latin America for Best Female Artist, Best Pop Artist, Best Artist—North (Region), Video of the Year (for Suerte), and Artist of the Year. At Aerosmith's MTV Icon in 2002, Shakira performed "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)". Also in 2002, Shakira joined the likes of Celine Dion, Anastacia, Cher and The Dixie Chicks for VH1 Divas Live Las Vegas.
As of July 30, 2006 "Hips Don't Lie" was her most recent number one, and consequently, the last ever song played on the legendary British programme Top of the Pops, seeing the track jump back from number three to the number one spot again, after spending seven weeks on the chart. Shakira was the most nominated artist of the year for the MTV Video Music Awards '06. Her seven nominations were for "Hips Don't Lie", including Video of the Year and Best Female Video. She won only one award for Choreography. Shakira also performed "Hips Don't Lie" to the dance moves of popular Indian choreographer Farah Khan. The award show was held on August 31, 2006 in Radio City Music Hall.