Shakira is shaking it (with her hips that “don’t lie”) into the studio to record her latest album, due out this year via Epic, with Pharrell Williams and Wyclef Jean. According to http://Billboard.com, the feisty Columbian singer has also recorded a duet for the as-yet-untitled album with Calle 13 and may collaborate with Algerian artist Khaled as well. The album will be Shakira’s last for Sony Music before she enters into a multi-rights deal with Live Nation. Although Shakira has been out of the spotlight in the past year, she will take the stage with a host of other performers at a free concert held at Washington D.C.’s Lincoln Memorial January 18 as part of President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration festivities. If you can’t make it to D.C., the show will be aired on HBO, but check out http://www.stubhub.com/shakira-tickets for Shakira tickets to see her perform live.
Shakira first began giving Jennifer Lopez, the reigning Latin female pop star in the States, some stiff competition when she released her first English-language album in 2001. The Columbian native was born Shakira Isabel Mebarkak Ripoll into a poor family of both Columbian and Lebanese descent, and thus grew up surrounded by music of both cultures. Shakira also discovered the English language rock & roll of bands like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana and the Cure and wrote her first song when she was just eight years old, began competing in (and winning) talent competitions at age 10 and learned to play the guitar when she was 11.
In 1990 the 13-year-old hopeful moved to Bogotá in order to pursue a modeling career but inked a record deal with Sony’s Columbian division instead. Shakira’s 1991 debut album, Magia (Magic), featured songs penned by the fledgling singer and made her one to watch in Columbia despite failing to break into the international scene. After her sophomore album, 1993′s Peligro (Danger), wasn’t what she hoped for, Shakira joined the cast of Columbian soap opera El Oasis but soon returned to recording with 1995′s Pies Descalzos (Bare Feet), which gradually garnered success thanks to slow-catching singles “Estoy Aqui,” “Dónde Estás Corazón,” “Un Poco de Amro,” “Se Quierei, Se Mata,” “Antología” and “Pienso en Ti.”
In order to capitalize on her rising star, Shakira signed Emilio Estefan (Gloria’s husband) as her manager and released Dónde Están los Ladrones? (Where Are the Thieves?) in 1998. The album was an even bigger seller than Pies Descalzos and managed to crack the American market, spending 11 weeks atop Billboard’s Latin album charts and spawning two U.S. number one singles (on the Latin charts), “Tu” and “Ciega, Sordumuda.” Gloria Estefan offered to translate Shakira’s album to English but the headstrong singer decided to learn English and do it herself, keeping busy by performing on MTV’s Unplugged in the channel’s first-ever Spanish-language broadcast. The performance was commemorated in an album that garnered Shakira a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album; she performed “Ojos Así” from Dónde Están los Ladrones? at the 2000 inaugural Latin Grammy Awards ceremony and took home two awards that night.
On the brink of international, mainstream pop stardom, Shakira set to work on her first English-language record, Laundry Service. The newly brunette star issued her first single off the album, “Whenever, Wherever” in 2001 to instant success and Laundry Service debuted at number three on the American pop charts. Follow-up single “Underneath Your Clothes” was also a hit and the album, which was supported by an extensive tour, eventually went triple platinum. After releasing a live album Shakira took a break from her hectic schedule to work on her next record, placing Spanish and English-language songs on the Spanish-language Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1 and English-language Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 both appearing in 2005.Epic later reissued Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 with the bonus track “Hips Don’t Lie,” featuring Wyclef Jean and becoming an instant hit.
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