 |
| yui yoshioka 1 |
 |
| yui yoshioka 2 |
 |
| yui yoshioka 3 |
 |
| yui yoshioka 4 |
 |
| yui yoshioka 5 |
 |
| yui yoshioka 6 |
Showing posts with label female singer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label female singer. Show all posts
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Monday, 30 May 2011
christina aguilera
FACTS ABOUT CHRISTINA AGUILERA
Date of Birth: 18 December 1980
Birthplace: Staten Island, New York
Age: 29
First Name: Christina
Middle Name: Maria
Last Name: Aguilera
Build: Slim
Height: 5' 1?" (156 cm)
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Blonde
Star Sign: Sagittarius
Claim to Fame: Genie in a Bottle
Occupation: Singer
Religion: Roman Catholic
Occupation Category: Singer
Nationality: American
Music Genre: Pop, Pop/Rock
Music Style: Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Pop/Rock, Contemporary R&B, Dance-Pop, Neo-Soul, Pop, R&B, Teen Pop
Music Mood: Carefree, Cheerful, Earnest, Energetic, Exuberant, Freewheeling, Fun, Happy, Party/Celebratory, Playful, Romantic, Rousing, Sensual, Sentimental, Sexy, Stylish, Sweet, Theatrical, Trashy, Warm
Musical Instrument: Vocals
Alternative Names: Xtina, Christina Maria (Aguilera) Bratman, Christina Aquilera
BIOGRAPHY FOR CHRISTINA AGUILERA
Christina María Aguilera (born dec. 18, 1980 (31 years ago)) is an American pop musician. Aguilera first appeared on national TV in 1990 (21 years ago) as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's TV series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994. Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection" for the movie Mulan. She came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera (1999, 12 years ago), which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. A Latin pop album, Mi Reflejo (2001, 10 years ago), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success but she was displeased with her lack of input in her music and image.
After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her second studio album Stripped (2002, 9 years ago), which received mixed reviews and produced substantial sales. The second single, "Beautiful", was a commercial success and sustained the album's sales amidst controversy over Aguilera's sexual image. Aguilera's third studio album Back to Basics (2006, 5 years ago), included elements of soul, jazz, and blues music, and was released to positive critical reception.
Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and ever-changing image, musically, she includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music. Apart from her work in music, she has also dedicated much of her time as a philanthropist for charities, human rights and world issues. Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards, including four Grammy Awards and one Latin Grammy Award, amongst eighteen nominations. She has become one of the most successful recording artists of the decade, selling more than 42 million records worldwide.
EARLY YEARS
Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York, to Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera, a Sergeant in the U.S. Army at the time and Shelly Loraine Fidler, a teacher of the Spanish language. Aguilera's father was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador (Christina's maternal grandmother emigrated from County Clare, Ireland.) Her father, Fausto, was stationed at Earnest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Japan. Aguilera lived with her father and mother until she was seven years old. Aguilera grew up hearing Spanish and thus understands the language, although she is more fluent in English. When Aguilera's parents divorced, her mother took her, and her younger sister Rachel, to her grandmother's home in Rochester, Pennsylvania, a town outside of Pittsburgh. According to both Aguilera and Fidler, her father was very controlling, as well as physically and emotionally abusive. She later wrote about her difficult childhood in the songs "I'm OK" in Stripped, and "Oh Mother" in Back to Basics. Although her father has written to Aguilera, she has ruled out any chance of reuniting with him. Since then, Fidler has married a paramedic named Jim Kearns, and changed her name.
As a child, Aguilera aspired to be a singer. She was known locally as "the little girl with the big voice", singing in local talent shows and competitions. According to VH1's Driven, whenever competitors learned they would be up against her in any given week, they would immediately withdraw, prompting insiders to claim it was "like sending a lamb to the slaughter." Her peers soon became jealous of her and would frequently subject her to ridicule, ostracism, and, in one gym class, attempted assault. Acts of vandalism around her house included the slashing of the tires on the family car. Eventually, the family relocated to another suburb in the Pittsburgh area (this time, Wexford) and took to secrecy about Aguilera's talent lest another backlash occur. She attended Marshall Middle School near Wexford and North Allegheny Intermediate High School until she was later home schooled.
On Mar. 15, 1990 (21 years ago), she appeared on Star Search singing "A Sunday Kind of Love", but lost the competition at number 2. Soon after losing on Star Search, she returned home and appeared on Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV's Wake Up with Larry Richert to perform the same song. People remarked that the then ten-year-old "sounded 20."
Throughout her youth in Pittsburgh, Aguilera sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Pittsburgh Penguins (9 walls) hockey, Pittsburgh Steelers football and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games. Her first major role in entertainment came in 1993 (18 years ago) when she joined the Disney Channel's variety show The New Mickey Mouse Club. Her co-stars included Justin Timberlake (11 walls), Britney Spears (80 walls), Ryan Gosling and Keri Russell, the show lasted another year until its cancellation. According to the documentary Driven, Aguilera's co-stars called her "the Diva". One of her most notable performances was of Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing".
At the age of fourteen, Aguilera recorded her first song, "All I Wanna Do", a hit duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi. In 1997 (14 years ago), she represented the United States at the "Golden Stag" International Festival with a two-song set.
CAREER
1998–2001: Pop music beginnings and Christina Aguilera
In 1998 (13 years ago), Aguilera sang the High "E" in full voice (and again on the song "Candyman" from her Back To Basics album for a full 8 seconds) (E5) on a cover of Whitney Houston's "Run to You" which she recorded with a tape recorder in her bathroom. She was then selected to record the song "Reflection" for the Disney production of Mulan (1998, 13 years ago). Recording "Reflection" led to Aguilera earning a contract with RCA Records the same week. "Reflection" peaked within the top twenty on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart, and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best Original Song" in 1998 (13 years ago). Under the exclusive representation of Steve Kurtz, Aguilera's self-titled debut album Christina Aguilera was released on Aug. 24, 1999 (12 years ago). It reached the top of the Billboard 200 and Canadian album charts, selling eight million copies in the U.S. and over sixteen million copies worldwide. The album is also included in the Top 100 Albums of All Time list of The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) based on US sales.
Her singles "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" topped the Billboard Hot 100 during 1999 (12 years ago) and 2000 (11 years ago), and "I Turn to You" reached #3. According to the album's songwriters, Aguilera wanted to display the range and audacity in her voice during the promotion of the album, and performed acoustic sets and appeared on TV shows accompanied only by a piano. She ended the year on MTV's New Year's Special, as she performed and was MTV's first artist of the millennium. At the 42nd Grammy Awards Aguilera received a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance nomination for "Genie in a Bottle" and despite earlier predictions, she won the award Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
Aguilera's manager Kurtz told MTV that Christina was talking about recording a Spanish-language album even before she recorded her debut album. In 2000 (11 years ago) Aguilera started recording with producer Rudy Pérez in Miami. Later in 2000 (11 years ago), Aguilera, first emphasized her Latin heritage by releasing her first Spanish album, Mi Reflejo on sep. 12, 2000 (11 years ago). This album contained Spanish versions of songs from her English debut as well as new Spanish tracks. Though some criticized Aguilera for trying to cash in on the Latin music boom at the time. According to Pérez, Aguilera was only semi-fluent, while recording. She understood the language, because she has grown up with her father, who is a native of Ecuador. He added "Her Latin roots are undeniable". The album still managed to peak at #27 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Billboard Latin charts for 20 weeks. In 2001 (10 years ago), it won Aguilera a Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. The album went Gold in the US. She also won the World Music Award as the best selling Latin artist that year.
Aguilera also released a Christmas album on Oct. 24, 2000 (11 years ago) called My Kind of Christmas. It peaked at #28 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified Platinum in the US. Ricky Martin asked Aguilera to duet with him on the track "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" from his album Sound Loaded; released in 2001 (10 years ago) as the album's second single. The single reached number one on the World Chart.
In 2001 (10 years ago), Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink were chosen to remake Labelle's 1975 (36 years ago) single "Lady Marmalade" for the movie Moulin Rouge! and its soundtrack. The single Missy Elliott produced hit number one on the Hot 100 for five weeks and was the most successful airplay-only single in history. It also reached number one in eleven other countries amd earned all four performers a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Aguilera's appearance in the music video was compared to that of Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider. The video won two MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year in 2001 (10 years ago), where Aguilera accepted the award saying, "I guess the big hair paid off."
That year a single emerged into record stores called "Just Be Free", one of the demos Aguilera recorded when she was around fifteen years old. When RCA Records discovered the single, they advised fans not to purchase it. Months later, Warlock Records was set to release Just Be Free, an album which contains the demo tracks. Aguilera filed a breach of contract and unfair competition suit against Warlock and the album's producers to block the release. Instead, the two parties came to a settlement to release the album. Aguilera lent out her name, likeness and image (wallpaper) for an unspecified amount of damages. Many of the details of the lawsuit remain confidential. When the album was released in Aug. 2001 (10 years ago), it had a photograph of Aguilera when she was fifteen years old.
Although Aguilera's debut album was very well received, she was dissatisfied with the music and image (wallpaper) her management had created for her. Aguilera was marketed as a bubblegum pop singer because of the genre's upward financial trend. She mentioned plans of her next album to have much more depth, both musically and lyrically. Aguilera's views of Steve Kurtz's influence in matters of the singer's creative direction, the role of being her exclusive personal manager and overscheduling had in part caused her to seek legal means of terminating their management contract. She revealed while recording her then upcoming album, "I was being overworked. You find out that someone you thought was a friend is stealing money behind your back, and it's heartbreaking. I put faith in the people around me, and unfortunately, it bit me in the butt." Kurtz was terminated and Irving Azoff was hired as her new manager.
2002–2003: Stripped era
In sep. 2001 (10 years ago), Aguilera began recording the album of new material that has the title of stripped. On Oct. 29, 2002 (9 years ago), after much delay, Aguilera's second full-length English album, Stripped, was released, selling more than 330,000 copies in the first week and peaking at #2 on the Billboard 200. Unlike previous work, the album showcased Aguilera's raunchier side. The majority of Stripped was co-written by Aguilera (who had recently signed a global music publishing contract with BMG Music Publishing), and was influenced by many different subjects and music styles, including contemporary R&B, gospel, soul, balladry, pop rock, and hip hop. The majority of the album was produced by Scott Storch and singer-songwriter Linda Perry who produced her more personal records. Rockwilder and singer Alicia Keys (12 walls) also contributed a track each. Upon initial release, the album was very well-received by critics, although Aguilera's vocals were overlooked as she began to cultivate a more sexually provocative image. After the release of the album, she took part in photoshoots for magazines, many of these photographs featured her nude or semi-nude. Her cover for Rolling Stone, featured the singer only wearing boots and a well-placed electric guitar. It was during this time Aguilera referred to herself as "Xtina", even getting a tattoo of her nickname on the back of her neck and several piercings.
Initially, the raunchy image (wallpaper) had a negative effect on Aguilera in the U.S., especially after the release of her controversial "Dirrty" music video. She denied that this change was a matter of publicity, claiming that the image (wallpaper) better reflected her true personality than did the image (wallpaper) she cultivated back in 1999 (12 years ago). While the video for "Dirrty" became very popular on MTV, it disappointed on the U.S. singles chart. However, the single was a hit worldwide, reaching number one in the UK and Ireland. The second single, "Beautiful" received critical praise. The classically influenced ballad reached number one in several countries and peaked at #2 in the US. "Beautiful" earned Aguilera the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Three more singles ("Fighter", "Can't Hold Us Down" featuring Lil' Kim, "The Voice Within") were released in the following two years and were hits that helped the album stay on the charts for the next two years. Stripped stayed on the U.S. and UK album charts well into 2004 (7 years ago), and went on to be certified four-times platinum in the U.S. with over twelve million copies sold worldwide. It appeared at number ten on Billboard's year-end album chart. Kelly Clarkson's second single "Miss Independent" was co-written by Aguilera, having been half-finished for Stripped.
Aguilera joined Justin Timberlake (11 walls) that Jun. on the final leg of his international Justified tour, held in the U.S. This portion of the tour became a co-headliner called the "Justified & Stripped Tour". In August, an overhead lighting grid collapsed from the ceiling of the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, causing major damage to the sound and video equipment below. Because the collapse occurred hours before the show, only a few stagehands were injured, but a few shows were cancelled or postponed. In the fourth quarter of that year, Aguilera continued to tour internationally without Timberlake, and changed the name of the tour to the "Stripped World Tour". She also dyed her hair black. It was one of the top-grossing tours of that year, and sold out most of its venues. Rolling Stone readers named it the best tour of the year. She was a special guest performer with the Pussycat Dolls' dance troupe and appeared on a Maxim spread alongside them. Her second Maxim cover that year set record sales for the issue, by the end of the year she topped the annual Hot 100 list later saying, "We had fun working with certain clothes, or the lack thereof." After much delay, Aguilera's first DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) live-recording from a concert tour, Stripped Live in the UK, was released in Nov. 2004 (7 years ago).
In light of the tour's success, another U.S. tour was scheduled to begin in mid-2004 with a new theme. The tour however was scrapped because of the vocal cord injuries Aguilera suffered shortly before the tour's opening date. In a tribute to Madonna's performance at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards, Aguilera performed a kiss with the singer-actress at the 2003 (8 years ago) edition of the ceremony in August. The incident occurred during the opening performance of Madonna's songs "Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood" with fellow popstar Britney Spears.
2004–2007: Artistic development and Back to Basics
Aguilera later decided to embrace a more mature image; this move was met with more praise than criticism, with articles using punch lines such as "From Crass to Class." She eventually dyed her hair cherry blonde and recorded a jingle, "Hello", for a Mercedes-Benz ad. Shortly after, she dyed her hair flaxen blonde and cut it short, and took on a Marilyn Monroe look; she is one of the main proponents (along with Dita Von Teese (20 walls), Gwen Stefani (16 walls), and Ashley Judd (62 walls)) in bringing back the 1920s-1940s Hollywood glamour look.
In late summer 2004 (7 years ago), Aguilera released two singles. The first, "Car Wash", was a remake of the Rose Royce disco song recorded as a collaboration with rapper Missy Elliott for the soundtrack to the movie Shark Tale. The second song was also a collaboration, but this time as a second single from one of Nelly's double-release albums, Sweat, titled "Tilt Ya Head Back". Both singles failed commercially in the U.S., but did considerably better in other parts of the world.
Aguilera collaborated with jazz artist Herbie Hancock on a cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" recorded for Hancock's album Possibilities, released in Aug. 2005 (6 years ago). Aguilera and Hancock were later nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. She helped open the 50th Anniversary for Disneyland performing "When You Wish upon a Star", and she also collaborated with Andrea Bocelli on the song "Somos Novios" for his album Amore.
Aguilera's third English studio album, Back to Basics, released Aug. 15, 2006 (5 years ago), debuted at #1 in the U.S., the U.K. and eleven other countries. Aguilera described the double CD as "a throwback to the 20s, 30s, and 40s-style jazz, blues, and feel-good soul music, but with a modern twist." Although critics commented on the album's length saying, "At one disc, this would have been nothing short of masterful." The critically acclaimed lead single "Ain't No Other Man" was a substantial success, reaching #2 on the World Chart, #6 in the U.S., and #2 in U.K. Producers on the album included DJ Premier, Kwamé, Linda Perry, and Mark Ronson. One track, "F.U.S.S.", was written as a response to the animosity between Aguilera and her former producer Scott Storch. In an interview she said, "That's a way of burying my experience with him. When I tried to work with him again, he made uncalled-for demands. It was disappointing that someone would get affected like that." She received writing credit for the album and was the executive producer. The follow-up singles did very well in different regions, "Hurt" in Europe and "Candyman" in the Pacific. She co-directed both music videos, the former with Floria Sigismondi who directed her "Fighter" video, and the latter, "Candyman", with director/photographer Matthew Rolston which was inspired by The Andrews Sisters. According to Sony BMG, Back to Basics has sold over 4.5 million units worldwide.
In late 2006 (5 years ago) Aguilera collaborated with Sean "Diddy" Combs on a track, titled "Tell Me", from his album Press Play. She also began the "Back to Basics Tour" in Europe followed by a 41-date North American tour in early 2007 (4 years ago). After this, she toured Asia and Australia, where it was supposed to end on Aug. 3, however she canceled her dates in Melbourne and her final two in Auckland due to an illness. Her extravagant arena tour included cabaret, three-ring circus and juke joint sets and 10 piece costumes designed by Roberto Cavalli. It was the most successful US tour by a female in 2007 (4 years ago). In early 2008 (3 years ago), she released her concert DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) Back to Basics: Live and Down Under.
At the 49th Grammy Awards, Aguilera again won the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Ain't No Other Man". She made a noteworthy performance at the ceremony paying tribute to James Brown with her rendition of his song "It's a Man's Man's Man's World". In Jan. 2007 (4 years ago), she was named the 19th richest woman in entertainment by Forbes, with a net worth of US$60 million.
Aguilera performed "Steppin' Out With My Baby" with Tony Bennett on his NBC special Tony Bennett: An American Classic and on Saturday Night Live. They performed at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards where both specials received Emmys. "Steppin' Out" was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.
2008–present: Keeps Gettin' Better and forthcoming album
In 2008 (3 years ago) Aguilera was featured on the soundtrack to the film, Shine a Light, from a live recording of the song "Live With Me" with the Rolling Stones. The film's soundtrack was released on Apr. 1, 2008 (3 years ago). To commemorate Aguilera's ten years in the music industry, RCA Records released, Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits on Nov. 11, 2008 (3 years ago) exclusively at Target stores. The greatest hits included her first three number one singles, and other songs released from her previous three albums. The album's lead single, "Keeps Gettin' Better" was premiered at the 2008 (3 years ago) MTV Video Music Awards and was her highest debut peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In a Jul. 2008 (3 years ago) interview Aguilera revealed several details about her album saying, "I can tell you that this record is all about fun. I'll be referencing Pop art, Andy Warhol's art. So it will [sound] fun and fast-paced, and visually, it will be full of color". She also added, "there's also going to be a modern element to it that comes from my love of Tokyo". Australian singer-songwriter Sia, will contribute her songwriting skills for Aguilera's album saying, "I'm going to write with Christina in mid-September - It might not work, she might not like any of the stuff I write, and it may not make the cut, but I'm pretty excited about it." She launched her online radio station which is part of Clear Channel's iheartradio revealing details about her upcoming projects. There she revealed that she worked with M.I.A., Santigold and Ladytron adding, "The overall versatility of this record is truly something special for me. The result was just crazy magic. There truly is something for everyone to enjoy on the record." The album is expected for release in Fall 2009 (2 years ago).
Film and TV
In 1991 (20 years ago) Aguilera auditioned for a role on The New Mickey Mouse Club, however she did not meet the age requirements. Two years later she joined the cast performing musical numbers and sketch comedy until the show's cancellation in 1994 (17 years ago). Since then Aguilera has done numerous TV appearances, in 1999 (12 years ago) she made a cameo appearance performing on an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. She hosted a Saturday Night Live episode in 2004 (7 years ago) prior which included a Sex & The City skit where she portrayed Samantha Jones revealing to everyone she was a man the entire time. Prior to this she appeared as a musical guest for episodes hosted by Christopher Walken in 2000 (11 years ago), Salma Hayek (21 walls) in 2003 (8 years ago) and then again in 2006 (5 years ago) with Alec Baldwin. In regards to acting in film, she's mentioned in several interviews that she intends to pursue edgy acting roles similar to Angelina Jolie. She voiced a small singing part in the animated movie Shark Tale playing a rastafarian jellyfish in the film's closing musical number. The film's stars included, among others, Jolie herself.
In 2008 (3 years ago) she appeared in the Martin Scorsese documentary Shine A Light which chronicles a two day Rolling Stones concert in New York City's Beacon Theatre. The movie features Aguilera performing "Live With Me" alongside Mick Jagger. Shine A Light premiered at the Berlin movie Festival on Feb. 7 and was released worldwide on Apr. 4, 2008 (3 years ago). She will appear as herself in the upcoming Judd Apatow film, Get Him to the Greek.
Aguilera will appear as a guest judge on the sixth season of Project Runway on Lifetime TV.
In 2009 (2 years ago) Variety confirmed that she will be working in her first feature film, a musical, titled Burlesque, scheduled to begin shooting in late 2009 (2 years ago). Aguilera will portray a small town girl who "finds love, family and success in a Los Angeles neo-burlesque club". The movie will be directed by Steve Antin and co-star Cher.
Products and endorsement
In 2000 (11 years ago), Aguilera was the face for make-up line Fetish where she worked in choosing colors and packaging for the line. She ended her contract the following year. Throughout her career Aguilera has endorsed several brands, including Skechers, Mercedes-Benz, Verizon Wireless, and soft drink giants Coca-Cola in 2001 (10 years ago), and Pepsi in 2006 (5 years ago). She became the muse and model for fashion house Versace appearing in a campaign for the 2003 (8 years ago) fall line. In 2004 (7 years ago) Aguilera earned £200,000GBP (about $500,000USD) for opening the summer sale at London's Harrods store which took in record breaking profits during the four week period. Aguilera signed a contract with European cell phone operator Orange to promote the new Sony Ericsson Walkman phone during the 2006 (5 years ago) World Cup.
In 2008 (3 years ago) jewelry designer Stephen Webster and close friend of Aguilera released "Shattered", a collection of sterling silver pieces, through Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. Aguilera, who inspired the collection, was featured as a Hitchcock heroine saying, "Working together on this campaign and collection has been an incredible experience. I am honored to be a part of it all." They reprised their work together for Webster's 2009 (2 years ago) spring line.
Aguilera released two fragrances throughout Europe, the first one Xpose, was released in late 2004 (7 years ago) and sold relatively well. Through Procter and Gamble Aguilera released her signature fragrance, Simply Christina in 2007 (4 years ago). In Christmas 2007 (4 years ago), the fragrance became the number one perfume in the UK, and Germany where it topped sales for the year. The perfume won as the people's choice for favorite celebrity fragrance at the annual UK Fifi Awards 2008 (3 years ago). She released her third fragrance, Inspire, accompanied with a body care collection, on sep. 1, 2008 (3 years ago). The perfume hit shelves in the US, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Northern and Eastern Europe. It is Aguilera's first fragrance released outside of Europe. Her worldwide ad campaign included a TV ad shot by David LaChapelle and was released in the US through Macy's department stores. The release coincided with Macy's 150th anniversary which featured Aguilera in commemorative photos. She is set to release her fourth fragrance By Night in October.
PERSONAL LIFE
1999–2003
In late 1999 (12 years ago), Aguilera was rumored to have dated MTV VJ Carson Daly. The relationship was the subject of much discussion after the release of Eminem's song "The Real Slim Shady", in which Eminem (16 walls) satirically suggests that Aguilera had performed fellatio on both Daly and Fred Durst, the lead singer of Limp Bizkit, and had given the rapper himself a venereal disease. Aguilera called the song's innuendo "disgusting" and "untrue." Aguilera and Eminem (16 walls) reportedly resolved the issue three years later backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards.
In Oct. 2000 (11 years ago), Aguilera filed a Breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit against Steve Kurtz for improper, undue and inappropriate influence over her professional activities, as well as fraud. According to legal documents, Kurtz did not protect her rights and interests. Instead, he took action that was for his own interest, at the cost of hers. The lawsuit came about when Aguilera discovered Kurtz used more of her commissionable income than he was allotted, and had paid other managers to assist him. She also petitioned the California State Labor Commission to nullify the contract. After terminating Kurtz's services, Irving Azoff was hired as her new manager.
Kurtz countersued later that month for breach of contract, claiming that the singer violated the same agreement she had sued to void. In the lawsuit, he included others close to Aguilera, alleging their intent to sabotage his business relationship with her. He also singled out Azoff for being in violation of the terms of Kurtz's contract.
Aguilera appeared twice on Mr. Blackwell's Ten Worst Dressed Women's list in 2000 (11 years ago) and 2002 (9 years ago). It was during this time Aguilera's image (wallpaper) was ridiculed for her heavy make-up and outfits during award shows and public events. Aguilera insisted she doesn't mind the criticism and was merely making a statement. While seeing one of her music videos, Aguilera's grandma was disappointed saying, "I nearly died when I saw she was wearing so little. I rang her mom and said, 'Oh my God, what is Christina doing?' I feel sad for her really -- she is so young. I totally understand why people criticize her."
She dated Puerto Rican dancer Jorge Santos, he appeared on her tour and music videos throughout 2000 (11 years ago). They dated for nearly two years until the relationship ended on sep. 11, 2001 (10 years ago). He remained her dancer well into 2002 (9 years ago).
In 2003 (8 years ago), Aguilera was in several public feuds with other musicians including Pink who had worked with her on "Lady Marmalade", the singer mocked Aguilera on stage by using a blow-up doll during her tour. Kelly Osbourne also remarked that Aguilera was, "one of the most disgusting human beings in the world." Later that year at the MTV Europe Awards where Aguilera was hosting, Osbourne commented on the red carpet calling her a "cow", Aguilera was later seen throwing darts at a picture (wallpaper) of Kelly during the telecast. Several years later however Aguilera purchased The Osbourne house from Sharon and Ozzy which seemed to have ended their feud.
2004–2008
Aguilera began dating music marketing executive Jordan Bratman in 2002 (9 years ago). Their engagement was announced in Feb. 2005 (6 years ago), and they married on Nov. 19, 2005 (6 years ago), in a Napa Valley estate. In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Aguilera revealed that she and Bratman enjoy being nude on Sundays, saying, "You have to keep marriage alive, spice it up". The story received so much attention that following the news supermodel Heidi Klum (67 walls) told Degeneres that she and her husband Seal would consider doing the same ritual.
In May 2006 (5 years ago), she posed nude for a Marilyn Monroe-inspired photoshoot in GQ magazine where she re-created several photographs done by Monroe and spoke about her marriage to Bratman. In the issue she also expressed disappointment in fellow singer Mariah Carey (29 walls), saying that Carey "was never cool to me", and that "one time we were at a party, I think she got really drunk, and had really derogatory things to say to me." Carey then released a statement saying, "It is sad yet predictable that she would use my name at this time to reinvent past incidents for promotional gain." Aguilera responded saying, "My intentions were not to upset Mariah with any statements published or taken out of context. I have all the respect in the world for her."
On sep. 9, 2007 (4 years ago), at a birthday party for a mutual friend, Paris Hilton (99 walls) publicly congratulated the singer on her pregnancy. Aguilera, however, had not yet confirmed her pregnancy at the time. Aguilera later confirmed this on Nov. 4 in an interview with Glamour magazine. On Jan. 12, 2008 (3 years ago), Aguilera gave birth to her son, Max Liron Bratman, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. His Latin firstname and Hebrew middle name roughly translate into “My Greatest Song”. Aguilera was reportedly paid $1.5 million by People magazine for her baby pictures, which according to Forbes places fifth on the list of the most expensive celebrity baby photos.
FILMOGRAPHY
1993–1995: Mickey Mouse Club — Herself
1999 (12 years ago): Beverly Hills, 90210 — Herself
2000 (11 years ago): Saturday Night Live — Musical guest
2003 (8 years ago): Saturday Night Live — Musical guest
2004 (7 years ago): Shark Tale — Voice
2004 (7 years ago): Saturday Night Live — Hostess
2006 (5 years ago): Saturday Night Live — Musical guest
2008 (3 years ago): Shine a Light — Musical guest
2010 (last year): Burlesque - Lead Role
DISCOGRAPHY
Studio albums:
Christina Aguilera (1999, 12 years ago)
Stripped (2002, 9 years ago)
Back to Basics (2006, 5 years ago)
Light & Darkness (2009, 2 years ago)
Other albums:
Mi Reflejo (2000, 11 years ago)
My Kind of Christmas (2000, 11 years ago)
Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits (2008, 3 years ago)
DVDs:
Genie Gets Her Wish (1999, 12 years ago)
My Reflection (2001, 10 years ago)
Stripped Live in the U.K. (2004, 7 years ago)
Back to Basics: Live and Down Under (2008, 3 years ago)
TOURS
Christina Aguilera: In Concert Tour (2000/2001)
Justified/Stripped Tour / Stripped World Tour (2003, 8 years ago)
Back to Basics Tour (2006/2007)
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Date of Birth: 18 December 1980
Birthplace: Staten Island, New York
Age: 29
First Name: Christina
Middle Name: Maria
Last Name: Aguilera
Build: Slim
Height: 5' 1?" (156 cm)
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Blonde
Star Sign: Sagittarius
Claim to Fame: Genie in a Bottle
Occupation: Singer
Religion: Roman Catholic
Occupation Category: Singer
Nationality: American
Music Genre: Pop, Pop/Rock
Music Style: Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Pop/Rock, Contemporary R&B, Dance-Pop, Neo-Soul, Pop, R&B, Teen Pop
Music Mood: Carefree, Cheerful, Earnest, Energetic, Exuberant, Freewheeling, Fun, Happy, Party/Celebratory, Playful, Romantic, Rousing, Sensual, Sentimental, Sexy, Stylish, Sweet, Theatrical, Trashy, Warm
Musical Instrument: Vocals
Alternative Names: Xtina, Christina Maria (Aguilera) Bratman, Christina Aquilera
BIOGRAPHY FOR CHRISTINA AGUILERA
Christina María Aguilera (born dec. 18, 1980 (31 years ago)) is an American pop musician. Aguilera first appeared on national TV in 1990 (21 years ago) as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's TV series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994. Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection" for the movie Mulan. She came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera (1999, 12 years ago), which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. A Latin pop album, Mi Reflejo (2001, 10 years ago), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success but she was displeased with her lack of input in her music and image.
After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her second studio album Stripped (2002, 9 years ago), which received mixed reviews and produced substantial sales. The second single, "Beautiful", was a commercial success and sustained the album's sales amidst controversy over Aguilera's sexual image. Aguilera's third studio album Back to Basics (2006, 5 years ago), included elements of soul, jazz, and blues music, and was released to positive critical reception.
Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and ever-changing image, musically, she includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music. Apart from her work in music, she has also dedicated much of her time as a philanthropist for charities, human rights and world issues. Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards, including four Grammy Awards and one Latin Grammy Award, amongst eighteen nominations. She has become one of the most successful recording artists of the decade, selling more than 42 million records worldwide.
EARLY YEARS
Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York, to Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera, a Sergeant in the U.S. Army at the time and Shelly Loraine Fidler, a teacher of the Spanish language. Aguilera's father was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador (Christina's maternal grandmother emigrated from County Clare, Ireland.) Her father, Fausto, was stationed at Earnest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Japan. Aguilera lived with her father and mother until she was seven years old. Aguilera grew up hearing Spanish and thus understands the language, although she is more fluent in English. When Aguilera's parents divorced, her mother took her, and her younger sister Rachel, to her grandmother's home in Rochester, Pennsylvania, a town outside of Pittsburgh. According to both Aguilera and Fidler, her father was very controlling, as well as physically and emotionally abusive. She later wrote about her difficult childhood in the songs "I'm OK" in Stripped, and "Oh Mother" in Back to Basics. Although her father has written to Aguilera, she has ruled out any chance of reuniting with him. Since then, Fidler has married a paramedic named Jim Kearns, and changed her name.
As a child, Aguilera aspired to be a singer. She was known locally as "the little girl with the big voice", singing in local talent shows and competitions. According to VH1's Driven, whenever competitors learned they would be up against her in any given week, they would immediately withdraw, prompting insiders to claim it was "like sending a lamb to the slaughter." Her peers soon became jealous of her and would frequently subject her to ridicule, ostracism, and, in one gym class, attempted assault. Acts of vandalism around her house included the slashing of the tires on the family car. Eventually, the family relocated to another suburb in the Pittsburgh area (this time, Wexford) and took to secrecy about Aguilera's talent lest another backlash occur. She attended Marshall Middle School near Wexford and North Allegheny Intermediate High School until she was later home schooled.
On Mar. 15, 1990 (21 years ago), she appeared on Star Search singing "A Sunday Kind of Love", but lost the competition at number 2. Soon after losing on Star Search, she returned home and appeared on Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV's Wake Up with Larry Richert to perform the same song. People remarked that the then ten-year-old "sounded 20."
Throughout her youth in Pittsburgh, Aguilera sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Pittsburgh Penguins (9 walls) hockey, Pittsburgh Steelers football and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games. Her first major role in entertainment came in 1993 (18 years ago) when she joined the Disney Channel's variety show The New Mickey Mouse Club. Her co-stars included Justin Timberlake (11 walls), Britney Spears (80 walls), Ryan Gosling and Keri Russell, the show lasted another year until its cancellation. According to the documentary Driven, Aguilera's co-stars called her "the Diva". One of her most notable performances was of Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing".
At the age of fourteen, Aguilera recorded her first song, "All I Wanna Do", a hit duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi. In 1997 (14 years ago), she represented the United States at the "Golden Stag" International Festival with a two-song set.
CAREER
1998–2001: Pop music beginnings and Christina Aguilera
In 1998 (13 years ago), Aguilera sang the High "E" in full voice (and again on the song "Candyman" from her Back To Basics album for a full 8 seconds) (E5) on a cover of Whitney Houston's "Run to You" which she recorded with a tape recorder in her bathroom. She was then selected to record the song "Reflection" for the Disney production of Mulan (1998, 13 years ago). Recording "Reflection" led to Aguilera earning a contract with RCA Records the same week. "Reflection" peaked within the top twenty on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart, and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best Original Song" in 1998 (13 years ago). Under the exclusive representation of Steve Kurtz, Aguilera's self-titled debut album Christina Aguilera was released on Aug. 24, 1999 (12 years ago). It reached the top of the Billboard 200 and Canadian album charts, selling eight million copies in the U.S. and over sixteen million copies worldwide. The album is also included in the Top 100 Albums of All Time list of The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) based on US sales.
Her singles "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" topped the Billboard Hot 100 during 1999 (12 years ago) and 2000 (11 years ago), and "I Turn to You" reached #3. According to the album's songwriters, Aguilera wanted to display the range and audacity in her voice during the promotion of the album, and performed acoustic sets and appeared on TV shows accompanied only by a piano. She ended the year on MTV's New Year's Special, as she performed and was MTV's first artist of the millennium. At the 42nd Grammy Awards Aguilera received a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance nomination for "Genie in a Bottle" and despite earlier predictions, she won the award Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
Aguilera's manager Kurtz told MTV that Christina was talking about recording a Spanish-language album even before she recorded her debut album. In 2000 (11 years ago) Aguilera started recording with producer Rudy Pérez in Miami. Later in 2000 (11 years ago), Aguilera, first emphasized her Latin heritage by releasing her first Spanish album, Mi Reflejo on sep. 12, 2000 (11 years ago). This album contained Spanish versions of songs from her English debut as well as new Spanish tracks. Though some criticized Aguilera for trying to cash in on the Latin music boom at the time. According to Pérez, Aguilera was only semi-fluent, while recording. She understood the language, because she has grown up with her father, who is a native of Ecuador. He added "Her Latin roots are undeniable". The album still managed to peak at #27 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Billboard Latin charts for 20 weeks. In 2001 (10 years ago), it won Aguilera a Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. The album went Gold in the US. She also won the World Music Award as the best selling Latin artist that year.
Aguilera also released a Christmas album on Oct. 24, 2000 (11 years ago) called My Kind of Christmas. It peaked at #28 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified Platinum in the US. Ricky Martin asked Aguilera to duet with him on the track "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" from his album Sound Loaded; released in 2001 (10 years ago) as the album's second single. The single reached number one on the World Chart.
In 2001 (10 years ago), Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink were chosen to remake Labelle's 1975 (36 years ago) single "Lady Marmalade" for the movie Moulin Rouge! and its soundtrack. The single Missy Elliott produced hit number one on the Hot 100 for five weeks and was the most successful airplay-only single in history. It also reached number one in eleven other countries amd earned all four performers a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Aguilera's appearance in the music video was compared to that of Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider. The video won two MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year in 2001 (10 years ago), where Aguilera accepted the award saying, "I guess the big hair paid off."
That year a single emerged into record stores called "Just Be Free", one of the demos Aguilera recorded when she was around fifteen years old. When RCA Records discovered the single, they advised fans not to purchase it. Months later, Warlock Records was set to release Just Be Free, an album which contains the demo tracks. Aguilera filed a breach of contract and unfair competition suit against Warlock and the album's producers to block the release. Instead, the two parties came to a settlement to release the album. Aguilera lent out her name, likeness and image (wallpaper) for an unspecified amount of damages. Many of the details of the lawsuit remain confidential. When the album was released in Aug. 2001 (10 years ago), it had a photograph of Aguilera when she was fifteen years old.
Although Aguilera's debut album was very well received, she was dissatisfied with the music and image (wallpaper) her management had created for her. Aguilera was marketed as a bubblegum pop singer because of the genre's upward financial trend. She mentioned plans of her next album to have much more depth, both musically and lyrically. Aguilera's views of Steve Kurtz's influence in matters of the singer's creative direction, the role of being her exclusive personal manager and overscheduling had in part caused her to seek legal means of terminating their management contract. She revealed while recording her then upcoming album, "I was being overworked. You find out that someone you thought was a friend is stealing money behind your back, and it's heartbreaking. I put faith in the people around me, and unfortunately, it bit me in the butt." Kurtz was terminated and Irving Azoff was hired as her new manager.
2002–2003: Stripped era
In sep. 2001 (10 years ago), Aguilera began recording the album of new material that has the title of stripped. On Oct. 29, 2002 (9 years ago), after much delay, Aguilera's second full-length English album, Stripped, was released, selling more than 330,000 copies in the first week and peaking at #2 on the Billboard 200. Unlike previous work, the album showcased Aguilera's raunchier side. The majority of Stripped was co-written by Aguilera (who had recently signed a global music publishing contract with BMG Music Publishing), and was influenced by many different subjects and music styles, including contemporary R&B, gospel, soul, balladry, pop rock, and hip hop. The majority of the album was produced by Scott Storch and singer-songwriter Linda Perry who produced her more personal records. Rockwilder and singer Alicia Keys (12 walls) also contributed a track each. Upon initial release, the album was very well-received by critics, although Aguilera's vocals were overlooked as she began to cultivate a more sexually provocative image. After the release of the album, she took part in photoshoots for magazines, many of these photographs featured her nude or semi-nude. Her cover for Rolling Stone, featured the singer only wearing boots and a well-placed electric guitar. It was during this time Aguilera referred to herself as "Xtina", even getting a tattoo of her nickname on the back of her neck and several piercings.
Initially, the raunchy image (wallpaper) had a negative effect on Aguilera in the U.S., especially after the release of her controversial "Dirrty" music video. She denied that this change was a matter of publicity, claiming that the image (wallpaper) better reflected her true personality than did the image (wallpaper) she cultivated back in 1999 (12 years ago). While the video for "Dirrty" became very popular on MTV, it disappointed on the U.S. singles chart. However, the single was a hit worldwide, reaching number one in the UK and Ireland. The second single, "Beautiful" received critical praise. The classically influenced ballad reached number one in several countries and peaked at #2 in the US. "Beautiful" earned Aguilera the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Three more singles ("Fighter", "Can't Hold Us Down" featuring Lil' Kim, "The Voice Within") were released in the following two years and were hits that helped the album stay on the charts for the next two years. Stripped stayed on the U.S. and UK album charts well into 2004 (7 years ago), and went on to be certified four-times platinum in the U.S. with over twelve million copies sold worldwide. It appeared at number ten on Billboard's year-end album chart. Kelly Clarkson's second single "Miss Independent" was co-written by Aguilera, having been half-finished for Stripped.
Aguilera joined Justin Timberlake (11 walls) that Jun. on the final leg of his international Justified tour, held in the U.S. This portion of the tour became a co-headliner called the "Justified & Stripped Tour". In August, an overhead lighting grid collapsed from the ceiling of the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, causing major damage to the sound and video equipment below. Because the collapse occurred hours before the show, only a few stagehands were injured, but a few shows were cancelled or postponed. In the fourth quarter of that year, Aguilera continued to tour internationally without Timberlake, and changed the name of the tour to the "Stripped World Tour". She also dyed her hair black. It was one of the top-grossing tours of that year, and sold out most of its venues. Rolling Stone readers named it the best tour of the year. She was a special guest performer with the Pussycat Dolls' dance troupe and appeared on a Maxim spread alongside them. Her second Maxim cover that year set record sales for the issue, by the end of the year she topped the annual Hot 100 list later saying, "We had fun working with certain clothes, or the lack thereof." After much delay, Aguilera's first DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) live-recording from a concert tour, Stripped Live in the UK, was released in Nov. 2004 (7 years ago).
In light of the tour's success, another U.S. tour was scheduled to begin in mid-2004 with a new theme. The tour however was scrapped because of the vocal cord injuries Aguilera suffered shortly before the tour's opening date. In a tribute to Madonna's performance at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards, Aguilera performed a kiss with the singer-actress at the 2003 (8 years ago) edition of the ceremony in August. The incident occurred during the opening performance of Madonna's songs "Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood" with fellow popstar Britney Spears.
2004–2007: Artistic development and Back to Basics
Aguilera later decided to embrace a more mature image; this move was met with more praise than criticism, with articles using punch lines such as "From Crass to Class." She eventually dyed her hair cherry blonde and recorded a jingle, "Hello", for a Mercedes-Benz ad. Shortly after, she dyed her hair flaxen blonde and cut it short, and took on a Marilyn Monroe look; she is one of the main proponents (along with Dita Von Teese (20 walls), Gwen Stefani (16 walls), and Ashley Judd (62 walls)) in bringing back the 1920s-1940s Hollywood glamour look.
In late summer 2004 (7 years ago), Aguilera released two singles. The first, "Car Wash", was a remake of the Rose Royce disco song recorded as a collaboration with rapper Missy Elliott for the soundtrack to the movie Shark Tale. The second song was also a collaboration, but this time as a second single from one of Nelly's double-release albums, Sweat, titled "Tilt Ya Head Back". Both singles failed commercially in the U.S., but did considerably better in other parts of the world.
Aguilera collaborated with jazz artist Herbie Hancock on a cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" recorded for Hancock's album Possibilities, released in Aug. 2005 (6 years ago). Aguilera and Hancock were later nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. She helped open the 50th Anniversary for Disneyland performing "When You Wish upon a Star", and she also collaborated with Andrea Bocelli on the song "Somos Novios" for his album Amore.
Aguilera's third English studio album, Back to Basics, released Aug. 15, 2006 (5 years ago), debuted at #1 in the U.S., the U.K. and eleven other countries. Aguilera described the double CD as "a throwback to the 20s, 30s, and 40s-style jazz, blues, and feel-good soul music, but with a modern twist." Although critics commented on the album's length saying, "At one disc, this would have been nothing short of masterful." The critically acclaimed lead single "Ain't No Other Man" was a substantial success, reaching #2 on the World Chart, #6 in the U.S., and #2 in U.K. Producers on the album included DJ Premier, Kwamé, Linda Perry, and Mark Ronson. One track, "F.U.S.S.", was written as a response to the animosity between Aguilera and her former producer Scott Storch. In an interview she said, "That's a way of burying my experience with him. When I tried to work with him again, he made uncalled-for demands. It was disappointing that someone would get affected like that." She received writing credit for the album and was the executive producer. The follow-up singles did very well in different regions, "Hurt" in Europe and "Candyman" in the Pacific. She co-directed both music videos, the former with Floria Sigismondi who directed her "Fighter" video, and the latter, "Candyman", with director/photographer Matthew Rolston which was inspired by The Andrews Sisters. According to Sony BMG, Back to Basics has sold over 4.5 million units worldwide.
In late 2006 (5 years ago) Aguilera collaborated with Sean "Diddy" Combs on a track, titled "Tell Me", from his album Press Play. She also began the "Back to Basics Tour" in Europe followed by a 41-date North American tour in early 2007 (4 years ago). After this, she toured Asia and Australia, where it was supposed to end on Aug. 3, however she canceled her dates in Melbourne and her final two in Auckland due to an illness. Her extravagant arena tour included cabaret, three-ring circus and juke joint sets and 10 piece costumes designed by Roberto Cavalli. It was the most successful US tour by a female in 2007 (4 years ago). In early 2008 (3 years ago), she released her concert DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) Back to Basics: Live and Down Under.
At the 49th Grammy Awards, Aguilera again won the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Ain't No Other Man". She made a noteworthy performance at the ceremony paying tribute to James Brown with her rendition of his song "It's a Man's Man's Man's World". In Jan. 2007 (4 years ago), she was named the 19th richest woman in entertainment by Forbes, with a net worth of US$60 million.
Aguilera performed "Steppin' Out With My Baby" with Tony Bennett on his NBC special Tony Bennett: An American Classic and on Saturday Night Live. They performed at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards where both specials received Emmys. "Steppin' Out" was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.
2008–present: Keeps Gettin' Better and forthcoming album
In 2008 (3 years ago) Aguilera was featured on the soundtrack to the film, Shine a Light, from a live recording of the song "Live With Me" with the Rolling Stones. The film's soundtrack was released on Apr. 1, 2008 (3 years ago). To commemorate Aguilera's ten years in the music industry, RCA Records released, Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits on Nov. 11, 2008 (3 years ago) exclusively at Target stores. The greatest hits included her first three number one singles, and other songs released from her previous three albums. The album's lead single, "Keeps Gettin' Better" was premiered at the 2008 (3 years ago) MTV Video Music Awards and was her highest debut peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In a Jul. 2008 (3 years ago) interview Aguilera revealed several details about her album saying, "I can tell you that this record is all about fun. I'll be referencing Pop art, Andy Warhol's art. So it will [sound] fun and fast-paced, and visually, it will be full of color". She also added, "there's also going to be a modern element to it that comes from my love of Tokyo". Australian singer-songwriter Sia, will contribute her songwriting skills for Aguilera's album saying, "I'm going to write with Christina in mid-September - It might not work, she might not like any of the stuff I write, and it may not make the cut, but I'm pretty excited about it." She launched her online radio station which is part of Clear Channel's iheartradio revealing details about her upcoming projects. There she revealed that she worked with M.I.A., Santigold and Ladytron adding, "The overall versatility of this record is truly something special for me. The result was just crazy magic. There truly is something for everyone to enjoy on the record." The album is expected for release in Fall 2009 (2 years ago).
Film and TV
In 1991 (20 years ago) Aguilera auditioned for a role on The New Mickey Mouse Club, however she did not meet the age requirements. Two years later she joined the cast performing musical numbers and sketch comedy until the show's cancellation in 1994 (17 years ago). Since then Aguilera has done numerous TV appearances, in 1999 (12 years ago) she made a cameo appearance performing on an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. She hosted a Saturday Night Live episode in 2004 (7 years ago) prior which included a Sex & The City skit where she portrayed Samantha Jones revealing to everyone she was a man the entire time. Prior to this she appeared as a musical guest for episodes hosted by Christopher Walken in 2000 (11 years ago), Salma Hayek (21 walls) in 2003 (8 years ago) and then again in 2006 (5 years ago) with Alec Baldwin. In regards to acting in film, she's mentioned in several interviews that she intends to pursue edgy acting roles similar to Angelina Jolie. She voiced a small singing part in the animated movie Shark Tale playing a rastafarian jellyfish in the film's closing musical number. The film's stars included, among others, Jolie herself.
In 2008 (3 years ago) she appeared in the Martin Scorsese documentary Shine A Light which chronicles a two day Rolling Stones concert in New York City's Beacon Theatre. The movie features Aguilera performing "Live With Me" alongside Mick Jagger. Shine A Light premiered at the Berlin movie Festival on Feb. 7 and was released worldwide on Apr. 4, 2008 (3 years ago). She will appear as herself in the upcoming Judd Apatow film, Get Him to the Greek.
Aguilera will appear as a guest judge on the sixth season of Project Runway on Lifetime TV.
In 2009 (2 years ago) Variety confirmed that she will be working in her first feature film, a musical, titled Burlesque, scheduled to begin shooting in late 2009 (2 years ago). Aguilera will portray a small town girl who "finds love, family and success in a Los Angeles neo-burlesque club". The movie will be directed by Steve Antin and co-star Cher.
Products and endorsement
In 2000 (11 years ago), Aguilera was the face for make-up line Fetish where she worked in choosing colors and packaging for the line. She ended her contract the following year. Throughout her career Aguilera has endorsed several brands, including Skechers, Mercedes-Benz, Verizon Wireless, and soft drink giants Coca-Cola in 2001 (10 years ago), and Pepsi in 2006 (5 years ago). She became the muse and model for fashion house Versace appearing in a campaign for the 2003 (8 years ago) fall line. In 2004 (7 years ago) Aguilera earned £200,000GBP (about $500,000USD) for opening the summer sale at London's Harrods store which took in record breaking profits during the four week period. Aguilera signed a contract with European cell phone operator Orange to promote the new Sony Ericsson Walkman phone during the 2006 (5 years ago) World Cup.
In 2008 (3 years ago) jewelry designer Stephen Webster and close friend of Aguilera released "Shattered", a collection of sterling silver pieces, through Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. Aguilera, who inspired the collection, was featured as a Hitchcock heroine saying, "Working together on this campaign and collection has been an incredible experience. I am honored to be a part of it all." They reprised their work together for Webster's 2009 (2 years ago) spring line.
Aguilera released two fragrances throughout Europe, the first one Xpose, was released in late 2004 (7 years ago) and sold relatively well. Through Procter and Gamble Aguilera released her signature fragrance, Simply Christina in 2007 (4 years ago). In Christmas 2007 (4 years ago), the fragrance became the number one perfume in the UK, and Germany where it topped sales for the year. The perfume won as the people's choice for favorite celebrity fragrance at the annual UK Fifi Awards 2008 (3 years ago). She released her third fragrance, Inspire, accompanied with a body care collection, on sep. 1, 2008 (3 years ago). The perfume hit shelves in the US, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Northern and Eastern Europe. It is Aguilera's first fragrance released outside of Europe. Her worldwide ad campaign included a TV ad shot by David LaChapelle and was released in the US through Macy's department stores. The release coincided with Macy's 150th anniversary which featured Aguilera in commemorative photos. She is set to release her fourth fragrance By Night in October.
PERSONAL LIFE
1999–2003
In late 1999 (12 years ago), Aguilera was rumored to have dated MTV VJ Carson Daly. The relationship was the subject of much discussion after the release of Eminem's song "The Real Slim Shady", in which Eminem (16 walls) satirically suggests that Aguilera had performed fellatio on both Daly and Fred Durst, the lead singer of Limp Bizkit, and had given the rapper himself a venereal disease. Aguilera called the song's innuendo "disgusting" and "untrue." Aguilera and Eminem (16 walls) reportedly resolved the issue three years later backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards.
In Oct. 2000 (11 years ago), Aguilera filed a Breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit against Steve Kurtz for improper, undue and inappropriate influence over her professional activities, as well as fraud. According to legal documents, Kurtz did not protect her rights and interests. Instead, he took action that was for his own interest, at the cost of hers. The lawsuit came about when Aguilera discovered Kurtz used more of her commissionable income than he was allotted, and had paid other managers to assist him. She also petitioned the California State Labor Commission to nullify the contract. After terminating Kurtz's services, Irving Azoff was hired as her new manager.
Kurtz countersued later that month for breach of contract, claiming that the singer violated the same agreement she had sued to void. In the lawsuit, he included others close to Aguilera, alleging their intent to sabotage his business relationship with her. He also singled out Azoff for being in violation of the terms of Kurtz's contract.
Aguilera appeared twice on Mr. Blackwell's Ten Worst Dressed Women's list in 2000 (11 years ago) and 2002 (9 years ago). It was during this time Aguilera's image (wallpaper) was ridiculed for her heavy make-up and outfits during award shows and public events. Aguilera insisted she doesn't mind the criticism and was merely making a statement. While seeing one of her music videos, Aguilera's grandma was disappointed saying, "I nearly died when I saw she was wearing so little. I rang her mom and said, 'Oh my God, what is Christina doing?' I feel sad for her really -- she is so young. I totally understand why people criticize her."
She dated Puerto Rican dancer Jorge Santos, he appeared on her tour and music videos throughout 2000 (11 years ago). They dated for nearly two years until the relationship ended on sep. 11, 2001 (10 years ago). He remained her dancer well into 2002 (9 years ago).
In 2003 (8 years ago), Aguilera was in several public feuds with other musicians including Pink who had worked with her on "Lady Marmalade", the singer mocked Aguilera on stage by using a blow-up doll during her tour. Kelly Osbourne also remarked that Aguilera was, "one of the most disgusting human beings in the world." Later that year at the MTV Europe Awards where Aguilera was hosting, Osbourne commented on the red carpet calling her a "cow", Aguilera was later seen throwing darts at a picture (wallpaper) of Kelly during the telecast. Several years later however Aguilera purchased The Osbourne house from Sharon and Ozzy which seemed to have ended their feud.
2004–2008
Aguilera began dating music marketing executive Jordan Bratman in 2002 (9 years ago). Their engagement was announced in Feb. 2005 (6 years ago), and they married on Nov. 19, 2005 (6 years ago), in a Napa Valley estate. In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Aguilera revealed that she and Bratman enjoy being nude on Sundays, saying, "You have to keep marriage alive, spice it up". The story received so much attention that following the news supermodel Heidi Klum (67 walls) told Degeneres that she and her husband Seal would consider doing the same ritual.
In May 2006 (5 years ago), she posed nude for a Marilyn Monroe-inspired photoshoot in GQ magazine where she re-created several photographs done by Monroe and spoke about her marriage to Bratman. In the issue she also expressed disappointment in fellow singer Mariah Carey (29 walls), saying that Carey "was never cool to me", and that "one time we were at a party, I think she got really drunk, and had really derogatory things to say to me." Carey then released a statement saying, "It is sad yet predictable that she would use my name at this time to reinvent past incidents for promotional gain." Aguilera responded saying, "My intentions were not to upset Mariah with any statements published or taken out of context. I have all the respect in the world for her."
On sep. 9, 2007 (4 years ago), at a birthday party for a mutual friend, Paris Hilton (99 walls) publicly congratulated the singer on her pregnancy. Aguilera, however, had not yet confirmed her pregnancy at the time. Aguilera later confirmed this on Nov. 4 in an interview with Glamour magazine. On Jan. 12, 2008 (3 years ago), Aguilera gave birth to her son, Max Liron Bratman, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. His Latin firstname and Hebrew middle name roughly translate into “My Greatest Song”. Aguilera was reportedly paid $1.5 million by People magazine for her baby pictures, which according to Forbes places fifth on the list of the most expensive celebrity baby photos.
FILMOGRAPHY
1993–1995: Mickey Mouse Club — Herself
1999 (12 years ago): Beverly Hills, 90210 — Herself
2000 (11 years ago): Saturday Night Live — Musical guest
2003 (8 years ago): Saturday Night Live — Musical guest
2004 (7 years ago): Shark Tale — Voice
2004 (7 years ago): Saturday Night Live — Hostess
2006 (5 years ago): Saturday Night Live — Musical guest
2008 (3 years ago): Shine a Light — Musical guest
2010 (last year): Burlesque - Lead Role
DISCOGRAPHY
Studio albums:
Christina Aguilera (1999, 12 years ago)
Stripped (2002, 9 years ago)
Back to Basics (2006, 5 years ago)
Light & Darkness (2009, 2 years ago)
Other albums:
Mi Reflejo (2000, 11 years ago)
My Kind of Christmas (2000, 11 years ago)
Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits (2008, 3 years ago)
DVDs:
Genie Gets Her Wish (1999, 12 years ago)
My Reflection (2001, 10 years ago)
Stripped Live in the U.K. (2004, 7 years ago)
Back to Basics: Live and Down Under (2008, 3 years ago)
TOURS
Christina Aguilera: In Concert Tour (2000/2001)
Justified/Stripped Tour / Stripped World Tour (2003, 8 years ago)
Back to Basics Tour (2006/2007)
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Friday, 27 May 2011
Shakira
BIOGRAPHY FOR SHAKIRA RIPOLL
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born: Feb. 2, 1977 (34 years ago)) known simply as Shakira, شاكيرا in Arabic is a Colombian-Lebanese singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer and philanthropist who emerged as a musical prodigy in the music scene of Latin America in the early 1990 (21 years ago). Born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, Shakira revealed many of her talents in school as a live performer, demonstrating her vocal ability with rock and roll, Latin and Middle Eastern influences with her own original twist on belly dancing. Shakira is a native Spanish speaker and also speaks fluent English, Portuguese and Italian.
After a series of commercial flops with local producers on her first two albums and little-known outside Colombia, Shakira decided to produce her own brand of music: in 1995 (16 years ago) she released Pies Descalzos, which brought her great fame in Latin America and Spain and marked Shakira as a musical phenomenon. But 1998's ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? remains most essential album of the artist that gained her highest critical success from influential issues such as Rolling Stone, All Music Guide and Billboard. Since then she has gained many fans in non-Spanish-speaking countries, especially in the United States. In 2001 (10 years ago), and aided by heavy promotion of the music video, "Whenever, Wherever", she broke through into the English-speaking world with the release of Laundry Service, which sold over thirteen million copies worldwide. Four years later, Shakira released two album projects called Fijación Oral Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation Vol. 2. Both reinforced her success, particularly with the most successful song in the twenty-first century to date, "Hips Don't Lie". Currently, Shakira is working on final touches of her upcoming eighth studio album that will be released in late 2009 (2 years ago).
She has won two Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammy Awards, and has been Golden Globe-nominated. She is also the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time,and the second most successful female Latin singer having sold 50 million albums worldwide, according to BMI. Additionally, she is the only artist from South America to reach the number-one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, Canadian Hot 100, the Australian ARIA chart, and the UK Singles Chart.
Shakira is to be awarded with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which will make her the first South American to receive this honor.
EARLY YEARS
Shakira was born on Feb. 2, 1977 (34 years ago) in Barranquilla, Colombia. She is the only child of Nidya del Carmen Ripoll Torrado, who is of Italian and Spanish ancestry, and William Mebarak Chadid who is an American born of Lebanese descent. She has 8 older half siblings from her father's previous marriage.
Shakira means "thankful" in Arabic. It is the feminine form of the name Shakir. Her second name, Isabel, is also that of her paternal grandmother, meaning "my God is my oath", "my God's house" or "my God is abundance", and her name is even and simply a Spanish given name for Elizabeth. Her second surname name Ripoll is Catalan. She spent much of her youth in Barranquilla, a city located in northern Colombia. Shakira is noted for her keen intellect and is reported to have an IQ of 140.
Shakira wrote her first poem, entitled "La Rosa De Cristal" ("The Crystal Rose") when she was only four years old. As she was growing up, she was fascinated watching her father writing stories on a typewriter, and asked for one as a Christmas gift. She got her wish at age seven and continued writing poetry. These poems eventually evolved into songs. At the age of eight, after an older half-brother was killed in a motorcycle accident, Shakira wrote her first song entitled "Tus gafas oscuras" ("Your dark glasses"). The inspiration came from her father, who for years after the accident wore dark glasses, to hide his grief.
When Shakira was four, her father took her to a local Middle Eastern restaurant, where Shakira first heard the doumbek, a traditional drum used in Arabic music and which typically accompanied belly dancing. Before she knew it, Shakira was dancing on the table, as restaurant patrons responded by clapping enthusiastically. It was then that Shakira said she knew she wanted to be a performer. She enjoyed singing for schoolmates and teachers (and even the nuns) at her Catholic school, but in the second grade was rejected for the school choir because her vibrato was too strong. The music teacher told her that she sounded "like a goat". At school, she says she had been known as "the belly dancer girl", as she would demonstrate a number she learned every Friday at school. "That's how I discovered my passion for live performance," she says.
When she was eight, Shakira's father declared bankruptcy. While the details were sorted out, she stayed with relatives in Los Angeles. On returning to Barranquilla, she was shocked to find that much of what her parents owned had been sold; as she later said "In my childish head, this was the end of the world." To show her that things could be worse, her father took her to a local park to see orphans who lived there, sniffing glue. The images (wallpaper) stayed with her and she said to herself "one day I’m going to help these kids when I become a famous artist."
Between the ages of ten and thirteen Shakira was invited to various events in Barranquilla and gained some recognition in the area. It was at about this time that she met local theater producer Monica Ariza, who was impressed with her and as a result tried to help her career. During a flight from Barranquilla to Bogotá, Ariza convinced Sony Colombia executive Ciro Vargas to hold an audition for Shakira in a hotel lobby. Vargas held Shakira in high regard and, returning to the Sony office, gave the cassette to a song and artist director. However, the director was not overly excited and thought Shakira was something of "a lost cause". Vargas, not daunted, was still convinced that Shakira had talent, and set up an audition in Bogotá. He arranged for Sony Colombia executives to arrive at the audition, with the idea of surprising them with Shakira's performance. She performed three songs for the executives and impressed them enough for her to be signed to record three albums.
CAREER
1990-1994: Magia and Peligro
Shakira's debut album, Magia, was recorded with Sony Music in 1990 (21 years ago) when she was only thirteen years old. The songs are a collection penned by her since she was 8, mixed pop-rock ballads and disco with electronic accompaniment, however it was hampered by a lack of recording and production cohesion. The album was released in 1991 (20 years ago) and featured Magia and three other singles. Though it fared well on Colombian radio and gave the young Shakira much exposure, the album did not fare well commercially: only 1,200 copies were sold. and the music video for Magia became first national pop video in Colombia. After the poor acclaim of Magia, Shakira's label urged her back into the studio to release a follow up with more hit songs, to give the album potential.
Although little known outside of her native Colombia, Shakira was invited to perform at Chile's Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Feb. 1993 (18 years ago). The festival gave aspiring Latin American singers a chance to perform their songs, and the winner was then chosen by a panel of judges. Shakira performed the ballad "Eres" ("You Are") and won the trophy for third place. One of the judges who voted for her to win was then 20-year-old Ricky Martin.
The second studio album Peligro of the same genre was released in 1993 (18 years ago), but Shakira was not pleased with the final result, mainly taking issue with the production. The album was better received than ‘’Magia’’, though it was also considered a commercial failure, due to Shakira's refusal to advertise it. Shakira then decided to take a hiatus from recording so that she could graduate from high school. In the same year, Shakira starred in the Colombian TV Series "The Oasis", loosely based on the Armero tragedy in 1985 (26 years ago).
1995–1997: Pies Descalzos
Shakira originally recorded the song ¿Dónde Estás Corazón? (later released on her album Pies Descalzos) for the compilation album "Nuestro Rock" in 1995 (16 years ago), released exclusively in Colombia. ¿Dónde Estás Corazón? was the only hit off the album. This allowed Sony to give Shakira a third attempt at making an album.
Shakira returned to recording in 1995 (16 years ago) with Luis F. Ochoa, using musical influences from a number of countries and an Alanis Morissette-oriented persona which affected some of her next albums, and made her third studio album, Pies Descalzos (English: Bare Feet). Recording for the album began in Feb. 1995 (16 years ago), after the success of her single ¿Dónde Estás Corazón?. Sony gave Shakira $100,000 to produce the album since they predicted that the album would not sell past 100,000 copies. Starting with this album, Shakira began producing her own music, perfecting her vocals and most of all, creative control over her music. Highly influenced by American alternative market and British groups such as The Pretenders, the album was decently presented at small auditorium at La Castilian Theater in Bogotá on Oct. 6, 1995 (16 years ago). The tunes of the album are melodic, musically surprising and gritty, with intellectual lyrics and an electronic/acoustic blend. Shakira effectively broke the formulaic mold of Latin pop with an authentic sound that hadn’t been heard before.
The album released on Feb. 13, 1996 (15 years ago) internationally. It debuted at #1 in 8 different countries. However, in the U.S. Billboard 200 the album reached #180 peak position and #5 in the U.S. Billboard Top Latin Albums. The album spawned six ultimate hit-singles Estoy Aqui (U.S. Latin #2), ¿Dónde Estás Corazón? (U.S. Latin #5), Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos, Un Poco De Amor (U.S. Latin #6), Antologia (U.S. Latin #15) and Se Quiere, Se Mata (U.S. Latin #8). In Aug. 1996 (15 years ago), RIAA certified the album platinum status.
In Mar. 1996 (15 years ago), Shakira went on to her first international tour named simply “Tour Pies Descalzos”, that was saddened by death of several fans because of uncontrolled crowd of 50,000 people at the concert in the singer’s native city of Barranquilla. A year later, Shakira received three Billboard Latin Music Awards for Album of the Year (Pies Descalzos), Video of the Year (Estoy Aqui) and Best New Artist.
Pies Descalzos sold over 4 million copies, prompting the release of a remix album, titled simply The Remixes. The Remixes also included Portuguese versions of some of her best-known songs, which were recorded as a result of her success in the Brazilian market, where Pies Descalzos sold nearly one million copies.
1998–2000: ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? and “MTV Unplugged"
Having received a World Music Award as the best selling Latin artist, Shakira already prepared some of new material of her second international record. She was chosen from dozens of Latin singers to grace the cover of Time magazine in the article titled Era of the Rockera.
Her fourth album, ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? (English: Where Are The Thieves) produced entirely by Shakira herself and Emilio Estefan, Jr. as the executive, was released on sep. 28, 1998 (13 years ago). The album, inspired by an incident in an airport in which a suitcase full of her written lyrics was stolen, became a bigger hit than Pies Descalsos.On the day of its official release in Miami the album sold to 300,000 copies in one day. All Music Guide and Rolling Stone gave to the album 4.5/5 stars and Donde Estan Los Ladrones has reached #131 peak position in the U.S. Billboard 200 and charting 11 weeks top spot on the Billboard Top Latin Albums. It sold over 1,500,000 copies in the U.S. alone, making it one of the best selling Spanish albums in the U.S. Eight of the album's eleven tracks became singles, including Ciega, Sordomuda (U.S. Latin #1), Moscas En La Casa (U.S. Latin #25), No Creo (U.S. Latin #9, U.S. #74), Inevitable (U.S. Latin #3), Tú (U.S. Latin #1, U.S. #95), Si Te Vas, Octavo Día, and the world-famous, Arabic tinged Ojos Así (U.S. Latin #22). The latter two songs won Shakira one Latin Grammy each.
Eventually, Donde Estan Los Ladrones has sold seven million copies worldwide. Shakira also received her first Grammy Award nomination in 1999 (12 years ago) for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album. Shakira's first live album, MTV Unplugged was recorded in New York City on Aug. 12, 1999 (12 years ago). Highly acclaimed by American critics, it is rated as one of her best-ever live performances. The acoustic album earned the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album in 2001 (10 years ago) and gained sales of 5 million CD’s worldwide. In Mar. 2000 (11 years ago), Shakira embarked on her Tour Anfibio, a two-month tour of Latin America and the United States. In Aug. 2000 (11 years ago), she won an MTV Video Music Award in the now-defunct category of People's Choice - Favorite International Artist for Ojos Asi. On sep. 9, 2000 (11 years ago), Shakira performed Ojos Así at the inaugural ceremony of Latin Grammy Awards, where she was nominated in five categories: Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for MTV Unplugged, Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for Octavo Dia, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Music Video for Ojos Asi, but she won only in two of them. Shakira's performance of Ojos Asi was voted as the Greatest Latin Grammy performance of all time.
2001–2004: Laundry Service
Upon the success of ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? and MTV Unplugged, Shakira began working on a crossover album to English. Thanks to other successful crossover acts, most notably that of Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias, the crossover of Spanish artists to the English market had a great surge of popularity in mainstream music and it was the next logical step in the singer’s career. Shakira worked for over a year on new material for the album.
"Whenever, Wherever" ("Suerte" in Spanish countries) was released as the first and lead single from Shakira's first English album in Oct. 2001 (10 years ago). The song takes heavy influence from Andean music, including the charango and panpipes in its instrumentation. The track was produced by Shakira, and it was an international success.
The third international, the fifth studio and the first English language album Laundry Service (Servicio De Lavanderia in Spanish countries) was released on Nov. 13, 2001 (10 years ago). The album debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 Albums chart. Seven tracks became international singles: "Whenever, Wherever" (U.S. #6) / "Suerte" (U.S. Latin #1), Underneath Your Clothes (U.S. #9), Objection (Tango) (U.S. #55) / Te Aviso, Te Anuncio (Tango) (U.S. Latin #16), The One, Te Dejo Madrid, Que Me Quedes Tú (U.S. Latin #1) and Poem To A Horse, as the main theme of Shakira’s worldwide tour, the Tour of the Mongoose. Because the album was created with the intent of selling to an English language market, the rock and Spanish dance-influenced album gained mild critical success: some critics claimed that her English skills were too weak for her to write in it with Rolling Stone stating “she sounds downright silly” or “Shakira’s magic is lost in translation”. Shakira also was criticized by her Latin fans for seemingly abandoning her folk and rock roots in favor of contemporary American pop music. Despite this fact, the album became the best selling album of 2002 (9 years ago) worldwide, selling extremely well – more than 13 million copies worldwide. and became the most successful album in singer’s career. Around this time, Shakira also released four songs for Pepsi for her promotion in the English markets: "Ask for More", "Pide Mas", "Knock on My Door" and "Pideme El Sol".
At Aerosmith's MTV Icon in Apr. 2002 (9 years ago), Shakira performed "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)". Also in 2002 (9 years ago), Shakira joined the likes of Cher, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Mary J. Blige, Anastacia, and the Dixie Chicks (7 walls) for VH1 Divas Live Las Vegas. In sep. 2002 (9 years ago), Shakira won the now-defunct International Viewer's Choice Award at the MTV Video Music Awards with "Whenever, Wherever". Shakira also won the Latin Grammy Award for the category of Best Short Form Music Video for the Spanish version of this video. In Oct. of that year, she won five 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". Laundry Service was certified triple platinum by RIAA in Jun. and thus helped to establish Shakira's musical presence in the mainstream North American market.
In Nov. 2002 (9 years ago), Shakira’s label Sony BMG released her Spanish greatest hits compilation Grandes Éxitos. A DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and ten-track live album, called Live & Off the Record, was also released in 2004 (7 years ago), reaching sales of 3 million CDs worldwide, and commemorating the Tour of the Mongoose, which had a worldwide audience of 1.2 million people.
2005-2007: Fixations Era
Shakira stayed out of the spotlight for over two years. Many possible dates of release were delayed and she announced the ‘’Oral Fixation’’ project in early 2005 (6 years ago) with Rick Rubin as the executive producer. Fijación Oral Vol. 1, the first album of the project, was released on Jun. 3, 2005 (6 years ago) in Ireland, on Jun. 6, 2005 (6 years ago) in Europe, and on Jun. 7, 2005 (6 years ago) in North America, Latin America and Australia. The lead single from the album, La Tortura (U.S. #23), which features the Spanish balladeer Alejandro Sanz, was released as a single in Apr. and achieved large-scale success in different radio and chart formats. It spent a record of twenty-five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart. Shakira became the first artist to perform a Spanish language song at the MTV Video Music Awards. Contrary to low expectations, Fijación Oral Vol. 1 was very well received by the public. It debuted at number four on the ‘’Billboard 200’’ chart on the week of Jun. 15. According to that publication, the album sold 157,000 copies in its first week of release in the U.S., becoming the highest debut ever for Spanish language albums. In Latin America, on the very day of its official release in Venezuela, it went Platinum, in Colombia, triple Platinum and in Mexico, it was sold-out. The album sold over one million copies in three days. Four other singles were released following ‘’La Tortura’’: No (U.S. Latin #11), Dia De Enero (Colombia #1), La Pared (Spain #1) and 2007’s Las De La Intuición, which became the final single reaching #1 position in Spain and Argentina for several weeks and featuring Shakira with a bright purple wig and black tie in some hyper-sexualized scenes in her music video with Jaume de Laiguana as the director.
On Feb. 8, 2006 (5 years ago), Shakira won her second Grammy Award. She was awarded in the category of Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album (Fijación Oral Vol. 1). Shakira received five more Latin Grammy Awards on Nov. 2, 2006 (5 years ago): Record of the Year and Song of the Year for ‘’La Tortura’’, Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Engineered Album for Fijación Oral Vol. 1. Award for Best Short Form Music Video for "La Tortura" she lost to Calle 13. Fijación Oral Vol. 1 sold over 4 million copies worldwide.
Before the release of Oral Fixation Vol. 2 Shakira appeared at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2005 (6 years ago) in Lisbon, Portugal, where she performed Don't Bother, the lead single from the album, just minutes before winning an award in the category of Best Female Artist. Oral Fixation Vol. 2 was released on Nov. 29, 2005 (6 years ago) in North America, Australia, and continental Europe. The album debuted at number five on the U.S. ‘’Billboard 200’’ Albums chart. Two tracks from the album, How Do You Do and Timor, sparked some controversy at the time of its release in the Muslim countries. The cover of the album that features Shakira in the image (wallpaper) of Eve with forbidden fruit was also considered controversial, and had to be altered in several countries. ‘’Don't Bother’’ failed to peak within the top 40 in the United States (U.S. #42). In the beginning of 2006 (5 years ago), Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean joined Shakira to record the second single for the album. "Hips Don't Lie", the biggest hit of the 21st century, became Shakira's first number one single on the U.S. ‘’Billboard Hot 100’’, in addition cracking number one in at least 55 countries. Shakira and Wyclef Jean also recorded Bamboo version of this song for official theme of FIFA World Cup 2006 (5 years ago). Shakira along with Red Hot Chili Peppers received the most number of nominations for the 2006 (5 years ago) MTV Video Music Awards with "Hips Don't Lie", but she won only the award for Best Choreography. Shakira also released the third and the last single "Illegal" featuring Carlos Santana, that reached top positions in some European countries and in the dance charts in the U.S. On Feb. 10, 2007 (4 years ago), Shakira performed on the 49th Grammy Awards for the first time ever and earned the nomination Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Hips Don’t Lie" with Wyclef Jean. Finally, Oral Fixation Vol. 2 sold over 8 million copies worldwide.
Shakira embarked on her fourth longest tour, the Oral Fixation Tour, in June, 2006 (5 years ago). The tour had 125 shows between Jun. 14, 2006 (5 years ago) and Jul. 9, 2007 (4 years ago). She performed on 5 continents: Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, and Africa with the worldwide audience of over 2.5 million people. During this tour, Shakira performed a free concert in Mexico City on May 27, 2007 (4 years ago) with over 210,000 in attendance. This concert sets the record for the highest attendance of any concert in Mexican history. Shakira also performed on Jul. 9, 2006 (5 years ago) at the FIFA World Cup final in Germany - a great honor and the most watched sports TV program worldwide with 3.5 billion viewers. On Nov. 12, 2007 (4 years ago), the "Oral Fixation Tour (DVD) was released (November 13 in North America). It is also available in High Definition Blu-Ray format.
2008-present: She Wolf and forthcoming Spanish album
During an online chat with her fans in "El Heraldo", she revealed that she was going to start writing her New Album in Feb. 2008 (3 years ago). Furthermore, at the CD release party for Shakira's singer-songwriter cousin Isa Mebarak in Colombia, Shakira's father William Mebarak stated that Shakira is currently at work beginning to write and produce new songs for her upcoming album. This is being done in "her own studio", which many fans thought to mean the studio at her home in the Bahamas. Shakira recorded 2005's Fijación Oral Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation Vol. 2 there, as well.
After two weeks in London, Shakira flew to Colombia for a peace concert in Leticia (at the three way border of Colombia, Peru and Brazil) with Carlos Vives. Followed by hundreds of thousands of fellow Colombians, Shakira was calling for the release of hostages being held by rebels in Colombia and an end to similar kidnappings in the region. Afterward, it was reported by Noticias Caracol in Colombia that Shakira returned to her home studio in the Bahamas and continued recording "a little something" with members of Vives' band.
In an exclusive interview with Elenco Magazine in Colombia, Shakira confirmed that she has already written nearly 30 songs for the new album but still continues writing, although it is still too early to reveal too much. It is known that Swedish-Moroccan producer RedOne is working on Shakira's upcoming album. He previously worked with Shakira on the "Bamboo Mix" of her hit "Hips Don't Lie" which she performed at the World Cup in 2006 (5 years ago). On her official forum, the Admin/moderator posted some new info on Shakira's new album. He said that Shakira is still doing some experimental phases of the album in various parts of the world (Miami, Florida with Wyclef Jean (producer), Vancouver, Canada (with Luis F. Ochoa), Los Angeles, California (with Red One), London, Uruguay and Bahamas).
On Jul. 2, 2008 (3 years ago), Shakira signed a 10-year deal with Live Nation, the international touring giant that has begun signing up marquee names for lucrative all-purpose contracts. The record label will encompass tours, recordings, sponsorship and merchandise throughout the world, she announced. "Shakira is one of the few truly global artists," said Jason Garner, global music chief of Live Nation. "She can sell music and tickets in nearly every corner of the globe." Neither Shakira's representatives nor Live Nation would confirm the value of the deal, but people close to the negotiations said that depending on Shakira's performance over the 10 years, it is likely to be worth between $70 million and $100 million. Shakira's contract with Epic Records calls for three more albums - one in English, one in Spanish, and a compilation, but the touring and other rights of the Live Nation deal would begin immediately. In early 2008 (3 years ago), Forbes has named Shakira the fourth top-earning female artist in music industry,
Shakira's official website announced that "The full album is She Wolf due out in Oct. 2009 (2 years ago) from Epic" and it "features a predominantly English track list". The site also announced that a Spanish album will be released in 2010 (last year). The first single from the English album is titled "She Wolf". Shakira wrote and produced the track with John Hill, and Sam Endicott (Lead Singer and Songwriter of The Bravery). In Jun. 2009 (2 years ago), several music journalists and reviewers got an advance listen of the track. The reviews were extremely positive. The Spanish version titled, "Loba", premiered on Jun. 29, 2009 (2 years ago).. Shakira premiered "She Wolf" on Z100 and KIIS-FM on Jul. 13, 2009 (2 years ago). On Jul. 14, 2009 (2 years ago) "She Wolf" and "Loba" became available to download from iTunes. The video for "She Wolf" Premiered on MTV, Jul. 30 at 8pm.
Shakira confirmed that she will embark on a tour in 2010 (last year) on the Elvis Duran & The Morning Show on Z100.
Collaborations and other work
In 2003 (8 years ago), Shakira wrote with musician Tim Mitchell a song called "Come Down Love" for the Hollywood movie "The Italian Job" starring South African actress Charlize Theron (135 walls) & Mark Wahlberg (3 walls), but finally the song was not included on the soundtrack of the same.
In late 2006 (5 years ago), Shakira and Alejandro Sanz worked together again in the duet "Te lo Agradezco, Pero No", which is featured on Sanz' album El Tren de los Momentos. The song was a top ten hit in Latin America, and topped Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart.
Shakira worked with Miguel Bosé in the duet "Si Tú No Vuelves", which was released in Bosé's album Papito, which celebrates his 30-year career.
In early 2007 (4 years ago), Shakira worked with American R&B singer Beyoncé in the track "Beautiful Liar", which was released as the second single from the deluxe edition of Knowles' B'Day. In the week of Apr. 7, 2007 (4 years ago), the song jumped 91 positions, from 94 to 3, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, setting the record for the largest upward movement in the history of the chart. It was also No. 1 on the official UK Singles Chart. The song earned them a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. The song was one of Knowles' most successful worldwide.The song was particularly popular in Spanish-speaking countries such as Argentina and Spain, where it landed at #1.
According to Billboard, Shakira, along with Lil Wayne (5 walls) would collaborate on a new track for Carlos Santana's greatest hits CD titled Ultimate Santana. However, this collaboration has been cancelled, and Shakira and Lil' Wayne have been replaced by Jennifer Lopez (30 walls) and Baby Bash.
Shakira is featured on Annie Lennox's record "Sing", from the album Songs of Mass Destruction, which also features other twenty-three female singers such as Madonna, KT Tunstall, Faith Hill (7 walls), Dido, Celine Dion, Melissa Etheridge, Joss Stone (13 walls), Fergie (19 walls), Anastacia and Pink.
In late 2007 (4 years ago), Shakira and Wyclef Jean recorded their second duet “King and Queen”. This song is available on Wyclef Jean’s latest album Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant.
Shakira performing with Usher (4 walls) and Stevie Wonder at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln MemorialShakira performed on Jan. 18, 2009 (2 years ago) at the Lincoln Memorial "We Are One" festivities in honor of the inauguration of President Barack Obama. She performed "Higher Ground" with Stevie Wonder and Usher (4 walls). She also performed during the evening of Jan. 20, 2009 (2 years ago) at the Neighborhood Ball for the President's inauguration. The song she performed was Van Morrison's "Bright Side of the Road". This song featured Shakira on harmonica.
Love in the Time of Cholera soundtrack
Shakira wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the music for two new songs that are featured in the movie Love in the Time of Cholera, based on the acclaimed novel by Colombian author Gabriel García Marquez. García Marquez himself asked Shakira to write the songs. The songs are called "Pienso en ti", a song from Shakira's breakthrough album Pies Descalzos, "Hay Amores" and "Despedida". All the songs can be downloaded via iTunes, as well as the score by Antonio Pinto.
It was rumored that the song would also be nominated for an Academy Award, but it was not, with a source calling the fact that it was left off the ballots the Academy's "worst snub."
PERSONAL LIFE
In 2000 (11 years ago), Shakira started dating Antonio de la Rúa, the son of then president Argentina Fernando de la Rúa, a romance that made headline news throughout Latin America. In Mar. 2001 (10 years ago), he proposed to her. De la Rúa and Shakira remain engaged. She currently lives in The Bahamas. Shakira's future mother-in-law Inés Pertiné claimed the wedding would take place in sep. 2007 (4 years ago) in the mansion which Shakira owns in the Dominican Republic, but the wedding did not happen. She also said that Shakira has already ordered Argentine designer María Pryor to design her wedding dress. All this was denied by Shakira herself in Mexico.
In Jun. 2007 (4 years ago), Latin American media speculated that the couple had finally split up and that Shakira was involved romantically with Army Specialist Erik Pepen since both were seen in a Los Angeles disco. This rumor was immediately denied by Shakira's assistants, stating that she was invited by Penélope Cruz (11 walls), who later introduced Erik Pepen to Shakira. On the previous days, Shakira and Antonio were seen in a restaurant in New York City, facing and denying the rumors one more time.
Shakira is intensely interested in world history. She frequently studies the history and languages of the countries she visits. After her Oral Fixation tour ended in summer 2007 (4 years ago), Shakira audited a class in Los Angeles at UCLA, on the History of Western Civilization. She used her middle and last names, Isabel Mebarak, and told the professor she was visiting from Colombia so as to avoid being recognized as a celebrity.
Shakira is a cousin of model and 2005-2006 Miss Colombia, Valerie Domínguez.
DISCOGRAPHY
1996 (15 years ago): Pies Descalzos
1998 (13 years ago): Dónde Están Los Ladrones?
2001 (10 years ago): Laundry Service
2005 (6 years ago): Fijación Oral Vol. 1
2005 (6 years ago): Oral Fixation Vol. 2
2009 (2 years ago): She Wolf
TOURS
1996-1997: Tour Pies Descalzos
2000 (11 years ago): Tour Anfibio
2002–2003: Tour of the Mongoose
2006–2007: Oral Fixation Tour
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
Grammy Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Juno Awards
MTV Awards
ALMA Awards
NRJ Music Awards
People’s Choice Award
American Music Awards
Much Music Video Award
Billboard Music Awards / Latin Billboard Music Awards
Premios Lo Nuestro
Brit Awards
Urban Music Awards
International Dance Music Awards
Premio Juventud
World Music Award
World Soundtrack Awards
Ivor Novello Award
Nickeledon kids Choice Awards
Orgullosamente Latino
Los Premios Telehit
Ritmo Latino Music Awards
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born: Feb. 2, 1977 (34 years ago)) known simply as Shakira, شاكيرا in Arabic is a Colombian-Lebanese singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer and philanthropist who emerged as a musical prodigy in the music scene of Latin America in the early 1990 (21 years ago). Born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, Shakira revealed many of her talents in school as a live performer, demonstrating her vocal ability with rock and roll, Latin and Middle Eastern influences with her own original twist on belly dancing. Shakira is a native Spanish speaker and also speaks fluent English, Portuguese and Italian.
After a series of commercial flops with local producers on her first two albums and little-known outside Colombia, Shakira decided to produce her own brand of music: in 1995 (16 years ago) she released Pies Descalzos, which brought her great fame in Latin America and Spain and marked Shakira as a musical phenomenon. But 1998's ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? remains most essential album of the artist that gained her highest critical success from influential issues such as Rolling Stone, All Music Guide and Billboard. Since then she has gained many fans in non-Spanish-speaking countries, especially in the United States. In 2001 (10 years ago), and aided by heavy promotion of the music video, "Whenever, Wherever", she broke through into the English-speaking world with the release of Laundry Service, which sold over thirteen million copies worldwide. Four years later, Shakira released two album projects called Fijación Oral Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation Vol. 2. Both reinforced her success, particularly with the most successful song in the twenty-first century to date, "Hips Don't Lie". Currently, Shakira is working on final touches of her upcoming eighth studio album that will be released in late 2009 (2 years ago).
She has won two Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammy Awards, and has been Golden Globe-nominated. She is also the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time,and the second most successful female Latin singer having sold 50 million albums worldwide, according to BMI. Additionally, she is the only artist from South America to reach the number-one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, Canadian Hot 100, the Australian ARIA chart, and the UK Singles Chart.
Shakira is to be awarded with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which will make her the first South American to receive this honor.
EARLY YEARS
Shakira was born on Feb. 2, 1977 (34 years ago) in Barranquilla, Colombia. She is the only child of Nidya del Carmen Ripoll Torrado, who is of Italian and Spanish ancestry, and William Mebarak Chadid who is an American born of Lebanese descent. She has 8 older half siblings from her father's previous marriage.
Shakira means "thankful" in Arabic. It is the feminine form of the name Shakir. Her second name, Isabel, is also that of her paternal grandmother, meaning "my God is my oath", "my God's house" or "my God is abundance", and her name is even and simply a Spanish given name for Elizabeth. Her second surname name Ripoll is Catalan. She spent much of her youth in Barranquilla, a city located in northern Colombia. Shakira is noted for her keen intellect and is reported to have an IQ of 140.
Shakira wrote her first poem, entitled "La Rosa De Cristal" ("The Crystal Rose") when she was only four years old. As she was growing up, she was fascinated watching her father writing stories on a typewriter, and asked for one as a Christmas gift. She got her wish at age seven and continued writing poetry. These poems eventually evolved into songs. At the age of eight, after an older half-brother was killed in a motorcycle accident, Shakira wrote her first song entitled "Tus gafas oscuras" ("Your dark glasses"). The inspiration came from her father, who for years after the accident wore dark glasses, to hide his grief.
When Shakira was four, her father took her to a local Middle Eastern restaurant, where Shakira first heard the doumbek, a traditional drum used in Arabic music and which typically accompanied belly dancing. Before she knew it, Shakira was dancing on the table, as restaurant patrons responded by clapping enthusiastically. It was then that Shakira said she knew she wanted to be a performer. She enjoyed singing for schoolmates and teachers (and even the nuns) at her Catholic school, but in the second grade was rejected for the school choir because her vibrato was too strong. The music teacher told her that she sounded "like a goat". At school, she says she had been known as "the belly dancer girl", as she would demonstrate a number she learned every Friday at school. "That's how I discovered my passion for live performance," she says.
When she was eight, Shakira's father declared bankruptcy. While the details were sorted out, she stayed with relatives in Los Angeles. On returning to Barranquilla, she was shocked to find that much of what her parents owned had been sold; as she later said "In my childish head, this was the end of the world." To show her that things could be worse, her father took her to a local park to see orphans who lived there, sniffing glue. The images (wallpaper) stayed with her and she said to herself "one day I’m going to help these kids when I become a famous artist."
Between the ages of ten and thirteen Shakira was invited to various events in Barranquilla and gained some recognition in the area. It was at about this time that she met local theater producer Monica Ariza, who was impressed with her and as a result tried to help her career. During a flight from Barranquilla to Bogotá, Ariza convinced Sony Colombia executive Ciro Vargas to hold an audition for Shakira in a hotel lobby. Vargas held Shakira in high regard and, returning to the Sony office, gave the cassette to a song and artist director. However, the director was not overly excited and thought Shakira was something of "a lost cause". Vargas, not daunted, was still convinced that Shakira had talent, and set up an audition in Bogotá. He arranged for Sony Colombia executives to arrive at the audition, with the idea of surprising them with Shakira's performance. She performed three songs for the executives and impressed them enough for her to be signed to record three albums.
CAREER
1990-1994: Magia and Peligro
Shakira's debut album, Magia, was recorded with Sony Music in 1990 (21 years ago) when she was only thirteen years old. The songs are a collection penned by her since she was 8, mixed pop-rock ballads and disco with electronic accompaniment, however it was hampered by a lack of recording and production cohesion. The album was released in 1991 (20 years ago) and featured Magia and three other singles. Though it fared well on Colombian radio and gave the young Shakira much exposure, the album did not fare well commercially: only 1,200 copies were sold. and the music video for Magia became first national pop video in Colombia. After the poor acclaim of Magia, Shakira's label urged her back into the studio to release a follow up with more hit songs, to give the album potential.
Although little known outside of her native Colombia, Shakira was invited to perform at Chile's Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Feb. 1993 (18 years ago). The festival gave aspiring Latin American singers a chance to perform their songs, and the winner was then chosen by a panel of judges. Shakira performed the ballad "Eres" ("You Are") and won the trophy for third place. One of the judges who voted for her to win was then 20-year-old Ricky Martin.
The second studio album Peligro of the same genre was released in 1993 (18 years ago), but Shakira was not pleased with the final result, mainly taking issue with the production. The album was better received than ‘’Magia’’, though it was also considered a commercial failure, due to Shakira's refusal to advertise it. Shakira then decided to take a hiatus from recording so that she could graduate from high school. In the same year, Shakira starred in the Colombian TV Series "The Oasis", loosely based on the Armero tragedy in 1985 (26 years ago).
1995–1997: Pies Descalzos
Shakira originally recorded the song ¿Dónde Estás Corazón? (later released on her album Pies Descalzos) for the compilation album "Nuestro Rock" in 1995 (16 years ago), released exclusively in Colombia. ¿Dónde Estás Corazón? was the only hit off the album. This allowed Sony to give Shakira a third attempt at making an album.
Shakira returned to recording in 1995 (16 years ago) with Luis F. Ochoa, using musical influences from a number of countries and an Alanis Morissette-oriented persona which affected some of her next albums, and made her third studio album, Pies Descalzos (English: Bare Feet). Recording for the album began in Feb. 1995 (16 years ago), after the success of her single ¿Dónde Estás Corazón?. Sony gave Shakira $100,000 to produce the album since they predicted that the album would not sell past 100,000 copies. Starting with this album, Shakira began producing her own music, perfecting her vocals and most of all, creative control over her music. Highly influenced by American alternative market and British groups such as The Pretenders, the album was decently presented at small auditorium at La Castilian Theater in Bogotá on Oct. 6, 1995 (16 years ago). The tunes of the album are melodic, musically surprising and gritty, with intellectual lyrics and an electronic/acoustic blend. Shakira effectively broke the formulaic mold of Latin pop with an authentic sound that hadn’t been heard before.
The album released on Feb. 13, 1996 (15 years ago) internationally. It debuted at #1 in 8 different countries. However, in the U.S. Billboard 200 the album reached #180 peak position and #5 in the U.S. Billboard Top Latin Albums. The album spawned six ultimate hit-singles Estoy Aqui (U.S. Latin #2), ¿Dónde Estás Corazón? (U.S. Latin #5), Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos, Un Poco De Amor (U.S. Latin #6), Antologia (U.S. Latin #15) and Se Quiere, Se Mata (U.S. Latin #8). In Aug. 1996 (15 years ago), RIAA certified the album platinum status.
In Mar. 1996 (15 years ago), Shakira went on to her first international tour named simply “Tour Pies Descalzos”, that was saddened by death of several fans because of uncontrolled crowd of 50,000 people at the concert in the singer’s native city of Barranquilla. A year later, Shakira received three Billboard Latin Music Awards for Album of the Year (Pies Descalzos), Video of the Year (Estoy Aqui) and Best New Artist.
Pies Descalzos sold over 4 million copies, prompting the release of a remix album, titled simply The Remixes. The Remixes also included Portuguese versions of some of her best-known songs, which were recorded as a result of her success in the Brazilian market, where Pies Descalzos sold nearly one million copies.
1998–2000: ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? and “MTV Unplugged"
Having received a World Music Award as the best selling Latin artist, Shakira already prepared some of new material of her second international record. She was chosen from dozens of Latin singers to grace the cover of Time magazine in the article titled Era of the Rockera.
Her fourth album, ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? (English: Where Are The Thieves) produced entirely by Shakira herself and Emilio Estefan, Jr. as the executive, was released on sep. 28, 1998 (13 years ago). The album, inspired by an incident in an airport in which a suitcase full of her written lyrics was stolen, became a bigger hit than Pies Descalsos.On the day of its official release in Miami the album sold to 300,000 copies in one day. All Music Guide and Rolling Stone gave to the album 4.5/5 stars and Donde Estan Los Ladrones has reached #131 peak position in the U.S. Billboard 200 and charting 11 weeks top spot on the Billboard Top Latin Albums. It sold over 1,500,000 copies in the U.S. alone, making it one of the best selling Spanish albums in the U.S. Eight of the album's eleven tracks became singles, including Ciega, Sordomuda (U.S. Latin #1), Moscas En La Casa (U.S. Latin #25), No Creo (U.S. Latin #9, U.S. #74), Inevitable (U.S. Latin #3), Tú (U.S. Latin #1, U.S. #95), Si Te Vas, Octavo Día, and the world-famous, Arabic tinged Ojos Así (U.S. Latin #22). The latter two songs won Shakira one Latin Grammy each.
Eventually, Donde Estan Los Ladrones has sold seven million copies worldwide. Shakira also received her first Grammy Award nomination in 1999 (12 years ago) for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album. Shakira's first live album, MTV Unplugged was recorded in New York City on Aug. 12, 1999 (12 years ago). Highly acclaimed by American critics, it is rated as one of her best-ever live performances. The acoustic album earned the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album in 2001 (10 years ago) and gained sales of 5 million CD’s worldwide. In Mar. 2000 (11 years ago), Shakira embarked on her Tour Anfibio, a two-month tour of Latin America and the United States. In Aug. 2000 (11 years ago), she won an MTV Video Music Award in the now-defunct category of People's Choice - Favorite International Artist for Ojos Asi. On sep. 9, 2000 (11 years ago), Shakira performed Ojos Así at the inaugural ceremony of Latin Grammy Awards, where she was nominated in five categories: Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for MTV Unplugged, Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for Octavo Dia, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Music Video for Ojos Asi, but she won only in two of them. Shakira's performance of Ojos Asi was voted as the Greatest Latin Grammy performance of all time.
2001–2004: Laundry Service
Upon the success of ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? and MTV Unplugged, Shakira began working on a crossover album to English. Thanks to other successful crossover acts, most notably that of Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias, the crossover of Spanish artists to the English market had a great surge of popularity in mainstream music and it was the next logical step in the singer’s career. Shakira worked for over a year on new material for the album.
"Whenever, Wherever" ("Suerte" in Spanish countries) was released as the first and lead single from Shakira's first English album in Oct. 2001 (10 years ago). The song takes heavy influence from Andean music, including the charango and panpipes in its instrumentation. The track was produced by Shakira, and it was an international success.
The third international, the fifth studio and the first English language album Laundry Service (Servicio De Lavanderia in Spanish countries) was released on Nov. 13, 2001 (10 years ago). The album debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 Albums chart. Seven tracks became international singles: "Whenever, Wherever" (U.S. #6) / "Suerte" (U.S. Latin #1), Underneath Your Clothes (U.S. #9), Objection (Tango) (U.S. #55) / Te Aviso, Te Anuncio (Tango) (U.S. Latin #16), The One, Te Dejo Madrid, Que Me Quedes Tú (U.S. Latin #1) and Poem To A Horse, as the main theme of Shakira’s worldwide tour, the Tour of the Mongoose. Because the album was created with the intent of selling to an English language market, the rock and Spanish dance-influenced album gained mild critical success: some critics claimed that her English skills were too weak for her to write in it with Rolling Stone stating “she sounds downright silly” or “Shakira’s magic is lost in translation”. Shakira also was criticized by her Latin fans for seemingly abandoning her folk and rock roots in favor of contemporary American pop music. Despite this fact, the album became the best selling album of 2002 (9 years ago) worldwide, selling extremely well – more than 13 million copies worldwide. and became the most successful album in singer’s career. Around this time, Shakira also released four songs for Pepsi for her promotion in the English markets: "Ask for More", "Pide Mas", "Knock on My Door" and "Pideme El Sol".
At Aerosmith's MTV Icon in Apr. 2002 (9 years ago), Shakira performed "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)". Also in 2002 (9 years ago), Shakira joined the likes of Cher, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Mary J. Blige, Anastacia, and the Dixie Chicks (7 walls) for VH1 Divas Live Las Vegas. In sep. 2002 (9 years ago), Shakira won the now-defunct International Viewer's Choice Award at the MTV Video Music Awards with "Whenever, Wherever". Shakira also won the Latin Grammy Award for the category of Best Short Form Music Video for the Spanish version of this video. In Oct. of that year, she won five 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". Laundry Service was certified triple platinum by RIAA in Jun. and thus helped to establish Shakira's musical presence in the mainstream North American market.
In Nov. 2002 (9 years ago), Shakira’s label Sony BMG released her Spanish greatest hits compilation Grandes Éxitos. A DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and ten-track live album, called Live & Off the Record, was also released in 2004 (7 years ago), reaching sales of 3 million CDs worldwide, and commemorating the Tour of the Mongoose, which had a worldwide audience of 1.2 million people.
2005-2007: Fixations Era
Shakira stayed out of the spotlight for over two years. Many possible dates of release were delayed and she announced the ‘’Oral Fixation’’ project in early 2005 (6 years ago) with Rick Rubin as the executive producer. Fijación Oral Vol. 1, the first album of the project, was released on Jun. 3, 2005 (6 years ago) in Ireland, on Jun. 6, 2005 (6 years ago) in Europe, and on Jun. 7, 2005 (6 years ago) in North America, Latin America and Australia. The lead single from the album, La Tortura (U.S. #23), which features the Spanish balladeer Alejandro Sanz, was released as a single in Apr. and achieved large-scale success in different radio and chart formats. It spent a record of twenty-five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart. Shakira became the first artist to perform a Spanish language song at the MTV Video Music Awards. Contrary to low expectations, Fijación Oral Vol. 1 was very well received by the public. It debuted at number four on the ‘’Billboard 200’’ chart on the week of Jun. 15. According to that publication, the album sold 157,000 copies in its first week of release in the U.S., becoming the highest debut ever for Spanish language albums. In Latin America, on the very day of its official release in Venezuela, it went Platinum, in Colombia, triple Platinum and in Mexico, it was sold-out. The album sold over one million copies in three days. Four other singles were released following ‘’La Tortura’’: No (U.S. Latin #11), Dia De Enero (Colombia #1), La Pared (Spain #1) and 2007’s Las De La Intuición, which became the final single reaching #1 position in Spain and Argentina for several weeks and featuring Shakira with a bright purple wig and black tie in some hyper-sexualized scenes in her music video with Jaume de Laiguana as the director.
On Feb. 8, 2006 (5 years ago), Shakira won her second Grammy Award. She was awarded in the category of Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album (Fijación Oral Vol. 1). Shakira received five more Latin Grammy Awards on Nov. 2, 2006 (5 years ago): Record of the Year and Song of the Year for ‘’La Tortura’’, Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Engineered Album for Fijación Oral Vol. 1. Award for Best Short Form Music Video for "La Tortura" she lost to Calle 13. Fijación Oral Vol. 1 sold over 4 million copies worldwide.
Before the release of Oral Fixation Vol. 2 Shakira appeared at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2005 (6 years ago) in Lisbon, Portugal, where she performed Don't Bother, the lead single from the album, just minutes before winning an award in the category of Best Female Artist. Oral Fixation Vol. 2 was released on Nov. 29, 2005 (6 years ago) in North America, Australia, and continental Europe. The album debuted at number five on the U.S. ‘’Billboard 200’’ Albums chart. Two tracks from the album, How Do You Do and Timor, sparked some controversy at the time of its release in the Muslim countries. The cover of the album that features Shakira in the image (wallpaper) of Eve with forbidden fruit was also considered controversial, and had to be altered in several countries. ‘’Don't Bother’’ failed to peak within the top 40 in the United States (U.S. #42). In the beginning of 2006 (5 years ago), Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean joined Shakira to record the second single for the album. "Hips Don't Lie", the biggest hit of the 21st century, became Shakira's first number one single on the U.S. ‘’Billboard Hot 100’’, in addition cracking number one in at least 55 countries. Shakira and Wyclef Jean also recorded Bamboo version of this song for official theme of FIFA World Cup 2006 (5 years ago). Shakira along with Red Hot Chili Peppers received the most number of nominations for the 2006 (5 years ago) MTV Video Music Awards with "Hips Don't Lie", but she won only the award for Best Choreography. Shakira also released the third and the last single "Illegal" featuring Carlos Santana, that reached top positions in some European countries and in the dance charts in the U.S. On Feb. 10, 2007 (4 years ago), Shakira performed on the 49th Grammy Awards for the first time ever and earned the nomination Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Hips Don’t Lie" with Wyclef Jean. Finally, Oral Fixation Vol. 2 sold over 8 million copies worldwide.
Shakira embarked on her fourth longest tour, the Oral Fixation Tour, in June, 2006 (5 years ago). The tour had 125 shows between Jun. 14, 2006 (5 years ago) and Jul. 9, 2007 (4 years ago). She performed on 5 continents: Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, and Africa with the worldwide audience of over 2.5 million people. During this tour, Shakira performed a free concert in Mexico City on May 27, 2007 (4 years ago) with over 210,000 in attendance. This concert sets the record for the highest attendance of any concert in Mexican history. Shakira also performed on Jul. 9, 2006 (5 years ago) at the FIFA World Cup final in Germany - a great honor and the most watched sports TV program worldwide with 3.5 billion viewers. On Nov. 12, 2007 (4 years ago), the "Oral Fixation Tour (DVD) was released (November 13 in North America). It is also available in High Definition Blu-Ray format.
2008-present: She Wolf and forthcoming Spanish album
During an online chat with her fans in "El Heraldo", she revealed that she was going to start writing her New Album in Feb. 2008 (3 years ago). Furthermore, at the CD release party for Shakira's singer-songwriter cousin Isa Mebarak in Colombia, Shakira's father William Mebarak stated that Shakira is currently at work beginning to write and produce new songs for her upcoming album. This is being done in "her own studio", which many fans thought to mean the studio at her home in the Bahamas. Shakira recorded 2005's Fijación Oral Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation Vol. 2 there, as well.
After two weeks in London, Shakira flew to Colombia for a peace concert in Leticia (at the three way border of Colombia, Peru and Brazil) with Carlos Vives. Followed by hundreds of thousands of fellow Colombians, Shakira was calling for the release of hostages being held by rebels in Colombia and an end to similar kidnappings in the region. Afterward, it was reported by Noticias Caracol in Colombia that Shakira returned to her home studio in the Bahamas and continued recording "a little something" with members of Vives' band.
In an exclusive interview with Elenco Magazine in Colombia, Shakira confirmed that she has already written nearly 30 songs for the new album but still continues writing, although it is still too early to reveal too much. It is known that Swedish-Moroccan producer RedOne is working on Shakira's upcoming album. He previously worked with Shakira on the "Bamboo Mix" of her hit "Hips Don't Lie" which she performed at the World Cup in 2006 (5 years ago). On her official forum, the Admin/moderator posted some new info on Shakira's new album. He said that Shakira is still doing some experimental phases of the album in various parts of the world (Miami, Florida with Wyclef Jean (producer), Vancouver, Canada (with Luis F. Ochoa), Los Angeles, California (with Red One), London, Uruguay and Bahamas).
On Jul. 2, 2008 (3 years ago), Shakira signed a 10-year deal with Live Nation, the international touring giant that has begun signing up marquee names for lucrative all-purpose contracts. The record label will encompass tours, recordings, sponsorship and merchandise throughout the world, she announced. "Shakira is one of the few truly global artists," said Jason Garner, global music chief of Live Nation. "She can sell music and tickets in nearly every corner of the globe." Neither Shakira's representatives nor Live Nation would confirm the value of the deal, but people close to the negotiations said that depending on Shakira's performance over the 10 years, it is likely to be worth between $70 million and $100 million. Shakira's contract with Epic Records calls for three more albums - one in English, one in Spanish, and a compilation, but the touring and other rights of the Live Nation deal would begin immediately. In early 2008 (3 years ago), Forbes has named Shakira the fourth top-earning female artist in music industry,
Shakira's official website announced that "The full album is She Wolf due out in Oct. 2009 (2 years ago) from Epic" and it "features a predominantly English track list". The site also announced that a Spanish album will be released in 2010 (last year). The first single from the English album is titled "She Wolf". Shakira wrote and produced the track with John Hill, and Sam Endicott (Lead Singer and Songwriter of The Bravery). In Jun. 2009 (2 years ago), several music journalists and reviewers got an advance listen of the track. The reviews were extremely positive. The Spanish version titled, "Loba", premiered on Jun. 29, 2009 (2 years ago).. Shakira premiered "She Wolf" on Z100 and KIIS-FM on Jul. 13, 2009 (2 years ago). On Jul. 14, 2009 (2 years ago) "She Wolf" and "Loba" became available to download from iTunes. The video for "She Wolf" Premiered on MTV, Jul. 30 at 8pm.
Shakira confirmed that she will embark on a tour in 2010 (last year) on the Elvis Duran & The Morning Show on Z100.
Collaborations and other work
In 2003 (8 years ago), Shakira wrote with musician Tim Mitchell a song called "Come Down Love" for the Hollywood movie "The Italian Job" starring South African actress Charlize Theron (135 walls) & Mark Wahlberg (3 walls), but finally the song was not included on the soundtrack of the same.
In late 2006 (5 years ago), Shakira and Alejandro Sanz worked together again in the duet "Te lo Agradezco, Pero No", which is featured on Sanz' album El Tren de los Momentos. The song was a top ten hit in Latin America, and topped Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart.
Shakira worked with Miguel Bosé in the duet "Si Tú No Vuelves", which was released in Bosé's album Papito, which celebrates his 30-year career.
In early 2007 (4 years ago), Shakira worked with American R&B singer Beyoncé in the track "Beautiful Liar", which was released as the second single from the deluxe edition of Knowles' B'Day. In the week of Apr. 7, 2007 (4 years ago), the song jumped 91 positions, from 94 to 3, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, setting the record for the largest upward movement in the history of the chart. It was also No. 1 on the official UK Singles Chart. The song earned them a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. The song was one of Knowles' most successful worldwide.The song was particularly popular in Spanish-speaking countries such as Argentina and Spain, where it landed at #1.
According to Billboard, Shakira, along with Lil Wayne (5 walls) would collaborate on a new track for Carlos Santana's greatest hits CD titled Ultimate Santana. However, this collaboration has been cancelled, and Shakira and Lil' Wayne have been replaced by Jennifer Lopez (30 walls) and Baby Bash.
Shakira is featured on Annie Lennox's record "Sing", from the album Songs of Mass Destruction, which also features other twenty-three female singers such as Madonna, KT Tunstall, Faith Hill (7 walls), Dido, Celine Dion, Melissa Etheridge, Joss Stone (13 walls), Fergie (19 walls), Anastacia and Pink.
In late 2007 (4 years ago), Shakira and Wyclef Jean recorded their second duet “King and Queen”. This song is available on Wyclef Jean’s latest album Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant.
Shakira performing with Usher (4 walls) and Stevie Wonder at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln MemorialShakira performed on Jan. 18, 2009 (2 years ago) at the Lincoln Memorial "We Are One" festivities in honor of the inauguration of President Barack Obama. She performed "Higher Ground" with Stevie Wonder and Usher (4 walls). She also performed during the evening of Jan. 20, 2009 (2 years ago) at the Neighborhood Ball for the President's inauguration. The song she performed was Van Morrison's "Bright Side of the Road". This song featured Shakira on harmonica.
Love in the Time of Cholera soundtrack
Shakira wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the music for two new songs that are featured in the movie Love in the Time of Cholera, based on the acclaimed novel by Colombian author Gabriel García Marquez. García Marquez himself asked Shakira to write the songs. The songs are called "Pienso en ti", a song from Shakira's breakthrough album Pies Descalzos, "Hay Amores" and "Despedida". All the songs can be downloaded via iTunes, as well as the score by Antonio Pinto.
It was rumored that the song would also be nominated for an Academy Award, but it was not, with a source calling the fact that it was left off the ballots the Academy's "worst snub."
PERSONAL LIFE
In 2000 (11 years ago), Shakira started dating Antonio de la Rúa, the son of then president Argentina Fernando de la Rúa, a romance that made headline news throughout Latin America. In Mar. 2001 (10 years ago), he proposed to her. De la Rúa and Shakira remain engaged. She currently lives in The Bahamas. Shakira's future mother-in-law Inés Pertiné claimed the wedding would take place in sep. 2007 (4 years ago) in the mansion which Shakira owns in the Dominican Republic, but the wedding did not happen. She also said that Shakira has already ordered Argentine designer María Pryor to design her wedding dress. All this was denied by Shakira herself in Mexico.
In Jun. 2007 (4 years ago), Latin American media speculated that the couple had finally split up and that Shakira was involved romantically with Army Specialist Erik Pepen since both were seen in a Los Angeles disco. This rumor was immediately denied by Shakira's assistants, stating that she was invited by Penélope Cruz (11 walls), who later introduced Erik Pepen to Shakira. On the previous days, Shakira and Antonio were seen in a restaurant in New York City, facing and denying the rumors one more time.
Shakira is intensely interested in world history. She frequently studies the history and languages of the countries she visits. After her Oral Fixation tour ended in summer 2007 (4 years ago), Shakira audited a class in Los Angeles at UCLA, on the History of Western Civilization. She used her middle and last names, Isabel Mebarak, and told the professor she was visiting from Colombia so as to avoid being recognized as a celebrity.
Shakira is a cousin of model and 2005-2006 Miss Colombia, Valerie Domínguez.
DISCOGRAPHY
1996 (15 years ago): Pies Descalzos
1998 (13 years ago): Dónde Están Los Ladrones?
2001 (10 years ago): Laundry Service
2005 (6 years ago): Fijación Oral Vol. 1
2005 (6 years ago): Oral Fixation Vol. 2
2009 (2 years ago): She Wolf
TOURS
1996-1997: Tour Pies Descalzos
2000 (11 years ago): Tour Anfibio
2002–2003: Tour of the Mongoose
2006–2007: Oral Fixation Tour
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
Grammy Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Juno Awards
MTV Awards
ALMA Awards
NRJ Music Awards
People’s Choice Award
American Music Awards
Much Music Video Award
Billboard Music Awards / Latin Billboard Music Awards
Premios Lo Nuestro
Brit Awards
Urban Music Awards
International Dance Music Awards
Premio Juventud
World Music Award
World Soundtrack Awards
Ivor Novello Award
Nickeledon kids Choice Awards
Orgullosamente Latino
Los Premios Telehit
Ritmo Latino Music Awards
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Koda Kumi
Kumiko Kōda (born November 13, 1982), better known by her stage name Kumi Koda ( Koda Kumi), is a Japanese singer and songwriter from Kyoto, known for her urban and R&B songs. Having debuted in 2000 with the single "Take Back", Koda gained fame for her seventh single, "real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba", the songs of which were used as themes for the video game Final Fantasy X-2.[1][2] Her popularity grew with the release of her fourth studio album Secret (2005), her sixteenth single "Butterfly" (2005), and her first greatest hits album Best: First Things (2005), reaching the number-three, number-two and number-one spot respectively.
Though her early releases presented a conservative, quiet image, since as early as 2003 Koda has adopted a sexier and more provocative style.[6] Because of this image, she has become a fashion leader among young women, setting trends such as the ero-kakkoii style. She has also won many fashion awards such as, the "Best Jeanist Award" and the title of "Nail Queen" all times since 2006. Since the rise in her popularity, Koda has lent her face and songs to many advertisements. In 2006 and 2007, Oricon awarded with Koda the title of best-selling artist.
Though her early releases presented a conservative, quiet image, since as early as 2003 Koda has adopted a sexier and more provocative style.[6] Because of this image, she has become a fashion leader among young women, setting trends such as the ero-kakkoii style. She has also won many fashion awards such as, the "Best Jeanist Award" and the title of "Nail Queen" all times since 2006. Since the rise in her popularity, Koda has lent her face and songs to many advertisements. In 2006 and 2007, Oricon awarded with Koda the title of best-selling artist.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)