Added: 02/28/2006 |
Female Latin Pop Singers - A Look at Shakira and Jennifer Lopez SingerShakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born in 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia. She is better known as Shakira - a five-time Grammy winner Latin pop singer and songwriter. One of the most popular female Latin pop singers was born in a Roman Catholic family to an American-born father of Lebanese origins and a mother of Italian and Spanish descent. Regardless of this mixture Shakira is a native Spanish speaker singing primarily in Spanish but also in Portuguese, English, French and Italian to a lesser extent.
Since the age of nine one of future female Latin pop singers has started to write and compose music. From her early ages Shakira was notable for her strong voice and for this reason she was excluded from her school choir. Shakira's first success was when she won a weekly singing competition for children "Vivan Los Ninos". At the age of thirteen Shakira became a local celebrity and local theater producer Monica Ariza, having been impressed by her performance on stage and strong voice, helped her to spread her success outside Barranquilla.
Ariza convinced Sony Music Colombia to sign a contract with the young talented singer and later Shakira signed to write and record three albums with Sony Music due to her contract. In 1991, Shakira's debut album "Magia" was released but failed to be a hit selling only thousand copies. In 1993, her second album "Peligro" was released but it turned out unsuccessful too. After these consequent failures Shakira turned to perform as an actress in telenovelas. However, several years later Shakira returned to the music business releasing her third album "Pies Descalzos".
She gets acquainted with Emilio Estefans - executive producer of the next album "Donde Eston Los Ladrones?" It was the most successful Shakira's album to date with the massive worldwide hit "Ojos Asi". Upon the success of "Donde Eston Los Ladrones?" one of the most popular female Latin pop singers started to work on English albums. Her first English songs were covers for tracks from "Donde Eston Los Ladrones?" which being merged with some new songs in English resulted in Shakira's first English album "Laundry Service".
In 2002, Shakira released the Spanish "Greatest Hits" collection and then toured in support of this album across the world. In 2005, the most successful Shakira's album was released - "Fijaci'n Oral" with its massive hit "La Tortura". Being charted number four on the Billboard in the United States and far more favorable in the rest of the world, in non-Spanish speaking countries such as Germany, Canada, Hungary etc. let alone Latin American countries, it has become the most successful Latin single ever.
One of female Latin pop singers Jennifer Lopez is mostly known for her massive success as a Hollywood actress and fashion designer. She was the first Latin in Hollywood to earn more than a million dollars per movie. Jennifer Lopez started her career as a dancer and later on she starred in several movies from which "Selena" was her real breakthrough. Some time later Jennifer Lopez singer debut came out, and since 1999 she's been performing as a singer. Her debut album was titled "On the 6" and sold very well. But was it because she had talent or because she was a popular actress? J Lo's last album "Rebirth" was released in March, 2005 and was rated #2 on the Billboard charts. These days her talent and looks are unquestioned as Jennifer Lopez is firmly on top of both the music and acting world.
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