Shakira is a Colombian singer-songwriter from Barranquilla, Colombia. She begins recording with Sony Music Colombia at the age of 13 and releases her first albums, Magia and Peligro, before reaching wider success in Hispanic markets with Pies Descalzos and Dónde Están los Ladrones?

Career

Shakira enters the English-language market with Laundry Service, an album that sells more than 13 million copies worldwide. Singles including “Whenever, Wherever” and “Underneath Your Clothes” help establish her as a crossover artist with international reach. She is described by Broadcast Music, Inc. as a pioneer for extending the global reach of Latino singers.

Her later Spanish-language albums Fijación Oral, Vol. 1, Sale el Sol and El Dorado all reach the top of the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and receive diamond certification in the Latin category from the Recording Industry Association of America. Her English-language releases Oral Fixation, Vol. 2, She Wolf and Shakira receive gold, platinum or multi-platinum certifications in different countries.

Style and reach

Her work spans dance-pop, latin, latin pop, pop and pop rock. She is credited with helping open the international market to other Latin artists, and her catalogue is associated with sales of over 80 million records. It contains 145 songs.

Television and recognition

Shakira serves as a coach on two seasons of the American television series The Voice. Her awards include four Grammy Awards, twelve Latin Grammy Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, seven Billboard Music Awards, thirty-nine Billboard Latin Music Awards, twenty-one Guinness World Records and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Billboard names her Top Female Latin Artist of the Decade for both the 2000s and 2010s.

Other honours

In 2011, she receives the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year and Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year awards for her philanthropic work with the Barefoot Foundation and for her contributions to music. In the same year, she is appointed to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in the United States. In 2012, the French government appoints her Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.