Born in Colombia, Shakira began writing music when she was merely eight years old and one of seven siblings. She was teased by peers and was not accepted into the school choir for having too strong a voice.

Between the ages of ten and thirteen, Shakira was invited to many events around her area, and even gained some recognition through participating in those competitions.

Around this time, a local theater producer impressed with her skill attempted to aid her with her career. The producer swayed the attention of a Columbian Sony executive who auditioned Shakira in a hotel lobby. After much footwork by this executive to get Shakira's music heard, she landed a three-record contract deal. This was after a surprise performance for other Sony executives whom she had impressed enough to win them over.

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In 1991, when she was only fifteen, Shakira created her debut album. Both her first and second albums weren't that well received which lead her to go back to graduate high school.

Fame came to her, though, in Latin America after her third album was released in 1995. After her fourth album's release, she became famous in other countries apart from her own. This fourth album had more work invested in it that lent it a more polished production. This also lead to popularity in the United States, and an appearance on MTV's Unplugged live performance shows, where she performed the songs primarily off of this fourth effort.

In March of 2000, Shakira toured Latin America and the United States, and won an award for best international artist in August of that year.

In 2001, Shakira produced a record that crossed over the language barrier, and became one of her biggest hits ever due to the wide appeal of the album.

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