Born in Colombia in 1977 to a Colombian mother and Lebanese father, Shakira signed her first record deal at the age of thirteen with Sony/Colombia, when "Magia" was released. Her second album, Peligro, was released at the age of fifteen.

She was a major figure in the pop music scene of Latin America since the mid-1990s. In 2001, she broke through into the English-speaking market with the release of her first album, "Laundry Service", which sold over fifteen million copies worldwide.

A two-time Grammy Award-winning and eight-time Latin Grammy Award-winning artist, Shakira is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. She is also the only artist from South America to reach the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100, the Australian ARIA chart, the United World Chart and the UK Singles Chart.