Music

Shakira

Rejected by the school choir at eight; wrote her way from Barranquilla to the best-selling song of a World Cup.

Born: 1977 · Barranquilla, Colombia
Roots: Colombian mother, Lebanese-descent father
Family: Middle class; Her jeweler father's business went bankrupt in her childhood; she has traced her drive to seeing the family's losses.
Education: La Enseñanza school, Barranquilla; signed a record deal at 13
Started with: A choir rejection; The school choir turned her down — her vibrato, the teacher said, sounded like a goat.
Affiliations & societies: None documented.; Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1985 · age 8
First song
Written after the family's bankruptcy; performing in local contests follows.
1990 · age 13
Sony deal
Signs in Bogotá; her first two albums go largely unnoticed.
1995 · age 18
Pies Descalzos
The breakthrough across Latin America; she founds a school charity under the same name two years later.
2001 · age 24
Laundry Service
Teaches herself English songwriting for the crossover; 13 million copies.
2006 · age 29
Hips Don't Lie
Reported as the century's best-selling single to that point.
2010 · age 33
Waka Waka
The South Africa World Cup anthem becomes the most-watched of its kind.
2023 · age 46
Settles a Spanish tax case
Pays a €7.5M fine while denying intent; the same year, a Piqué breakup song breaks YouTube records.

Sources

Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.