Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born February 2, 1977), known simply as
Shakira, is a Grammy-award winning Colombian singer-songwriter, musician, composer, record producer, music-video director, dancer, choreographer, instrumentalist and philanthropist who has sold over fifty million records worldwide. She has been in the music industry since 1990, releasing her first album the following year. A child prodigy, she began writing poems and songs at age four and taught herself the guitar at age ten.