Shakira's 50th Birthday Countdown

Shakira's songs

Shakira Timeline

About Shakira

Writing and singing in both Spanish and English, Shakira carried Latin pop to every corner of the world, 'Hips Don't Lie,' the World Cup anthem 'Waka Waka', and funds schools in Colombia through her Barefoot Foundation.

Too strong for the school choir

Her second-grade choir teacher in Barranquilla turned her away -- the vibrato was too strong, and classmates teased that she sounded like a goat. Shakira kept singing anyway, performed three of her own songs for Sony executives at 13, and walked out with a three-album record deal. After two quiet early releases, 1995's Pies Descalzos made her a Latin American superstar, and she taught herself to write in English for 2001's crossover smash Laundry Service.

The anthem the whole planet sang

'Hips Don't Lie' hit No. 1 in 55 countries in 2006, giving Shakira her first Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper. Then 'Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)' became the best-selling World Cup song in history, with more than 10 million copies sold and billions of YouTube views. Add a co-headlining 2020 Super Bowl halftime show, some 95 million records sold, four Grammys and fifteen Latin Grammys, and her global reach speaks for itself.

Schools that carry her album's name

Shakira named her foundation after the album that made her famous: Fundacion Pies Descalzos, the Barefoot Foundation, founded in 1997 when she was just 20. It builds schools in some of Colombia's poorest regions -- the first opened in Choco in 2004 -- and its Barranquilla school was rated the No. 1 public school in the entire country. More than 150,000 children and young people have come through its education programs.

Quick facts

• Born February 2, 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia
• Rejected from her school choir as a kid -- then signed by Sony at 13
• 'Hips Don't Lie' reached No. 1 in 55 countries
• 'Waka Waka' is the best-selling World Cup song ever, over 10 million copies
• Co-headlined the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show
• Her Pies Descalzos foundation's Barranquilla school was rated Colombia's No. 1 public school