Biography

Shakira, the graceful one, has been sneaking up on you�the Grammys, 
the MTV Video Awards, those Pepsi spots. She�s a child prodigy 
who wrote her first song at age eight, a blond-locked Colombian
who speaks three languages and loves only in Spanish. She�s a
perfectionist who spends hours in the studio; she needs to 
be close to nature but her passion is the crackle of electric guitars. 

She is in the blush of youth, but she�s far older than her 24 years. 
As her countryman, Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez 
wrote, "Shakira�s music has a personal stamp that doesn�t look like 
anyone else�s and no one can sing or dance like her, at whatever age,
with such an innocent sensuality, one that seems to be of her own 
invention." The swift ascent of Shakira�s star is the stuff of 
Latin American legend. 

At the age of 13, she signed her first recording contract with 
Sony Music Colombia and released her first album Magia. (Magic). 
After graduating from secondary school, Shakira decided to dedicate
her life to the music, recording Peligro ("Danger") and Pies Descalzos,
("Barefeet") in the years that followed, which broke her in 
Latin America, Brazil (over one million sales) and Spain. Her next 
album, Donde Estan Los Ladrones? produced by Shakira and 
executive produced by Emilio Estefan, established her as the 
major force behind Latin pop-rock, going multi-platinum
in the U.S., Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Central America, 
Mexico and platinum in Spain. Then came a Grammy and 
two Latin Grammys, the key TV appearances, the brave 
new world of Shakira, the star.

Shakira is a walking, living, breathing, singing contradiction. 
"I was born and raised in Colombia, but I listened to bands like Led Zeppelin, 
the Cure, the Police, the Beatles and Nirvana," said Shakira. 
"I was so in love with that rock sound but at the same time because 
my father is of l00% Lebanese descent, I am devoted to Arabic tastes 
and sounds. Somehow I�m a fusion of all of those passions and my music 
is a fusion of elements that I can make coexist in the same place, in one song."
It�s the songs that make her new album, LAUNDRY SERVICE, her first with 
English-language tunes, the kind of breakthrough work that will turn the 
pop world on its head. From the tango-inflected "Objection (Tango)," to 
the Middle Eastern flavor of "Eyes Like Yours," to the lyrical innovations 
of �Underneath Your Clothes�, to the richness of the melodies of �The One," 
to the pop-rock of "Whenever Wherever," Shakira will stand in the ranks of 
the best singer-songwriters in any language. 

"I think I am celebrating life more than ever," said Shakira. 
"I had a slightly narrow vision of love. Now I am feeling 
unguarded, and it feels great. I feel washed clean of the 
way I looked at things in the past, which is why I am calling 
the album LAUNDRY SERVICE.�

The most extraordinary thing about LAUNDRY SERVICE is the 
way she was able to translate her Latin American sensibility 
into a new language. The idea to do songs in English first came 
up during Shakira�s partnership with Emilio and Gloria Estefan.
Gloria initiated the process by translating "Ojos As�," a song 
that appeared on Shakira�s last album, D�nde Est�n Los Ladrones? 
(Where are the Thieves?). "I wanted to have her involved in this 
somehow because she was one of the people that really believed that
I could make a record in English," said Shakira.

But nurturing the belief that she could write songs in English was a 
strong challenge. "The first song I wrote by myself for this record 
was "Objection," remembered Shakira. "I prayed and asked God to send
me a good song today, and I remember I started writing the song a 
couple of hours after. I wrote the music and lyrics at the same time, 
and when that happens it�s really magical to me."

When she completed "Objection," she knew that she could write ten 
more, so she packed up her loved ones and set up portable studios 
in rural Uruguay. Taking in the primordial energy of natural 
surroundings, Shakira came up with a crop of new songs more 
introspective, more passionate than any she had written before. 
"I had to find a way to express my ideas and my feelings, my day 
to day stories in English. So I bought a couple of rhyming dictionaries, 
read poetry, and authors like Leonard Cohen and Walt Whitman," she said. 
"I would feel love in Spanish but I would think about how to express that
love in English. Afterwards that became such a natural process, and if
you check the subject of my songs, most of them talk about my own experiences
and feelings and what I was actually going through in my life," said Shakira.
�Is impossible not to write about love.. It�s the great mystery of life. 
It makes me ask myself new questions every day.�

Shakira is one of the poetic songwriters of her generation and 
considered the best female lyricist in Latin America: On the ballad 
"Underneath Your Clothes," she claims as territory a man she likens 
to "a song written by the hands of God"; on the blues-rocker "Fool"
her "tears make a sea of desert." But she is still as quirky around 
the edges as she�s always been�on "Ready for the Good Times" she 
remembers close encounters with roaches; on "Poem to a Horse" she 
scolds a friend dulled by "hydroponic pot," and on "The One," she 
rewards her true love by shaving her legs and learning how to cook. 
"I try to represent only myself, but there are many women that 
identify with me," said Shakira. "I am definitely not a woman who 
washes her husband�s clothes every day. I hope I don�t sound like 
a feminist leader saying these things. I just try to be honest the 
way I write." There�s no doubt that Shakira has maintained her 
creative integrity with her new project. But perhaps more importantly, 
LAUNDRY SERVICE is a record that reflects her deep love for the basics 
of rock production. "I felt that I needed to make an organic record with
real players in the studio playing live music and doing it like they
made records 30 years ago, in the old times," said Shakira. "We used
an engineer named Terry Manning, who�s worked with ACDC, Led Zeppelin,
Lenny Kravitz. He�s somebody from the old school. I was determined not
to depend on too many electronic sounds, and he definitely understood that.� 

On LAUNDRY SERVICE there is a very strong 
dedication to old-fashioned rock riffs, to 
the soulful, bluesy singing styles of a Bonnie 
Raitt, even the mournful, wailing guitars of Aerosmith.
But Shakira can�t help being herself, and that means that
"Whenever Wherever," will bounce along with some help from 
Andean pan flutes and Brazilian drums, and "Eyes Like Yours"
bursts from your CD player with navel-baring, belly-dancing
furor. And for those longing for Shakira in her original 
language, four new tracks in Spanish are included.
"The world has become so small and music is so eclectic 
now, and our taste is so broad that that�s almost predictable 
that all this crossover from one culture to another was going 
to happen," she said, then paused for a second, making sure 
everyone knew she had her priorities straight. "But I know that
rock and roll is never going to die."