Shakira Gets a Hollywood Star! Friday June 27, 2008 4:00pm EST Last year Ricky Martin earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and this year it’s Shakira who gets the honor! The Colombian star joins fellow Latina Cameron Diaz (and hotties Robert Downey Jr. and John Stamos) as one of 25 famous faces selected by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to receive their stars in 2009. Other prominent Latin music stars who earned their propias estrellas in past years include Marc Anthony, Celia Cruz and Julio Iglesias. Congrats, Shaki! Hopefully this will motivate you to temporarily set aside your side projects—cosmetics line, fragrance, — and hit the recording studio. * * Courtesy of Latina.com Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born: February 2, 1977), known simply as Shakira, is Colombian singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer and philanthropist who has been a major figure in the pop music scene of Latin America since the mid-1990s. She is a native Spanish speaker and also speaks fluent English, Portuguese, Italian, and some Arabic. In 2001, she broke through into the English-speaking world with the release of Laundry Service, which sold over thirteen million copies worldwide. Shakira is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold more than 60 million albums worldwide, according to BMI. She has also won numerous awards worldwide, including two Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammy Awards, fifteen Billboard Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, a People's Choice Award and receiving a Golden Globe nomination. 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. Additionally, she is one of the only artists to have 10 Spanish singles chart on the Billboard Hot 100. According to the United World Chart, Shakira is as of 2008 the 4th most successful artist so far for the last decade, in terms of single sales. She is also the only artist to have two songs in the top ten of the most successful singles since 1999. In 2000, Shakira started dating Antonio de la Rua, the son of then president of Argentina Fernando de la Rua, a romance that made headline news throughout Latin America. In March 2001, he proposed to her. De la Rua and Shakira remain engaged. She currently lives in The Bahamas. Shakira's future mother-in-law Ines Pertine claimed the wedding would take place in September 2007 in the mansion which Shakira owns in the Dominican Republic (though this didn't happen). She also said that Shakira has already ordered Argentinian designer Maria Pryor to design her wedding dress,and by Shakira herself in Mexico. In June 2007, Latin American media speculated that the couple had finally split up and that Shakira was involved romantically with Irish actor Colin Farrell since both were seen in a Los Angeles disco. This rumor was immediately denied by Shakira's assistants, stating that she was invited by Penelope Cruz, who later introduced Colin Farrell to Shakira. On the previous days, Shakira and Antonio were seen in a restaurant in New York City, facing and denying the rumors one more time. Shakira maintains an intense interest in history. She frequently studies the history and languages of the countries she visits. After her Oral Fixation tour ended in summer 2007, Shakira audited a class in Los Angeles at UCLA, on the History of Western Civilization. She used her middle and last names, Isabel Mebarak, and told the professor she was visiting from Colombia so as to avoid being recognized as a celebrity. Shakira is a cousin of model and 2005-2006 Miss Colombia, Valerie Dominguez, who is likewise of Lebanese descent. Shakira is well known for her dancing in various music videos and in concert. Her moves are based on the art of Arabic belly dancing, a part of her Lebanese heritage (her father is Lebanese). She knows the power of her feet and often performs barefoot. Shakira says she learned this form of dance as a young teen to overcome her shyness. She also mentioned in a MTV interview that she learned how to belly dance by trying to flip a coin with her belly. The intense training has afforded her a fluidity in her body movement most seen in the videos to her hits "Ojos Asi", "La Tortura", "Hips Don't Lie" and "Beautiful Liar" including "Suerte". She has had several belly dance choreographers, including award-winning Bellydance Superstar Bozenka. As the MTV Making the Video for "La Tortura" reveals, she worked with Jamie King on the choreography, but ended up creating most of it herself. Shakira is influenced in part by her Arabic heritage, which was a major inspiration for her breakthrough world hit "Ojos Asi". Shakira is also influenced by well known rock groups such as Led Zepellin and AC/DC, resulting in her performance of "Back in Black" during her Tour of the Mongoose.