Shakira

In 1997, Shakira founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation. It is a Colombian charity with special schools for poor children all around Colombia. It was funded by Shakira and other international groups and individuals. The name of the foundation is taken from Shakira's third studio album called Pies Descalzos, released in 1995.

Throughout her career, Shakira has performed at a large number of benefit concerts. In 2002 she sang at a Party in the Park concert fundraising for the Prince's Trust. That same year she performed at Divas Live which support VH1's Save the Music Foundation. On July 2, 2005 she performed her hits "Whenever, Wherever" and "La Tortura" on the Live 8 benefit concert at the Palace of Versailles, near Paris. On July 7, 2007, the singer opened the German leg of Live Earth in Hamburg. Her set included "Don't Bother", "Inevitable", "Día Especial" (with Gustavo Cerati) and "Hips Don't Lie".[28]

Shakira is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is one of their global representatives. "Shakira, like all our Goodwill Ambassadors, was chosen based on her compassion, her involvement in global issues, her deep commitment to helping children, and her appeal to young people around the world. We're very pleased to have Shakira join the UNICEF family. I know she'll help bring UNICEF's mission to the audience who will have the most impact on our future – young people themselves", said UNICEF's Executive Director Carol Bellamy.[29]

On April 3 2006, Shakira was honored at a United Nations ceremony for creating the Pies Descalzos Foundation. At the event, the singer said, "Let's not forget that at the end of this day when we all go home, 960 children will have died in Latin America."[30]

Shakira was recently ranked at number 48 on the list of Top 50 Most Charitable Celebrities by OK! magazine. It reported that she donates approximately $55,000 to charity yearly.

‎Shakira is well known for her dancing in various music videos and in concert. Her moves are based on the art of Turkish-Arabic belly dancing, a part of her Lebanese heritage (her father is Lebanese). She knows the power of her feet and performs barefoot often. Shakira says she learned this form of dance as a young teen to overcome her shyness.[26] The intense training has afforded her a fluidity in her body movement most seen in the videos to her hits "Ojos Así", "La Tortura", "Hips Don't Lie" and "Beautiful Liar". She has had several belly dance choreographers, including award-winning Bellydance Superstar Boženka.[27] As the MTV Making the Video for "La Tortura" reveals, she worked with Jamie King on the choreography, but ended up creating

During an online chat with her fans in "El Heraldo",[17] she revealed that she was going to start writing her new album in February 2008. No official release date has been announced.

In March, 2008 she will take part in Live 8 Latino. Proceeds from this event will go to ALAS, a charity that she co-founded (more on ALAS below in the "Philanthropy" section).

According to ShakiraMedia, she will be releasing her next album in 2009.[18]


[edit] Acting

Shakira wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the music for 2 new songs that are featured in the movie Love in the Time of Cholera, based in the acclaimed novel by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Marquez himself asked Shakira to write the songs. The songs are called "Hay Amores" and "Despedida". "Pienso en ti", a song off of Shakira's breakthrough album is also featured in the soundtrack. She has been nominated for a Golden Globe for the song "Despedida". All the songs can be downloaded via iTunes, plus the score by Antonio Pinto.

Shakira has been recently nominated in Golden Globe Awards for the song "Despedida" in "Best Original Song categorie.[6]

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 Penélope 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 denied the rumors one more time.[23]

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. [24][25]