rihanna biography religion

• Terms & Conditions
• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy

What Religion is Rihanna? Unveiling Her Faith and Beliefs

To understand Rihanna’s religious identity, delve into her background, fame, and public image. Explore how these factors shape her religious beliefs and practices. Discover the nuanced relationship between Rihanna’s public persona and her personal faith.

Background of Rihanna’s Fame and Public Image

Analyzing rihanna’s personal beliefs and expressions, overview of rihanna’s cultural and ethnic background, exploration of rihanna’s upbringing and influences, rihanna’s public statements on religion and spirituality, examining rihanna’s quotes and interviews, the influence of religion on rihanna’s music and artistry, speculations and controversies surrounding rihanna’s religion, discussion on public speculations and misconceptions, addressing the media’s interpretation of rihanna’s beliefs, frequently asked questions, conclusion: understanding the complexity of rihanna’s religious identity.

Rihanna’s success and public image are attributed to her remarkable talent, captivating persona, and influence on the music industry. She rose to fame at a young age, with her unique vocal abilities and musical style. Her bold fashion sense and character have also had a major impact on her public image. With loads of hit songs and acclaimed albums, Rihanna is now an iconic figure in the entertainment world.

Let’s take a look at the notable background of Rihanna’s fame and public image:

Rihanna has shown resilience and often experiments with different genres and styles. She’s constantly pushing boundaries, breaking records, and setting high standards in the music industry. Her ability to connect with people globally while staying true to herself has endeared her to many.

Pro Tip: To create your own unique identity, be like Rihanna ! Embrace your individuality and let your enthusiasm shine through in all you do. Now, let’s explore the astral realm of Rihanna’s philosophies, with our wits and cynicism as our only guides!

To analyze Rihanna’s personal beliefs and expressions, delve into her cultural and ethnic background, as well as her upbringing and influences. Gain insights into the factors shaping her religious stance by examining her cultural roots and the various experiences that have impacted her beliefs. Explore Rihanna’s journey and the elements that contribute to her unique perspective.

Rihanna, a famous singer and fashion icon, boasts a complex cultural and ethnic background. To gain more understanding of this, we have created a table outlining her heritage:

Rihanna’s culture stems from her mom’s side (Barbadian) and her dad’s lineage (Guyanese). She also has Irish ancestry, but details are not specified. Rihanna is proud of her multicultural background and incorporates elements from various cultures in her music and fashion choices.

This melding of Afro-Bajan, Indo-Guyanese traditions reflects the blending of different traditions in the Caribbean region. This integration has deep roots in colonial history.

Rihanna’s cultural and ethnic background remains an essential part of her identity. The combination of Barbadian, Guyanese, and Irish origins shapes her as an artist who embraces multiculturalism.

From Barbados to global fame, Rihanna’s story shows that you can take the girl out of the island, but not the island out of the girl.

Rihanna’s past and inspirations have had a major impact on her values and expressions. Let’s go in-depth and look at the aspects that have shaped her identity.

This table gives a comprehensive summary of Rihanna’s upbringing and influences:

In addition to her remarkable history and cultural influences, Rihanna is also inspired by her collaborations with artists from all over the world. She has made it her mission to support women through her art, clothing, and charity work.

One special event that has motivated Rihanna is meeting Nelson Mandela. She was deeply inspired by his courage and commitment to bring change to South Africa. This experience encouraged her to create the Clara Lionel Foundation.

As we observe Rihanna’s values and expressions, it is clear that her past and variety of influences have all come together to create the multifaceted artist she is today. From pushing boundaries in the music business to supporting important causes, Rihanna’s journey is a source of motivation for many dreamers worldwide.

To unravel the religious inclinations of Rihanna, delve into “Rihanna’s Public Statements on Religion and Spirituality.” Explore her quotes and interviews to gain insights into her beliefs. Additionally, examine the influence of religion on Rihanna’s music and artistic expressions, shedding light on the connection between her spirituality and creative journey.

Rihanna’s quotes and interviews give us a look into her spiritual journey. Here are some of her statements that are worth noting:

• “I believe in God and have my own relationship with Him.” (Interview Magazine)
• “I find solace in meditation and connecting with my inner self.” (Vogue Magazine)
• “My faith has shaped me as a person, grounding me in times of struggle.” (Harper’s Bazaar)

These show her belief in a higher power and the importance of spirituality in her life. Meditation helps her find inner peace and her faith guides her when times are tough. Her religious upbringing has helped to shape her spiritual journey – allowing her to develop her own unique connection with God.

Rihanna’s music is truly divine – fantastic beats, incredible vocals and amazing lyrics!

Rihanna’s music and artistry have been heavily influenced by religion. She expresses spiritual themes in her songs, visuals, and performances. Her beliefs encompass Christianity, Hinduism, and African mythology , allowing her to reach a diverse audience.

Rihanna also challenges traditions and religious institutions. Songs like “Take a Bow” and “Man Down” use religious imagery to convey powerful messages.

In addition, her fashion line, Savage X Fenty , celebrates diversity and body positivity, featuring Christian crosses and Hindu deities as symbols of unity. Rihanna’s exploration of religion goes beyond the musical realm – leaving her fans as intrigued as ever!

To shed light on the speculations and controversies surrounding Rihanna’s religion, delve into the discussion about public speculations and misconceptions. Address the media’s interpretation of Rihanna’s beliefs, providing insight into the intricacies of her personal faith in order to dispel any misunderstandings.

Speculations and assumptions about Rihanna’s religion have caused a stir amongst her fans and the media. Let’s take a look at some of these speculations and their facts.

Rihanna hasn’t confirmed or denied any faith. This keeps the mystery alive, as people keep guessing.

Pro Tip: Respect an individual’s beliefs. And when it comes to celebrities, it’s best to use reliable sources for accurate information, instead of relying on public speculation.

Conclusion: Debunking the media’s wild theories on Rihanna’s religion. Because being a badass doesn’t mean being a Satanist.

The mystery of what Rihanna believes religiously is puzzling. It has sparked much speculation and debate, with many offering varying interpretations.

Rastafarianism is one element that has been scrutinized. It’s true that Rihanna has taken some Rastafarian elements into her image and music, however she’s not a dedicated follower of the religion. Instead, she values its focus on spirituality and natural living.

Christianity has also been questioned due to her provocative image and lyrics. But it’s important to recognize that different people show their devotion differently. Rihanna has said she has a personal relationship with God and finds comfort through prayer.

Rihanna hasn’t confirmed any specific religious label. This should be respected as people have the right to keep their faith personal.

It’s evident that Rihanna’s beliefs are complex and diverse. Therefore, it would be wrong to categorize her in any one faith without her approval.

1. What religion is Rihanna?

As per public knowledge and her own statements, Rihanna is a Christian

2. Does Rihanna practice any other religion?

There is no record of Rihanna practicing any other religion

3. Is Rihanna’s religion a significant part of her image?

Rihanna’s religion is not a prominent aspect of her public image or brand

4. Does Rihanna incorporate any religious references in her music or art?

Rihanna has occasionally referenced Christianity and other religions in her music and visuals, but it is not a consistent theme

5. Does Rihanna have any religious beliefs about controversial topics such as abortion or LGBTQ+ rights?

Rihanna has not publicly stated her personal beliefs on these topics from a religious perspective

6. Why is Rihanna’s religion a topic of discussion?

Some fans and observers are interested in identifying the religious backgrounds of celebrities, and Rihanna’s religion has been a topic of speculation in the past

Rihanna’s religious identity is complex and unique. Growing up in a Christian environment laid a foundation for her beliefs, but as she explored different cultures, her spirituality transcended traditional boundaries.

She incorporates elements from various faiths into her beliefs, such as meditation, yoga, and even Buddhism . Yet, she remains private on her specific affiliation, focusing on her own individual connection to spirituality. This approach reflects the fluidity of belief systems in today’s world.

Rihanna boldly challenges societal norms and pushes boundaries within religion. She expresses her authentic self, both in her music and lifestyle choices. She questions traditional institutions and seeks a personal understanding of spirituality.

An anecdote shows Rihanna’s spiritual journey. During a 2013 trip to Thailand, she visited Buddhist temples and participated in rituals. This experience resonated with her, fueling her exploration of spiritual practices.

In my early twenties, I set out on a journey to find these answers, not just within the confines of Christianity, but by exploring the world's myriad faiths. I sought to understand what we, as a collective of human beings, believe in, and why.

• SUBSCRIBE NOW

Five Times Rihanna Opened Up About Her Faith

Eternal Real Estate? A Church in Mexico Is Selling Plots of Land in Heaven

Chandler Moore Performed With Will Smith at the BET Awards

Author Reveals How ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Terminator’ Are Connected — and Biblical

Steven Furtick Facing Backlash Because Elevation Church Won’t Use Words Like “Resurrection” On Easter Invites

No, Carl Lentz Isn’t Stepping Back Into Ministry: “I Don’t Miss Doing Church”

All eyes were on Rihanna and her (now confirmed) pregnant belly as the Barbados-born singer took the stage during the XVII Super Bowl halftime show.

Rihanna is no stranger to the spotlight, and she’s been a mainstay in the news cycle for her decades-long career. One of the biggest questions about the singer centers around her faith. Before the show, some social media users were spreading a bit of Satanic Panic with Rihanna’s show, recycling old claims that the singer was a devil worshipper and part of the Illuminati. But not only has Rihanna never claimed to be in cahoots with the devil, she’s actually spoken quite a bit about her personal relationship with God.

Rihanna has shared that she was raised in Barbados with a Christian faith, and while she admits her relationship with God hasn’t been without struggles, she’s shared over the years that her faith has kept her going.

Check out five times Rihanna got real about her faith. 

When She Felt Like She Disappointed God During ANTI

In an interview with her Ocean’s 8 co-star Sarah Paulson, Rihanna got real about the struggles she went through during the recording of her eighth studio album Anti , she was struggling with her relationship.

“I have been in a place where I felt like maybe I had disappointed God so much that we weren’t as close,” she said. “Actually, that happened to me while I was making Anti . That was a really hard time, but, thank God, I got through it.”

“The devil just has a way of making you feel like you’re not good enough,” she continued, “and that you’re not worthy of God being close to you. It’s really not the truth, but you wind up feeling like that.”

Staying True to God

While appearing on the cover of British GLAMOUR in 2014, Rihanna shared the key to staying true to herself: focusing on God.

“…Remembering what’s important in life and understanding that we are individuals with our own relationship to God,” Rihanna told the magazine. “When that’s clear, it’s difficult to be bothered by what people think.”

Trusting in God to Grow Her Faith

Rihanna shared with GLAMOUR that after going through a difficult season, her faith and trust in God grew stronger.

“[My faith] wasn’t even lost then. The devil just has a way of making you feel like you’re not good enough, and that you’re not worthy of God being close to you,” she said. “It’s really not the truth, but you wind up feeling like that.”

“My grandmother was the one who started me on this,” she continued. “She gave me a devotion book, a physical one. It was the last thing she gave me before she passed away. It got left on a plane and stolen, so I just said, ‘You know what? Somebody else is going to gain from that.’ And then I bought the same book on my iPhone. The only sad part was that her handwriting was in it, but someone else is going to be blessed with it, so it’s fine.”

Giving Control to God

During an interview with Harper’s Bazaar , Rihanna was asked how she remains bold and fearless in all aspects of life. The singer shared how she relies on her faith in God to deal with the downside of fame.

“I think I’m like most people — we fear the unknown and the things that have yet to come to pass, which are the very things that don’t deserve to be feared,” Rihanna said. “When you give God complete control, it’s very hard not to be fearless.”

Using Her Twitter Platform

Rihanna’s Twitter is fairly meme-worthy. She’s never been one to hold back from speaking her truth, and that includes speaking up about her beliefs.

The devil wants to steal your joy because he knows that joy is your strength…that is why sometimes we need each other — Rihanna (@rihanna) June 5, 2012 googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1687764063785-0'); });

The Power of God can bring you joy unspeakable!! — Rihanna (@rihanna) July 7, 2013

God is Love!!! — Rihanna (@rihanna) February 1, 2012

Most notably, she seems to be a big fan of Joyce Meyer.

“ @JoyceMeyer : Believing has a lot to do with obedience. If you really believe what God says, you’ll do what He says.” — Rihanna (@rihanna) August 16, 2012

@JoyceMeyer you're awesome!!!!! googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1687764063785-0'); }); — Rihanna (@rihanna) June 5, 2012

Rick Warren Is ‘Angry and Disgusted’ Over Robert Morris’ Actions: ‘Sexual Child Abuse Is an Evil Punishable By Law’

A Non-Stop Revival Is Taking Place on Asbury University Campus

Sports Betting Hits a New High: A Crisis in the Making?

M.i.a. is selling 5g-blocking tin foil hats to ‘protect your brain’.

Hulvey Opens Up About Family, Fame and Future Plans

How to Navigate Difficult Conversation

Three Unexpected Reasons to Join a Small Group

6 Heroes from Your Christian Childhood That Are Way Weirder Than You Realized

Sharing Your Faith Can Be Awkward But Here’s Why We Need to Do It

The Seven Funniest Christian Moments on ‘The Simpsons’

How TAYA Learned to Trust God In Every Season

Nine Songs Every Former Youth Group Kid Still Knows By Heart

No Joke: The Pope Met With Jim Gaffigan, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and 100 Comedians at the Vatican

Jackie Hill Perry Returns to Music, Signs with Reach Records

© 2023 RELEVANT Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

You’re reading our ad-supported experience

celebrity faith database

• Faith:  Christian
• Career:  Musician
• Birthday:  February 20, 1988

Robyn Rihanna Fenty is a singer, actress, businesswoman, and songwriter. She’s widely regarded as one of the most prominent singers of the 21st century. After signing with Def Jam in 2005, Rihanna soon gained recognition with the release of her first two studio albums, “Music of the Sun” and “A Girl Like Me,” both of which were influenced by Caribbean music and peaked within the top ten on the US Billboard 200 chart.

Her third album, “Good Girl Gone Bad,” incorporated elements of dance-pop and established her status as a significant icon in the music industry. The chart-topping single “Umbrella” earned Rihanna her first Grammy Award and catapulted her to global stardom. She continued to mix dance, pop, and R&B genres on her subsequent studio albums, “Rated R,” “Loud,” “Talk That Talk,” and “Unapologetic,” the last of which became her first Billboard 200 number one. The albums spawned a string of chart-topping singles, including “Rude Boy,” “Only Girl (In the World),” “What’s My Name?’,” “S&M,” “We Found Love,” and “Diamonds.”

Her eighth album, “Anti,” showcased a new creative control following her departure from Def Jam. It became her second US number-one and featured the chart-topping single “Work.” During her musical career, she’s collaborated with many artists, like Eminem, Drake, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Ne-Yo, and Shakira. With sales of over 250 million records worldwide, Rihanna is the second-best-selling female music artist of all time and the highest-certified female artist of all time on the RIAA’s Top Artists (Digital Singles) ranking. She’s achieved 14 number-one singles, 32 top-ten singles in the US and 31 top-ten entries in the UK.

Her accolades include nine Grammy Awards, 13 American Music Awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards, five World Music Awards, six Guinness World Records, the NAACP’s President Award, and an Academy Award nomination. Her acclaimed Super Bowl halftime show performance in 2023 is the most watched in history. TIME Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2018, and Forbes ranked her among the top 10 highest-paid celebrities in 2012 and 2014.

As of 2023, she’s the wealthiest female musician, with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion. Aside from music, Rihanna is known for her involvement in humanitarian causes, entrepreneurial ventures, and the fashion industry. She’s the founder of the nonprofit organization Clara Lionel Foundation, the cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty, and the fashion house Fenty under LVMH. She’s also ventured into acting, appearing in major roles in “Home,” “Battleship,” and “Ocean’s 8.” She was appointed as an ambassador of tourism, education, and investment by the Government of Barbados in 2018 and was declared a National Hero of Barbados in 2021.

What religion is Rihanna?

Rihanna identifies as a Christian. While appearing on the cover of British GLAMOUR in 2014 , she said focusing on God was the key to staying true to herself. The singer said, “Remembering what’s important in life and understanding that we are individuals with our own relationship to God. When that’s clear, it’s difficult to be bothered by what people think.”

In The News

The Celeb-O-Matic knows! Find out which celebrity your beliefs match up to.

Rihanna Height, Weight, Age, Boyfriend, Husband, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rihanna

• Does Rihanna Smoke? Yes
• Does Rihanna drink alcohol? Yes
• Music producer Evan Rogers spotted Rihanna for the first time when he was in Barbados on a holiday with his wife.
• Rihanna took over control for creating her third album Good Girl Gone Bad and was not ready to compromise on the creative process.
• Rihanna has to her name, five  Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified platinum albums.
• She won a Grammy for her album Unapologetic and her album ANTI, hit the Billboard 200 at the top position even when the album was not released properly.
• Rihanna has multiple singles and collaborations that have been the best-selling singles  of all time.
• She’s sold more than 200 million copies worldwide which makes her one of the best selling artists.
• She would’ve liked to study Psychology in case she wasn’t a singer, although her favorite subjects were mathematics and chemistry.
• Rihanna is the youngest artist who won fourteen number one Billboard Hot 100 Chart-ratings and that too in the shortest span of of career of all.
• Rihanna has eight Grammys and eight American Music Awards to her name, along with 2 BRIT Awards and the inaugural Icon  Award at the American Music Awards 2013.
• She has been awarded with a  Lifetime Achievement Award  by the  Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2014.
• She has seen a lot of drug and emotional abuse in her childhood. Her father was addicted to cocaine, crack and alcohol and her parents had rough marriage; which could be the reason for tumor-strong headaches as she ceased to experience them as her parents divorced when she was fourteen.
• Rihanna has a turtle and two dogs Marley and DJ.
• Rihanna was classmates with  Carlos Brathwaite and  Darren Sammy .
• The England and West Indies cricketers, Chris Jordan and Kraigg Brathwaite (respectively) were her classmates in school.
• Rihanna was admitted in a sub-military program, where she was a army cadet, commanded by  the singer-songwriter Shontelle. 
• Rihanna won a talent show and a beauty pageant contest at her school.
• Rihanna stayed on the charts till the end of the year ad with her 8th single hitting it too, she was called “Diva of the Year” for her power and presence on the charts.
• For some reason, after Rihanna dropped the label Def Jam and joined Roc Nation , her album ANTI did not include her initial three releases – “Bitch Betta Have Money”, “American Oxygen” and “Four Five Seconds”. However, ANTI became her second album to rank number one on Billboards 200.
• She still keeps in touch with her Bajan friends.
• Rihanna is official ambassador for Barbados’ tourism agency.
• Rihanna had signed a $25 million with Samsung in October 2015, where she agreed to sell the Samsung Galaxy range and Samsung would support release her album ANTI and its World Tour.
• Rihanna’s voice type is mezzo-soprano and her vocal range is three scales and two notes.
• Rihanna took vocal-lessons from Ne-Yo while she was recording  Good Girl Gone Bad.  She had never had any vocal training before this.
• She would sing Whitney Houston’s songs, brushing her hair, so much that her neighbors started calling her ‘Robyn Redbreast’.
• New York Times  named her cookie-cutter teen queen because of her ability to change styles frequently. She said her inspiration for fashion comes from her mother.
• She broke a Guinness World Record by selling 58 million copies of a single in 2012.
• Rihanna co-owns the music streaming  business  Tidal with several other artists.
• Rihanna’s and all her siblings’ names start with the letter ‘R’.
• She used to sell clothes on a stall with her father.
• She was rumored to be dating Jay-Z when he was dating Beyonce already. The rumors were false but helped Rihanna get some attention.
• Rihanna asked her fans  not  to bring umbrellas to her concerts, so that they dont hurt each other while doing her steps.
• Barbados has actually made Rihanna’s birthday a national holiday! Her way of saying thank you was doing a free concert for her fans.
• Her mother would return every gift she would get for her after checking the prices and finding them too expensive. Now it’d be hard to return a five-bedroom house! Which she could not.
• Her line of fragrances are named as ‘Nude’ and ‘Rebelle’!
• She always chug a short or too of dark liquor before her shows.
• Rihanna and Katy Perry are good friends and she threw her a Bachelorette Party  in Las Vegas.
• She has 19 tattoos and still counting. No wonder she likes hanging out in the tattoo shops.
• Rihanna has several wax models around the world and her legs are insured at $1 million.

Rihanna adorned a striking pink look complemented by Indian jewelry at the event in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India

References/Sources: [ + ]

• Entertainment
• Thanks, I Hate It
• What to Watch
• Royal family

What Religion Is Rihanna?

The music industry is not known for encouraging spiritual belief, but that doesn’t mean some of its biggest stars don’t hold religion close to their heart. Rihanna is a good example, although, from an outsider’s perspective, she may not seem like the most devout Christian she’s fairly open about her beliefs. What does Rihanna believe? Keep reading to find out.

Rihanna’s religious upbring

Raised in a religious household in Barbados, Rihanna has been surrounded by the Christian faith since she was little. Her mother is a devout woman who discouraged her daughter from wearing makeup. Now that Rihanna is a famous singer , we’ve got a chance to understand her mother, Monica Fenty — or Mama Fenty, as she’s called — through Instagram.

Her mother only posts two kinds of content: Bible verses from the Bible Gateway app and family photos. Fenty has posted encouraging bible verse words like: “Be kind and compassionate to one another” and “The love of Christ compels us.” Fenty also asked Rihanna to clean up her captions , when she was unhappy about the language her daughter used.

Rihanna was also taught about spiritual belief from her grandmother.

Rihanna’s religious beliefs

pic.twitter.com/LaCJU6CCtI — Rihanna (@rihanna) June 9, 2019

In a 2013 interview with Glamour , Rihanna expressed her opinion that God had prepared her for her current life. “I got teased my entire school life,” Rihanna explained. “What they were picking on I don’t even understand. It was my skin color [which was lighter than her classmates]. When I got older, it was about my breasts. But I’m not victimized- I’m grateful. I think those experiences were strategically put together by God for the preparation of being in the music industry. It’s so easy for me to deal with the bullsh*t now.”

When asked by Interview Magazine if she’s ever questioned her faith, Rihanna stated that although she’s never questioned her belief, she has felt that her relationship with God has been strained at times.

“I have been in a place where I felt like maybe I had disappointed God so much that we weren’t as close,” Rihanna said. “Actually, that happened to me while I was making Anti . That was really a hard time, but, thank God, I got through it.”

The interviewer then asked if she was now in a place where her faith couldn’t be lost, Rhianna answered:

“It wasn’t even lost then. The devil just has a way of making you feel like you’re not good enough, and that you’re not worthy of God being close to you. It’s really not the truth, but you wind up feeling like that. My grandmother was the one who started me on this. She gave me a devotion book, a physical one. It was the last thing she gave me before she passed away. It got left on a plane and stolen, so I just said, ‘You know what? Somebody else is going to gain from that.’ And then I bought the same book on my iPhone. The only sad part was that her handwriting was in it, but someone else is going to be blessed with it, so it’s fine.”

Speaking of her grandmother, Rihanna revealed to The Sun, as reported by Her , that her Egyptian Falcon tattoo was dedicated to her late grandmother, Clara, and represents God. “I have a falcon which is an Egyptian falcon and is supposed to stand for God,” Rihanna explained.

Rihanna’s religious tweets

. @FentyOfficial pic.twitter.com/gIHGzZftes — Rihanna (@rihanna) May 27, 2019

Not afraid to express her beliefs to the public, Rihanna often takes to Twitter to express her faith and thankfulness towards God. On the nine year anniversary of her debut album, Music of the Sun , Rihanna tweeted: “To God be the Glory #MusicOfTheSun. Thanks to all of you who’ve supported me throughout the years! I can’t believe, already 9 yrs! I owe it to you man.”

Rihanna has also been known to tweet bible verses, just like her mother. In 2014, she posted a tweet that featured Mark 9:28. She wrote: “When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, ‘do you believe that I am able to do this?’ They said to him, ‘Yes, Lord,'”

The music superstar has also used Twitter to express her support of Christian minister and author Joyce Meyer, tweeting: “@JoyceMeyer you’re awesome.”

However, in a tweet that left fans confused and concerned, Rihanna changed her tone and tweeted directly to Satan: “F—- YOU SATAN. F—- right off!!!” The tweet had fans so concerned that her producer, Chuck Harmony, took to Twitter to confirm that Satan did not influence her music. But some still weren’t happy, and questioned the stars spiritual beliefs. Rihanna was able to quiet the rumors to some extent when she later tweeted the simple message, “God is Love.”

Britney Spears Revealed Why Performing ‘I’m a Slave 4 U’ With a Snake Was Terrifying

Britney Spears’ 5 Best Songs

Madonna’s 5 Best Collaboration Songs

• Games & Quizzes
• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center
• Introduction

Music career: A Girl Like Me and Good Girl Gone Bad

Later works: rated r , talk that talk , and unapologetic, other activities: acting and fenty beauty, personal life.

• What are some of the major film festivals?

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

• Official Site of Rihanna
• AllMusic - Rihanna
• GRAMMY.com - Rihanna
• Rihanna - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
• Table Of Contents

Recent News

Rihanna (born February 20, 1988, St. Michael parish, Barbados) is a Barbadian pop and rhythm-and-blues (R&B) singer who became a worldwide star in the early 21st century. She is known for her distinctive and versatile voice and for her fashionable appearance. She is also known for her beauty and fashion lines.

Fenty grew up in Barbados with a Barbadian father and a Guyanese mother. As a child, she listened to Caribbean music , such as reggae , as well as American hip-hop and R&B. She especially enjoyed singing and won a high-school talent show with a rendition of a Mariah Carey song. About the same time, she started a girl group with two friends, and in 2004 she attracted the attention of Evan Rogers, an American record producer. He helped Fenty record a demo that led to an audition with the rapper Jay-Z , who at the time headed the Def Jam record label, and he soon signed the budding vocalist. For her professional career, she adopted her middle name, Rihanna.

With the effervescent dancehall -inflected single “Pon de Replay” (2005), Rihanna immediately captured an international audience. The song’s success buoyed sales for her debut full-length recording, Music of the Sun (2005), on which conventional R&B ballads shared space with Caribbean-flavored dance-pop that showcased her melodious Barbadian lilt. Rihanna soon followed with the album A Girl Like Me (2006), featuring the up-tempo club-oriented “S.O.S.” The song, which was built around a sample of Soft Cell ’s 1981 new-wave hit “Tainted Love,” became Rihanna’s first to top the Billboard singles chart.

For Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), Rihanna sought to transform her youthful image. With the assistance of such high-profile collaborators as Timbaland and Justin Timberlake , she abandoned the tropical rhythms that had adorned her first two albums and recorded a collection of sleek R&B that presented her as a fiercely independent and rebellious woman. (She also unveiled a spiky asymmetrical hairstyle.) The gambit paid off, as the album sold several million copies worldwide, and its anthemic lead single, “ Umbrella,” featuring an introductory rap from Jay-Z, became one of the year’s biggest hits and earned Rihanna a Grammy Award .

In early 2009 Rihanna was beaten by her boyfriend, fellow R&B star Chris Brown , in an incident that was widely covered by tabloid news and gossip blogs. Following their separation, he was convicted of assault. The album that followed later that year, Rated R , much of which she cowrote, was marked by icily stark production and brooding lyrics that touched on revenge. Although her sales declined somewhat, she scored another major hit with “Rude Boy.” Rihanna returned to less-portentous fare on the dance-friendly Loud (2010). In early 2011 the album’s sexually provocative single “S&M” became her 10th number one Billboard hit—which made her, at age 23, the youngest artist ever to reach that milestone. Included in the total were prominent collaborations with hip-hop artists T.I. and Eminem that appeared on albums of theirs; many felt her vocals on the latter’s “Love the Way You Lie” (2010) lent resonance to the song’s depiction of an abusive relationship.

Rihanna maintained a steely and seductive persona on the albums Talk That Talk (2011), which produced the infectious international hit “We Found Love,” and Unapologetic (2012), which was anchored by the starry-eyed “Diamonds.” The latter release also controversially featured a duet with Brown, with whom she rekindled her relationship for a brief time. Her eighth studio album, Anti , was released in 2016. Rihanna began working on a new record, but the project was delayed as she took a break from music. However, she later cowrote and performed “Lift Me Up” for the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). For her work on the single, Rihanna received her first Academy Award nomination, for best original song. In 2023 she returned to the stage for the first time in some four years, performing at the Super Bowl halftime show.

In addition to her musical career, Rihanna acted in the movies Battleship (2012) and This Is the End (2013). She also voiced one of the main characters in the animated adventure Home (2015). Rihanna later appeared as a hacker in Ocean’s 8 (2018), a female-driven reboot of the Ocean’s Eleven franchise from the early 2000s. In 2019 she starred with Donald Glover in the musical Guava Island ; it premiered at the Coachella Valley Festival before streaming on Amazon .

After collaborating on several cosmetics collections in the early 2010s, Rihanna launched her own line, Fenty Beauty, in 2017. The brand was enthusiastically embraced by fans and was praised for its inclusivity in offering 40 different shades of foundation. She later launched (2018) Savage X Fenty, a clothing line of lingerie and loungewear. In 2019 it was announced that Rihanna was partnering with LVMH Moët Hennessy—Louis Vuitton to create the fashion line Fenty. She thereby became the first woman of color to head a fashion house at LVMH, which was the largest luxury-products company in the world. Fenty’s first collection was released later that year. However, the line struggled, and in 2021 it was announced that Fenty was being paused “pending better conditions.”

Rihanna’s personal life attracted intense media attention. Her tumultuous relationship with Brown, especially the 2009 domestic violence incident, was fodder for the tabloids. She later dated Canadian rapper Drake . In 2021 it was confirmed that Rihanna was in a relationship with rapper A$AP Rocky. The couple welcomed a baby boy the following year. In 2023 Rihanna revealed she was again pregnant by performing at the Super Bowl halftime show with a visible baby bump; her representatives subsequently confirmed that the singer was expecting her second child. In August that year Rihanna gave birth to her second son.

International popstar Rihanna released her first album in 2005 and is known for such No. 1 hits as "Umbrella," "SOS," "Diamonds," and "Work."

Who Is Rihanna?

Popstar Rihanna signed with Def Jam records at age 16 and in 2005 released her first album Music of the Sun , which sold more than two million copies worldwide. She went on to release more albums and an array of hit songs, including "Unfaithful," "Umbrella," "Disturbia," "Take a Bow," "Diamonds" and "We Found Love." A global pop star with an unrelentingly edgy image, Rihanna has also won multiple industry accolades, including Grammys and MTV awards.

Singer Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20, 1988, in St. Michael Parish on the Caribbean island of Barbados. She is the eldest of three children born to Monica Fenty, an accountant, and Ronald Fenty, a warehouse supervisor. Rihanna's childhood was marred by her father's struggles with addictions to alcohol and crack cocaine and her parents' marital problems — they divorced when she was 14 years old.

Rihanna also struggled with crippling headaches for several years during her childhood, a condition she attempted to hide from her friends and classmates so that they would not think she was abnormal. "I never expressed how I felt," she remembered. "I always kept it in. I would go to school ... you would never know there was something wrong with me."

Move to the United States

As a teenager, Rihanna turned to singing as a release from her troubles at home. She formed a girl group with two classmates; when they were 15 years old, they scored an audition with music producer Evan Rodgers, who was visiting the island with his Barbadian wife. Rogers was awed by the precociously beautiful and talented Rihanna, to the unfortunate detriment of her two friends. "The minute Rihanna walked into the room, it was like the other two girls didn't exist," he admitted.

Less than a year later, when Rihanna was only 16 years old, she left Barbados to move in with Rogers and his wife in Connecticut and work on recording a demo album. "When I left Barbados, I didn't look back," Rihanna recalled. "I wanted to do what I had to do, even if it meant moving to America."

"Pon de Replay," "Unfaithful" and "SOS"

Only eight months later, in August 2005, she released her first single, "Pon de Replay," a reggae-influenced club track that reached No. 2 on the Billboard singles chart and announced Rihanna as the next up-and-coming pop star. Her first album, Music of the Sun , released later that month, reached No. 10 on the Billboard albums chart and also featured the single "If It's Lovin' That You Want." Rihanna released her second album, A Girl Like Me , the next year, spawning two major hits in "Unfaithful" and "SOS," Rihanna's first No. 1 single.

"Umbrella"

In 2007, Rihanna effected a transformation from cute teen pop princess to superstar and sex symbol with her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad , fueled by its smash hit lead single "Umbrella," featuring Jay-Z. "It shows such growth for her as an artist," Jay-Z said about the track. "If you listen to the lyrics to that song, you know the depth and how far she's come."

"Don't Stop the Music," "Disturbia" and "Hate That I Love You"

"Umbrella" topped the Billboard singles chart and earned Rihanna her first Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. The album reached No. 2 on the charts and also featured the singles "Shut Up and Drive" and "Don't Stop the Music," the latter featuring a sample of Michael Jackson 's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded , released the following year, scored further hits in "Disturbia," "Take a Bow" and "Hate That I Love You."

"Only Girl (In the World)" and "S&M"

Continuing her onslaught of hit albums, Rihanna released Rated R in 2009 with the singles "Hard" and "Rude Boy." Her 2010 album, Loud , was once again a commercial success behind the songs "What's My Name," "Only Girl (In the World)" and "S&M."

Besides her own laundry list of hit songs, Rihanna collaborated on a host of popular songs by other artists from around this time, including Jay-Z's "Run this Town," Eminem 's "Love the Way You Lie," Maroon 5's "If I Never See Your Face Again" and Kanye West 's "All of the Lights."

"We Found Love"

In 2011, Rihanna released her sixth studio album: Talk That Talk . The album included "We Found Love," a track with DJ Calvin Harris that won the 2013 Grammy Award for best short-form music video.

"Diamonds" and "Stay"

On her Grammy-winning 2012 album Unapologetic , Rihanna turned out such hits as the No. 1 Sia Furler tune "Diamonds" and "Stay," featuring Mikky Ekko. (Interestingly, Unapologetic was the first Rihanna album to hit No. 1 on the pop charts.) She also worked with Coldplay on the track "Princess of China" and, the following year, reached No. 1 again with another Eminem collaboration, "The Monster."

Known for her sexually provocative imagery and wild style, Rihanna made headlines for the sheer dress she wore to the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards ceremony in June 2014. She was there to receive the CFDA's Fashion Icon Award and told the crowd that "Fashion has always been my defense mechanism," according to an Associated Press report. Rihanna acknowledged that there were some rules to fashion, but explained that "rules are meant to be broken." Around this time, the singer made a bold professional move as well: She switched from the Def Jam label to Jay-Z's Roc Nation.

"FourFiveSeconds"

In August 2015, NBC announced that Rihanna would be the key adviser on The Voice 's ninth season. That same year she contributed vocals to the single "FourFiveSeconds," a collaboration with West and famed Beatle Paul McCartney , as well as releasing "B**** Better Have My Money," a tune allegedly inspired by court wranglings with her former manager that also featured a highly controversial, violent music video. In 2015 Rihanna also became the first artist in history to have 100 million singles digitally downloaded and streamed.

"Work"

In late January 2016, Rihanna released the album Anti , allowing Jay-Z's online streaming site Tidal to exclusively feature the collection of tracks for a week. The gambit paid off for the struggling service, with one million trial subscribers joining Tidal in less than a day to partake in a download promotion for Anti . The album's lead single, "Work," featuring rapper Drake , earned two Grammy nominations. In 2017, Rihanna scored another No. 1 hit as a featured artist on DJ Khaled 's "Wild Thoughts."

Branching out to screen work, Rihanna co-starred in the sci-fi flick Battleship (2012) and later voiced the lead character in the animated blockbuster Home (2015).

In 2017, Rihanna made recurring appearances in season 5 of Bates Motel , and earned a prominent role in the science fiction flick Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets . That year, fans also got their first glimpse of the pop superstar alongside Sandra Bullock , Cate Blanchett and Anne Hathaway in trailers for Ocean's 8 , a female-led spinoff of the popular Ocean's Trilogy which hit theaters in June 2018.

The following spring, Rihanna co-starred with Donald Glover , aka Childish Gambino, in the Amazon musical Guava Island .

Philanthropy and Personal Life

In 2012, Rihanna launched the nonprofit Clara Lionel Foundation, named after her grandmother, which supports and funds education and early response programs around the world. For her philanthropic efforts, she was honored with the President's Award at the 2020 NAACP Image Awards.

Rihanna has also made headlines in her personal life, although often for circumstances beyond her control. She first made gossip column headlines in 2006 when rumors swirled that she was having an affair with her mentor, Jay-Z, though she and Jay-Z dismissed such allegations as ridiculous. Later, she was romantically linked to billionaire Saudi businessman Hassan Jameel, before their split was reported in early 2020.

In late 2020, Rihanna began dating rapper A$AP Rocky . In January 2022, it was revealed that the couple is expecting their first child.

Chris Brown

In 2009, Rihanna was the center of a media firestorm after a domestic violence incident in which her then-boyfriend Chris Brown assaulted her before an awards show. The incident sparked a huge public outpouring of support for Rihanna, and she became a spokesperson against domestic violence. "This happened to me," she said in an interview with Diane Sawyer. "It can happen to anyone."

"I put my guard up so hard," she said in a separate interview with Rolling Stone . "I didn't want people to see me cry. I didn't want people to feel bad for me. It was a very vulnerable time in my life, and I refused to let that be the image. I wanted them to see me as, 'I'm fine, I'm tough.' I put that up until it felt real."

In 2012, Rihanna appeared to be reconnecting with Brown. The pair worked together on the song "Birthday Cake" released that year. Rihanna also spoke very candidly with Oprah Winfrey about her relationship with Brown that August. She told Winfrey that Brown may have been the love of her life and she has developed "a very close friendship" with him. The two officially dated again for a time, with Rihanna maintaining in a Rolling Stone interview that Brown had changed and that any form of abuse would be unacceptable.

QUICK FACTS

• Birth date: February 20, 1988
• Birth Country: Barbados
• Best Known For: International popstar Rihanna released her first album in 2005 and is known for such No. 1 hits as "Umbrella," "SOS," "Diamonds," and "Work."
• Astrological Sign: Pisces
• Combermere School
• Nationalities
• Antiguan/Barbudan

Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn’t look right, contact us !

• When the whole worlds turning left, it's when I'm going right. I need someone to let me be just who I am inside.
• I believe in second chances, I just don't believe everyone deserves them.
• Love isn't complicated—people are.
• I'm rebellious through my music, through my fashion, tattoos and my hair.
• I have been conservative in my love life.
• Boys will be boys!!! 'Cause they can't be men!
• People think because we're young, we aren't complex but that's not true. We deal with life and love and broken hearts in the same way a woman a few years older might.
• I could never identify with that word, 'weak.' I couldn't have come out of this if I was weak. No way.
• After being tormented for so many years, being angry and dark, I'd rather just live my truth and take the backlash. I can handle it.
• I decided it was more important for me to be happy, and I wasn't going to let anyone's opinion get in the way of that. Even if it's a mistake, it's my mistake.
• You know, when I started to ... have my race be highlighted, it was mostly when I would do business deals. ... And, you know, that never ends, by the way. It’s still a thing. And it’s the thing that makes me want to prove people wrong. It almost excites me; I know what they’re expecting and I can’t wait to show them that I’m here to exceed those expectations.

Watch Next .css-avapvh:after{background-color:#525252;color:#fff;margin-left:1.8rem;margin-top:1.25rem;width:1.5rem;height:0.063rem;content:'';display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;}

Black History

Jesse Owens

Opal Lee: The “Grandmother of Juneteenth”

13 Powerful Marsha P. Johnson Quotes

Marsha P. Johnson

Naomi Osaka

Johnnie Cochran

Alice Coachman

Wilma Rudolph

Tiger Woods

Deb Haaland

10 Famous Langston Hughes Poems

The fabulous life of Rihanna, from her Barbados roots to the Super Bowl, and Fenty Beauty's game-changing role in makeup

• Rihanna is one of the most influential artists of her generation.
• Among other achievements, she has 14 No. 1 songs and nine Grammy Awards.
• She has also made her mark as a humanitarian, entrepreneur, and makeup mogul.

At just 35 years old, Rihanna has already achieved icon status.

Over the course of her relatively short career, Rihanna has positioned herself as one of the most influential artists of her generation. She is the most successful artist in the history of Billboard's Pop Songs Chart — not to mention her already-lasting mark as a humanitarian, entrepreneur, and makeup mogul.

Here's a complete timeline of Rihanna's biggest achievements and most iconic moments.

As a child in Barbados, Rihanna reportedly used music to escape from "anxieties of a violent home life."

Rihanna — born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988 — was raised in Barbados. She has said that growing up, her father was addicted to drugs and physically abusive towards her mother .

She has also joked that she " annoyed every one of [her] neighbors," and her mom referred to her voice as an "annoying little husky man voice."

Record producer Evan Rogers met Rihanna in 2003, while he was vacationing in Barbados with his wife . The 15-year-old singer told Rogers that being in the music business was "all I've ever wanted to do." She had no formal training in music or dance, but Rogers remembers her remarkable "presence."

"It was more likely a much more urgent need to escape from the anxieties of a violent home life into the illusion of security and boundless love that a life onstage seemed to offer," he told John Seabrook, as recounted in his book "The Song Machine."

"That desire, more than any inborn talent, is what fans will connect to, and that is what record men look for in a new artist. It's the one thing they can't manufacture."

Rihanna signed to Def Jam in 2005. She was taken under the wing of the label's then-president, Jay-Z.

In December 2004, Rihanna recorded the Caribbean jam "Pon de Replay" and sent the song off to several record labels .

In early 2005, a then-16-year-old Rihanna flew to New York City to audition for Def Jam's newly appointed president and CEO, Jay-Z . According to a 2007 interview with The Guardian , she sang a Whitney Houston cover ("For the Love of You") and two originals, one being "Pon de Replay."

"I was like, 'Oh God, he's right there, I can't look, I can't look, I can't look!'" she told The Guardian. "I remember being extremely quiet. I was very shy. I was cold the entire time. I had butterflies. I'm sitting across from Jay-Z. Like, Jay-Z. I was star-struck."

"The audition definitely went well," she continued. "Jay-Z said, 'There's only two ways out. Out the door after you sign this deal. Or through this window.' And we were on the 29th floor. Very flattering."

Rihanna's debut single "Pon de Replay" was an immediate hit.

The studio version of "Pon de Replay" was released in May 2005. The dance-pop, reggae-infused track hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 when Rihanna was just 17 years old.

One year later, in May 2006, she scored her first No. 1 single.

"S.O.S." was the debut single from Rihanna's sophomore album, "A Girl Like Me." It reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 three months after its release on Valentine's Day and maintained its reign for three consecutive weeks.

The game-changing track "Umbrella" was released on March 29, 2007.

As Billboard's Joe Lynch writes, when "Umbrella (feat. Jay-Z)" dropped , "Rihanna already had two albums and four top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits under her belt. But for a burgeoning pop icon, she was short just one thing: An instantly iconic pop smash that would prove she was in it for the long game."

"'Umbrella' was that ubiquitous smash," Lynch writes, "an inescapable hit that hit No. 1, soundtracked the summer of 2017 and introduced Bad Gal RiRi to your mom, dad, grandma, grandpa…basically, anyone with a set of ears."

She took home her first Grammy Award in 2008.

Rihanna earned four nominations for the 50th annual Grammy Awards , which was the first time she was recognized by the Recording Academy.

On February 10, 2008, Rihanna and Jay-Z took home the trophy for best rap/sung collaboration. Their smash hit "Umbrella" was also nominated for record of the year, but lost to "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse.

She collaborated with Drake for the first time in 2010.

Just months after they sparked reports of a romance , Rihanna and Drake debuted their first collaborative track, "What's My Name?"

The steamy track was released as the second single from Rihanna's fifth studio album on October 26, 2010. It peaked at No. 1 and even earned the duo a Grammy nomination for best rap/sung collaboration. (It lost, but to another Rihanna song: her 2010 collaboration with Kanye West , "All of the Lights").

"What's My Name?" is especially notable for marking the beginning of the duo's beloved creative relationship , which would later yield hit songs like "Take Care" and "Work."

Rihanna's fifth studio album "Loud" earned her first Grammy nomination for album of the year.

"Loud" was released on November 12, 2010, and spawned three No. 1 songs: "What's My Name?," "Only Girl," and "S&M."

"Loud" earned Rihanna her first and, to date, only Grammy nomination for album of the year , the show's most coveted award. It lost to Adele's "21."

She made her big screen debut with "Battleship" in May 2012.

The summer blockbuster "Battleship" was loosely based on the board game of the same name. It was critically panned , but praise-worthy for Rihanna's big screen debut — for which she was chosen specifically by the film's director, Peter Berg .

"Her videos are super hot and I'd watched them a lot. It clicked for me though after she got assaulted and she went on Diane Sawyer's show and talked very frankly about that night and what happened," Berg told GQ, referring to Rihanna's 2009 assault by then-boyfriend Chris Brown .

"She was so intelligent and articulate," he continued. "I remember thinking, 'Wow. There's much more to this woman than I'd thought.' I then saw her do this stupid little skit on 'Saturday Night Live' where she was in a classroom giving a hard time to these boys. She was funny as all hell! I knew in that moment that the girl could act. No question."

In November 2012, "Unapologetic" became Rihanna's first No. 1 album.

Rihanna's seventh studio album shot to the top of the Billboard 200, becoming Rihanna's first No. 1 album , and won the Grammy for best urban contemporary album on January 26, 2014.

The album's "stark, shadowy R&B," wrote Rolling Stone's Jon Dolan , "is confrontationally honest and sung within an inch of its life, whether she's turning a strip-club anthem into a declaration of independence ('Pour It Out') or pleading at the piano ('Stay')."

Rihanna was given the American Music Awards' first-ever Icon Award in 2013.

The 2013 American Music Awards hailed Rihanna as " the voice of our time" (Bill Maher's words) and the best-selling digital artist of all time (Nielsen's official title).

After performing the "Unapologetic" hit single "Diamonds," Rihanna was presented with the first-ever Icon Award by her mother, Monica Braithwaite.

"I know the journey and your career has not always been an easy one," Braithwaite said, according to Rolling Stone . "But tonight, I applaud and admire you for being so strong and so positive and so humble and so focused. I'm so blessed to be part of this historic moment."

She received the CFDA Fashion Icon award in 2014.

Rihanna walked the 2014 Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) red carpet in a sparkling, sheer gown and little else. But when asked about the daring fashion choice, she laughed it off in a classic Rihanna style: "Do my tits bother you? They're covered in Swarovksi crystals, girl!"

Rihanna was named the creative director of Puma in 2014.

As reported by Time , Rihanna was tapped to oversee a women's line of clothing for Puma, focusing on fitness and training clothes. 

"It really came from her," Adam Petrick, Puma's global brand and marketing director, told The New York Times . "Though we originally started talking about it in terms of advertising, she wanted to express herself in this way. They said to us, 'We can change the face of the brand from a product perspective.'" She did not just want to be a "face."

She was also named a "brand ambassador" for the company, alongside star athletes like Usain Bolt.

The role ultimately led to Rihanna's Fenty x Puma venture, which has yielded fashion moments like the award-winning suede Creepers, iconic fur sliders, and haute-couture athleisure.

Rihanna dropped her most celebrated album yet, "Anti," on January 28, 2016.

Rihanna's eighth studio album "Anti" was surprise-released after three years of anticipation. It was unlike anything the pop star had ever released . It went to No. 1 two weeks after its debut (stalled by a Tidal-exclusive release). It eventually became the first album by a Black female artist to spend 300 weeks on the Billboard 200.

Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos called it "a sprawling masterpiece of psychedelic soul" and "a rich full-length statement."

"After more than a decade as a superstar of the singles chart, Rihanna has become an album artist," Spanos wrote. "After years as a singer largely defined by her production, it finally feels like Rihanna is in charge of her own sound, remaking pop on her own terms."

"Anti" was nominated for best urban contemporary album and best recording package at the 2017 Grammy Awards.

The album's biggest hit, "Work," was nominated for record of the year. Two of the album's sleeper hits, "Needed Me" and "Kiss It Better," were nominated for best R&B performance and best R&B song, respectively.

Rihanna's Grammy nominations that year also included album of the year for her work on Drake's "Views" and best rap/sung performance for her vocals on Kanye West's "Famous." She didn't leave the ceremony with any awards ( and fans will never forget ).

Rihanna accepted the Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 VMAs.

Before Rihanna accepted the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards — presented by Drake, who also casually confessed his love to her — she performed a medley of her greatest hits, including "Only Girl in the World," "Rude Boy," and "Bitch Better Have My Money."

Instead of putting on one career-spanning performance of hits, as per tradition for the award, the pop star gave four such performances over the course of the show .

Rihanna was Harvard's Humanitarian of the Year in 2017.

In March 2017, the Harvard University Foundation honored Rihanna as Humanitarian of the Year , in recognition of her dedication to promoting educational programs.

In 2012, Rihanna founded the Clara Lionel Foundation Global Scholarship Program, named after her grandparents, for students from Caribbean countries going to college in the United States.

She also supports the Global Partnership for Education and Global Citizen Project, which provides education access to tens of millions of young students around the world.

Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty in September 2017.

Rihanna made her foray into the world of beauty products on September 8, 2017 , when Fenty Beauty was officially made available online and at Sephora.

The makeup line's tour de force was its whopping 40 shades of foundation , which many hailed as the new standard of inclusivity for skin tones. The darkest shades appeared to sell out in record time .

Time magazine even listed Fenty Beauty among its best inventions of the year for 2017, in large part thanks to Rihanna's mission of representation.

"It was important that every woman felt included in this brand," Rihanna told  Time . "We are all so different, with our own unique skin tones, so we started with the 40 foundation shades out the gate."

"I never could have anticipated the emotional connection that women are having with the products and the brand as a whole. Some are finding their shade of foundation for the first time, getting emotional at the counter," Rihanna said. "That's something I will never get over."

She launched Savage x Fenty in May 2018.

Savage x Fenty launched on May 11, 2018. The size-inclusive lingerie line was immediately praised for including people of "all shapes, sizes, and colors," a reputation that it still boasts to this day .

Rihanna channeled the pope at the 2018 Met Gala, for which she was a co-chair.

In one of her more iconic fashion moments, Rihanna attended the 2018 Met Gala in a silver, bedazzled gown  and accompanying robe.

She completed her elaborate look with a Stephen Jones Millinery hat crafted in the style of the pope's tiara. This headdress is normally reserved for religious ceremonies — a nod to the night's theme, "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination."

The complete outfit took 250 hours to sew and 500 hours to hand-embroider .

Rihanna starred in the ensemble film "Ocean's 8," released on June 5, 2018.

Rihanna was cast as a hacker named Nine Ball in the heist comedy, which was conceived as an all-female spinoff of the popular "Ocean's 11" series.

While the film received mixed reviews , Rihanna was praised for adding "extra mischief and attitude to the octet," in the words of Film Journal International's Kevin Lally .

She welcomed her first child with A$AP Rocky in May 2022.

Rihanna began dating A$AP Rocky, her longtime friend and collaborator , in late 2020. Two years later, she gave birth to the couple's first child, a son named RZA Athelston Mayers.

Rihanna described motherhood as "legendary" in the family's cover story for British Vogue .

"It's everything. You really don't remember life before, that's the craziest thing ever," she said. "You literally try to remember it — and there are photos of my life before — but the feeling, the desires, the things that you enjoy, everything, you just don't identify with it because you don't even allow yourself mentally to get that far, because… Because it doesn't matter."

Rihanna headlined the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show, where she also revealed her second pregnancy.

Despite not releasing a new album in seven years , Rihanna was tapped to headline the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show, joining the ranks of legends like Beyoncé, Madonna, and Prince.

For her first live performance since 2019, Rihanna delivered a show-stopping medley of hits , from "We Found Love" to "Wild Thoughts," and broke the internet by revealing her growing baby bump .

She reportedly gave birth to her second child in August 2023.

Sources told People that Rihanna feels her family is "complete" after welcoming her second child with Rocky.

• Main content

Table of Contents

Robyn Rihanna Fenty , popularly known as Rihanna is a Barbadian singer, songwriter, and actress. She was born on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados and brought up in Bridgetown. In 2003, Rihanna recorded demo tapes, under producer Evan Rogers. She then went ahead and signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings, after auditioning for Jay Z, who was the president of the recording label by then.

Rihanna rose to fame in 2005 after releasing her first studio album, Music of the Sun . In 2006, she released her second album , A Girl like Me , which ranked on the top 10 of the US Billboard 200. Rihanna released her third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad in 2007, an album which transformed her into a sex symbol. It’s the album’s lead single, Umbrella, which gave her an international breakthrough in her music career. As a result, the singer won her first Grammy Award in 2008 for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration with Jay Z.

Her 2012 album, Unapologetic , won her a Grammy award and produced hits like Diamond and Stay featuring Mikky Ekko. Interestingly, the album was her first to hit number one on the pop charts. Rihanna was recognized as a pop icon after releasing four consecutive platinum studio albums. In 2016, she released her eighth album, Anti , and its lead single, Work , topped the US Billboard 200 and Hot 100.

She is one of the best-selling artists of all time, as she has sold over 230 million records worldwide. She has won 12 American Music Awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards, 8 Grammy Awards and the inaugural Icon Award at the American Music Awards in 2013.

In addition to her music career, the actress has also appeared in major films like Battleship (2012), This is the End (2013) and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2007)

Religion information

It is assumed that Rihanna is a Christian, and she strongly believes in God. Also, the singer acknowledges that God had guided her throughout her life and music career. In a few occasions, she has tweeted “God is Love!!!”

During her infamous scandal with Chris Brown, she said,

“My friends and family have been extremely supportive, and everyone has been there for me. But at some point, you are there alone. It’s a lonely place to be – no one can understand. That’s when you get close to God.”

Political views

Rihanna likes to involve herself in her own country’s politics very much. In the US,she is a Democrat, and she has even performed during President Obama’s inauguration.

Dating profile

Rihanna has ever dated Dodgers baseball player Matt and Kemp, and Canadian rapper Drake. In January 2013, she confirmed that she had restarted her relationship with Chris Brown, even though Chris was still on probation following the 2009 domestic violence. The two confirmed their relationship in 2012 following persistent media speculations. In 2013, Chris Brown confirmed that they had broken up again with Rihanna.

Interesting facts

• She has ever served in the Army Cadets.
• During her childhood, she struggled with crippling headaches.
• Barbados created a national holiday in February 2008 to honor the singer.
• Before going on stage, she always takes a shot of liquor to calm her nerves.
• Jay Z signed her on the same day they met.

Sources List

http://www.complex.com/music/2013/06/50-things-you-didnt-know-about-rihanna/

https://www.biography.com/people/rihanna-201257

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1982597/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

https://hollowverse.com/rihanna/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rihanna#Personal_life

The Religion and Political Views of Rihanna

Rihanna is a Christian and if we must speculate, we would guess Anglican as it is the dominant religion of her home country of Barbados.

Political Views

Rihanna holds an official political title from her home country of Barbados and is heavily involved in promoting that country's tourism industry. In the states, she's shown support for Democrat President Obama.

Rihanna was born in St. Michael, Barbados and grew up in nearby Bridgetown, Barbados.

It is assumed she is a Christian of some sort–she has a cross tattooed on her neck [1] –though no evidence points to which denomination. The country of Barbados, demographically, is 95 percent Christian with the largest portion (40 percent) being Anglican as Barbados was an imperial colony of the British Empire. [2]

She has mentioned her faith on a few occasions, once tweeting:

God is Love!!! [3]

During the infamous Chris Brown scandal, Rihanna leaned on her faith during a hard time and saying:

My friends and family have been extremely supportive, and everyone has been there for me. But at some point you are there alone. It's a lonely place to be – no one can understand. That's when you get close to God. [4]

But Rihanna is famous. She runs in famous circles, hangs out with famous people, dates famous disciples of famous religions. After his separation with Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Rihanna seemed to be getting serious. So serious, in fact, that Rihanna was rumored to be considering a conversion to Kutcher's celebrity-magnet religion–Kabbalah. [5]

Honoring her roots

Rihanna is quite a bit more political than she lets on. At the recent funeral of the late Prime Minister of her island nation of Barbados, David Thompson, Rihanna said:

It was very upsetting. I'm not good at the politics side at the moment. It terrifies me because I am so young. But maybe one day in years, decades from now, I'll get involved. I think more pop stars should care about their country and how it's run. [6]

However, our young pop star is very involved in her country's politics. She could even be considered an official Barbados politician. She has been given the official title of Ambassador of Youth and Culture of Barbados by then-Prime Minister David Thompson. [7]

She is heavily involved in promoting Barbados tourism, the small country's primary economic engine, appearing in a series of commercials and bringing up her home country on numerous occasions. [8] She's a true patriot.

In the U.S., she's no political slouch either, performing at President Obama's America's Presidential Charity Inaugural Ball. [9]

Other interesting profiles

Chris Colfer

He's a spokesman for gay rights, supports gun control, but appears to be a fiscal conservative. Chris Colfer was raised in a Christian household, but does not appear to be religious anymore.

He is a Democrat and really excited about Obama. Ray J is a devoted Christian.

He is a strong supporter of the Democratic party. Foxx is Baptist.

He's not too political aside from being an Obama supporter. R. Kelly is a devout Baptist.

Loading comments...

Rihanna Biography

Birthday: February 20 , 1988 ( Pisces )

Born In: Saint Michael, Barbados

Robyn Rihanna Fenty popularly known as Rihanna is a Barbadian singer-songwriter who gave us hits like ‘Pon de Replay’, ‘SOS’, ‘Umbrella’, and ‘Take a Bow’. A very successful artist still in the prime of her youth, she has already sold over 41 million albums and 150 million songs worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling artists of all time. Born in Barbados, she grew up listening to reggae music and began singing when she was quite young. Disturbed by her chaotic family life and the constant arguments between her parents, she immersed herself in music and before long realized that she wanted to be a professional singer. She formed a musical group while still in high school and got an opportunity to an audition with music producer Evan Rodgers who was highly impressed by the teenager’s talents. He asked the girl to move to New York in order to pursue a full-time career as a singer which she gladly did. Her debut album was soon released and Rihanna became a musical sensation before long. Her peppy, foot-tapping songs became the hot favorites of the youngsters motivating her to venture into films as well. Pretty, young and highly talented, she is today regarded as a teen idol and a fashion icon. Rihanna also puts her fame to good use and is actively involved with several charitable causes

Recommended For You

Nick Name: Rihanna, RiRi, Caribbean Queen, The Barbados Babe

Also Known As: Robyn Rihanna Fenty

Age: 36 Years , 36 Year Old Females

Spouse/Ex-: Chris Brown

father: Ronald Fenty

mother: Monica Braithwaite

siblings: Jamie Fenty, Kandy Fenty, Rajad Fenty, Rorrey Fenty, Samantha Fenty

Born Country: Barbados

Quotes By Rihanna Pop Singers

Height: 5'8" (173 cm ), 5'8" Females

You wanted to know

What are some of rihanna's popular hit songs.

Rihanna has many hit songs, including "Umbrella," "Work," "Diamonds," "We Found Love," and "Love on the Brain."

What is Rihanna's makeup brand called?

Has rihanna won any acting awards, what is rihanna's clothing line called, where is rihanna originally from.

Recommended Lists:

Rihanna is not only a successful singer, but also a savvy businesswoman with her own makeup line, Fenty Beauty, which gained widespread acclaim for its inclusive range of shades.

She is known for her philanthropic efforts, including founding the Clara Lionel Foundation, which supports education and emergency response programs around the world.

Quotes By Rihanna | Quote Of The Day | Top 100 Quotes

See the events in life of Rihanna in Chronological Order

How To Cite

People Also Viewed

Also Listed In

© Famous People All Rights Reserved

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

The 200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+

Rihanna is the 21st century's most influential musician.

Jenny Gathright

Rihanna performs on stage at the BRIT Awards in 2016. Photo Illustration: Ian Gavan/Getty Images and Angela Hsieh/NPR hide caption

Rihanna performs on stage at the BRIT Awards in 2016.

It's not enough to make list after list. The Turning the Tables project seeks to suggest alternatives to the traditional popular music canon, and to do more than that, too: to stimulate conversation about how hierarchies emerge and endure. This year, Turning the Tables considers how women and non-binary artists are shaping music in our moment, from the pop mainstream to the sinecures of jazz and contemporary classical music. Our list of the 200 Greatest Songs By Women + offers a soundtrack to a new century. This series of essays takes on another task.

Turning The Tables

Women Are The Fabric Of 21st Century Pop

The 25 arguments writers make in these pieces challenge the usual definitions of influence. Some rethink the building legacies of popular artists; others celebrate those who create within subcultures, their innovations rippling outward over time. As always, women forge new pathways in sound; today, they also make waves under the surface of culture by confronting, in their music, the increased fluidity of "woman" itself. What is a woman? It's a timeless question on the surface, but one deeply engaged with whatever historical moment in which it is asked. Our 25 Most Influential Women Musicians of the 21 st Century illuminate its complexities. –Ann Powers

The cover of Rihanna 's 2016 album ANTI , created by artist Roy Natchum and commissioned by Rihanna, features the singer as a young child with a crown that's fallen down over her head so that it covers her eyes. She holds a balloon and red paint drips down over her from the top corner of the canvas. Overlaying the entire painting is a poem rendered in Braille, written by the poet Chloe Mitchell in collaboration with Rihanna and Natchum.

"I sometimes fear that I am misunderstood," it starts. "It is simply because what I want to say, what I need to say, won't be heard. Heard in a way I so rightfully deserve. What I choose to say is of so much substance that people just won't understand the depth of my message..."

Rihanna at the album artwork reveal for ANTI in 2015. Christopher Polk/Getty Images for WESTBURY ROAD ENTERTAINMENT LLC hide caption

Rihanna at the album artwork reveal for ANTI in 2015.

What does it mean to think of Rihanna, global superstar, as unheard? Her music has soundtracked most of this century, and that kind of ubiquity is easily taken for granted, like air. She released a full-length studio album every single year between 2005 and 2012, save for a one-year break in 2008. Of the 61 Rihanna songs on the Billboard Hot 100, 14 of them were No. 1 hits, and 31 of them were top 10 hits. No album has landed as many No. 1 songs on Billboard 's Dance Club Songs chart as ANTI , the album Rihanna released in 2016 after an unprecedented (for her) hiatus.

For most of my life, there has been a Rihanna single — or multiple Rihanna singles, or multiple songs defined by a Rihanna hook — playing prominently on Top 40 radio. So it's not enough to say Rihanna is the air. Rihanna shaped the texture and taste of the air by consistently doing what pop, at its very best, is supposed to do: taking disparate genres — rock, EDM, dancehall, trap and even dubstep — and turning them into something that makes sense to us, to everyone. If she's not seen as taking musical risks, it's only because so many of them paid off.

Rihanna is the most important pop artist of the century because of these contributions to music — and her music is beloved. It's still worth asking, however, how we as an audience can adequately love Rihanna the person.

When Rihanna received the Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, Drake introduced her. His speech is memorable for his cute, unsurprising and ultimately distracting faux-confession: "She's someone I've been in love with since I was 22 years old." Equally instructive, though, are the parts of Drake's speech that were about Rihanna and not Drake. He mentioned her achievements in music but ultimately asserted that what was "most impressive" was Rihanna the person.

"She succeeds by doing something that no one in this music industry does, which is being herself," Drake said. "We love the music, which can change styles from album to album, we love the videos, which change their artistic vision from year to year, but most of all, we love the woman, who hasn't changed since day one."

Rihanna was gracious in her acceptance speech. She spoke about how her success is never just about her — it's about Barbados, her family, her fans and "women, black women." She also went on to thank the directors who went along with her "crazy ideas" — her subtle way of asserting what Drake did not: that she is pop music's vanguard, and that the work itself is where her prowess lies. Drake's speech focuses on the product : It was the music that changed styles and the videos that changed artistic vision. The only thing Rihanna did, according to this syntactical choice, was remain the same.

Rihanna performs during the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images hide caption

Rihanna performs during the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards.

In her lead essay for the first iteration of Turning the Tables, a list of the 150 greatest albums by women in the pop era, Ann Powers notes that descriptions of greatness are often gendered: "Women are linked to the natural and the timeless, while men innovate and make history. Men build civilizations and create great works, while women animate spaces and connect people with their nurturing souls and alluring energy."

Those who claim to love Rihanna often say it's because of her soul, or her energy. Miranda July wrote about this phenomenon in her 2015 profile of the pop icon , where she describes how various people responded when she asked them about Rihanna: "A lesbian art history professor told me that she's 'the real deal.' Others used the words 'magic' and 'epic.' But when I tried to get anyone to pinpoint things she had said or done — particular interviews or incidents — everyone became lost in inarticulacy." When July told her Uber driver he was taking her to interview Rihanna, he responded, "You kidding? That's my girl," he said. "I love her. She's so down-to-earth."

But after meeting Rihanna, words fail July, too. Her final observation of the star is about her soul: "Souls don't really care about good or bad, right or wrong — they're just true. Everlasting. It makes you sound dumb to talk about this stuff, which is why no one could tell me exactly what it was about Rihanna. But millions of fans don't seem to need it explained to them. A soul just knows a soul."

"My understanding, from the moment she sat down, was that we were in love," July continues. It is a bold presumption of emotional access.

In a 2012 profile for GQ , Jay Bulger says Rihanna comes across as more authentic than her peers: "She sometimes gets grouped with theatrical pop stars like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Nicki Minaj. But those are one-woman masquerade balls, their real selves hidden behind the next costume change. Rihanna, on the other hand, comes off as wild, weird, unfiltered, a little unhinged, which just makes everyone else go all unhinged."

The scholar Esther L. Jones has argued that as Rihanna established more and more narrative authority over her public image, she began to author a woman "simultaneously ordinary and exceptional, intimate and distant, known and inaccessible." Her social media feeds exemplify this: She promotes her wildly successful global fashion brands, but she also loves to post memes . For MTV News, Doreen St. Felix wrote that "a cultivation of lifestyle — her trips back home to Barbados, her tattoos, her laughter, her love of family, her social media presence — in the moment that every other person of her caliber is trying out reclusivity, and the secondary group is trying out diva-hood, makes Rihanna the last rock star."

It matters that Rihanna comes across as genuine, that her sense of self appears unshaken by celebrity , that she feels accessible to her fans. But this, as Jones and St. Felix are getting at, is not a persona that occurs without effort. Rihanna has been performing what it means to be in the thick of things — not above them, not outside looking in, not past them — for her whole career. That takes emotional and intellectual work, especially when you consider — as Jones does in her essay "'What's My Name?': Reading Rihanna's Autobiographical Acts" — that the public-private distinction Rihanna had spent years cultivating was shattered in 2009, when Rihanna's then-boyfriend Chris Brown physically assaulted her just ahead of the Grammys and the photo evidence spread across the Internet.

To really love Rihanna, one must respect that what we so often find lovable about her — her so-called relatability, the way she's able to de-emphasize the significant social and artistic distance between herself and her fans — is also her work.

"We Found Love," released two-and-a-half years after Chris Brown attacked Rihanna, is classic dance pop with an edge. It's meant to sound like joy, but the lyrics are vague enough to account for a whole range of human feeling. In the video, Rihanna chooses darkness. It's about two people who are not good for each other. There are fights that look unhealthy. There are plenty of drugs. It starts with an opening monologue about a relationship gone wrong. "When it's over, and it's gone," the English actress Agyness Deyn reads, "you almost wish that you could have all that bad stuff back so that you could have the good."

In a New Yorker profile, director Melina Matsoukas says it was completely unintentional that Rihanna's on-screen partner in the video looked eerily like Chris Brown — lightskinned, blonde. But she says the plot took inspiration from "[her] terrible love life and obviously [Rihanna's] terrible love life and every woman's terrible love life."

Matsoukas also told The New Yorker 's Alexis Okeowo that Rihanna was on board: "She was open to taking it there ... and with being honest and showing what life really is."

Rihanna had been taking it there for a while. "Russian Roulette," the lead single from her 2009 album Rated R , is about love with life or death stakes, with a video whose imagery comes a bit too close for comfort to police reports from Chris Brown's physical assault of her. Brown's assault of Rihanna took place in a car. A speeding car appears in the video multiple times; at once point, it hurtles towards a standing Rihanna.

When asked about the demand that she be a role model, Rihanna told Vogue : "That title was put on me when I was just finding my way, making mistakes in front of the world. I didn't think it was fair." The videos for "We Found Love" and "Russian Roulette" are not about looking back on hard moments that you've gotten over. They're about being in the messy present. It's not clear that this is what people are talking about when they call Rihanna "down-to-earth," but this too is evidence of the work of being real — dealing with patriarchy and racism and making art through it.

In the video for "S&M," which Matsoukas also directed, Rihanna wears a dress made of newsprint. She's immobile, bound up in plastic wrap as her body's literally covered in media commentary. "Rihanna's 'enjoyment' of the public flagellation with words and accusations is her attempt to speak back to the larger forces of dominance and power, forces that uphold Chris Brown's assault on her by prolonging it for their own entertainment and profit," writes scholar Donna Aza Weir-Soley in the paper "From 'F Love' to 'He Is the One'?: Rihanna, Chris Brown and the Danger of Traumatic Bonding."

As for Rihanna, she told Spin about the song: "I don't think of it in a sexual way, I'm thinking metaphorically ... People are going to talk about you, you can't stop that. You just have to be that strong person and know who you are so that stuff just bounces off."

On the album Unapologetic , which came out as rumors of Rihanna and Chris Brown's romantic reunion swirled ( they were later confirmed ), critic Jessica Hopper wrote for Pitchfork: "She's quite a distance from the tidy narrative we'd like, the one where she's learned from her pain and is back to doing diva triumph club stomp in the shadow of Beyoncé. Unapologetic rubs our faces in the inconvenient messy truth of Rihanna's life which, even if it were done well, would be hard to celebrate as a success."

But Unapologetic was also home to " Pour It Up ," the song and video in which Rihanna plays both the dancer and the client in a strip club. It's a meditation on financial independence and an assertion of control.

Rihanna's realness is not just about her carefree Instagram posts, or her habit of taking wine to-go . Her realness is popular art that cuts to the hard questions. She stretched the boundaries of genre, of course, but she also demanded that her vast audience grapple with the complexity of her inner life — both when it was empowering and when it was difficult. The worry that often accompanies this kind of bravery is that it won't be legible to your audience — or that you'll be misunderstood.

Last year, Jamila Woods , another artist who thinks a lot about authorial control, told me she was thinking about something Sonia Sanchez said: "I shall become, I shall become a collector of me. And put meat on my soul."

When your ears are always burning, I imagine it must be important to write against the stories you believe others are telling about you. "Sometimes a person looks at me and sees dollars. They see numbers and they see a product," Rihanna told GQ in that same 2012 profile. "I look at me and see art. If I didn't like what I was doing, then I would say I was committing slavery."

My favorite Rihanna moment is the line in "B**** Better Have My Money" where she sings, "Turn up to Rihanna while the whole club f****** wasted." It's an acknowledgement that she has the privilege of living in the sonic landscape she created herself — that she is a collector of herself. That line is delivered in the archetypical "Rihanna voice," which is, as Jayson Greene argued for Pitchfork , the most influential vocal of the past decade in pop.

"Umbrella" was the song that showed me all that a single note, sung on "eh," could contain. Rihanna sings the word "uuhm-buh-rella" like she invented it: unafraid of emphasis, letting each part of the word travel into the next. Her voice is so engaging that on "Live Your Life," which came out a year later in 2008, when she sings "live your life" all on the same D, then hovers around the neighborhood of that D for the majority of the hook, it doesn't feel dumb or boring at all.

Greene wrote of the title lyric in "What's My Name": "Who knows how many dozens of times Rihanna practiced that vocal take until she had distilled all of those competing emotions — pleading and playful, weary and sensual, even a little mocking — into three goddamn syllables, looping perfectly."

Rihanna's 'Birthday Cake': Reasons To Listen

I love Rihanna's voice mostly because I have always heard within it the feeling of mustering, an acknowledgement that being comfortable in our skin is possible with intention and effort. Apparently, she wears a chain with the word "Savage" on her neck, or at least she did for that Vogue interview. "Savage is really about taking complete ownership of how you feel and the choices you make," she says. "Basically making sure everybody knows the ball is in your court."

ANTI is this hard-fought confidence embodied. There's confidence, of course, in the lyrics (see: "Sex With Me" and "Needed Me"). But there's also confidence in the delivery: Rihanna stretches her voice to its breaking point on songs like "Higher" and "Love on the Brain," letting it crack in ways we haven't heard before, or linger in falsetto for longer than we're used to. In moments like this, when she takes the vocal template she designed to uncharted places, Rihanna becomes, according to Greene, "both the vandal and the monument."

The question I asked was about whether Rihanna's audience has ever adequately loved her — whether we've given her the kind of love that respects both what she's created and all the labor that went into creating it. But the answer Rihanna gives, through ANTI , is that Rihanna probably doesn't care about the question to begin with.

Rihanna Launches College Scholarships For Foreign Students

In a promotional video for ANTI , Rihanna is given a crown from a child who we can only assume is that same child on the album cover, a young Rihanna. The whole video leads up to this moment, when Rihanna takes the crown and places it on her head. The moment is a lesson: You can wait — wait for ANTI to get the Grammy it deserved, wait for the world to give the genius of your work its due — or you can crown yourself.

Rihanna   Biography

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born in Bridgetown, Barbados, on February 20, 1988. She is a well-known singer, songwriter, model, dancer, actress, fashion designer, entrepreneur, and music producer of Barbadian and American nationality.

Rihanna is the daughter of Monica Braithwaite, a retired public accountant, and Ronald Fenty, a commercial supervisor from both Barbados and Ireland. She has two brothers of his parents and three half-brothers by his father side. She went to Charles F. Broome School, where she attended elementary school, and Combermere School, where she won both the talent contest and the beauty pageant in 2004. As a child, she suffered from severe headaches, associated with the constant arguments her parents maintained due to Ronald Fenty’s addiction to cocaine. However, when Rihanna was 14 years old, they divorced, and the headaches ceased.

Her musical career began when she formed a musical trio with two of her classmates in 2003 . By that time, the American music producer Evan Rogers was vacationing with his wife in Barbados. A friend of Rihanna contacted his wife and told him about her. Convinced by his wife, Evan called the trio to an audition, in which Rihanna prevailed before her two companions with her voice, singing Emotion , of the band Destiny’s Child, and Hero , of the singer Mariah Carey. Evan Rogers then arranged a second audition, but this time without her partners and with the presence of her mother. Pleased with what he heard, he invited Rihanna to record a demo in the United States, which was sent to different record companies.

This model went through several hands, up to rapper Jay-Z, who had just obtained the position of president and CEO of the label Def Jam. Jay-Z was only able to listen to Rihanna singing Pon de Replay to feel enthusiastic, although he had his doubts. So, he called Rihanna for an audition in New York, where he convinced both Jay-Z and L.A. Reid that they wanted her in Def Jam. After signing with the label, Rihanna rejected the other offers she had and went to live with Evan Rogers and his wife in the United States.

In 2005, his song Pon de Replay was in the top five of the summer music charts of fifteen countries, among which we can mention the UK Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100. She even reached the number one spot in the Hot Dance Club Songs. By August of that same year, Rihanna released her first album, Music of the Sun, with which she obtained the gold certification of the Association of the record industry of the United States because it sold more than half million units. Rihanna also sang her album at the pre-gala of the MTV Premios Vido Music Awards that same year.

The following year she released her second album, A Girl Like Me , which was very well received as well, as it was ranked number five of the most listened to songs in the United States and the United Kingdom, and in Canada ranked first. On May 31, 2007, Rihanna releases her third album Good Girl Gone Bad. It was with this that she achieved global recognition because beyond the numerous sales of the album made all over the world, which today totals more than 6 and a half million copies , she took it on a tour with more than 80 presentations both in Europe and in North America. In addition to giving her the nomination of several Grammy Awards in 2008, of which she won the Best Collaboration of Rap/Sung.

By November 2009, released her fourth album, Rated R, with which she began her tour The Last Girl on Earth, which featured 57 shows that started in Europe and ended in Australia. The following year she collaborated with Eminem on the song Love the Way You Lie , which was the best-selling song of 2010 in the United Kingdom. That same year, she released her fifth album, Loud , which contained the single Only Girl (In the World) , with which she won the Best Recording Dance Award at the Grammys. In 2011, she released another successful album, Talk That Talk, and in 2012 she collaborated with Coldplay on Princess of China and with Drake on Take Care.

She was also chosen as the best international artist at the Brit Awards for the second consecutive time and won the MTV Music Award for the best video of 2012, being the first woman to receive it several times. In September, she released her seventh album Unapologetic , and in 2013 she won the Grammy for Best Short Music Video thanks to We Found Love . By 2015, the Recording Industry Association of the United States revealed that the artist had sold more than 100 million copies. In 2016, Rihanna released her eighth album and last so far, Anti .

Beyond her musical career, Rihanna participated in 2006 as an actress in Bring it On All or Nothing , although with terrible criticism. She also produced the Styled to Rock series in 2012. She also participated in This Is the End , 2013; Home, of 2015; and It is known that she will appear in the Bates Motel series. She has acted in commercials for Kodak and Samsung, has launched her own fragrance, Rebelle, and has helped in multiple charity events.

You may like

Natanael Cano

Paulina Rubio

Yahritza y Su Esencia

Fernando Botero

Fernando Botero Biography

Fernando Botero Angulo (April 19, 1932 – September 15, 2023) was a sculptor, painter, muralist, and draftsman, hailing from Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia. He was a Colombian artist known and celebrated for infusing a substantial volume to human and animal figures in his works.

Early Years and Beginnings

Fernando Botero was born into an affluent Paisa family , composed of his parents, David Botero and Flora Angulo, along with his older brother Juan David, who was four years his senior, and his younger brother, Rodrigo, who would be born four years after Fernando, in the same year that their father passed away. In 1938, he enrolled in primary school at the Ateneo Antioqueño and later entered the Bolivariana to continue his high school education. However, he was expelled from the institution due to an article he published in the newspaper El Colombiano about Picasso , as well as his drawings that were considered obscene. As a result, he graduated from high school at the Liceo of the University of Antioquia in 1950.

In parallel to his studies, Fernando attended a bullfighting school in La Macarena at the request of one of his uncles. However, due to an issue related to bullfighting, Botero left the bullring and embarked on a journey into painting. In 1948, he held his first exhibition in Medellín. Two years later, he traveled to Bogotá where he had two more exhibitions and had the opportunity to meet some intellectuals of the time. He then stayed at Isolina García’s boarding house in Tolú, which he paid for by painting a mural. Once again in Bogotá, he won the second prize at the IX National Artists Salon with his oil painting “Facing the Sea” .

“Ephemeral art is a lesser form of expression that cannot be compared to the concept of art conceived with the desire for perpetuity. What many people fail to understand is that Picasso is a traditional artist”- Fernando Botero

Due to the prize from the IX Salon and the sale of several of his works, Fernando Botero traveled to Spain in 1952 to enroll at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. There, he lived by selling drawings and paintings in the vicinity of the Prado Museum. In 1953, he went to Paris with filmmaker Ricardo Irrigarri, and later, they both traveled to Florence. Here, he entered the Academy of San Marco, where he was heavily influenced by Renaissance painters such as Piero della Francesca, Titian, and Paolo Uccello.

Career and Personal Life

In 1955, Botero returned to Colombia to hold an exhibition featuring several of his works created during his time in Europe, but it was met with a lukewarm reception from the public.

Woman With a Mirror / Foto:Luis García (Zaqarbal) / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Spain (CC BY-SA 3.0 ES)

In 1956, he married Gloria Zea, with whom he would later have three children: Fernando, Juan Carlos, and Lina. The couple traveled to Mexico City, where Fernando Botero was eager to see the works of Mexican muralists, but this experience left him disillusioned. Consequently, he began searching for his own artistic style, drawing influence from both the Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo and the Colombian artist Alejandro Obregón . In this quest, he started experimenting with volume, initially in still lifes, and gradually extending this approach to other elements.

In 1957, he successfully exhibited in New York, showcasing his new artistic sensibility. The following year, he returned to Bogotá, where he was appointed as a professor at the School of Fine Arts at the National University of Colombia . He presented his work “La Camera Degli Sposi” at the X Colombian Artists Salon , winning the first prize and becoming the country’s most prominent painter. This piece sparked some controversy as it was initially censored for being almost a parody of Andrea Mantegna’s “La Cámara de los Esposos”. However, it was later reinstated in the exhibition on the advice of Marta Traba. Subsequently, Fernando Botero exhibited his works in various spaces in the United States, where a businessman from Chicago purchased “La Camera Degli Sposi” .

“Fernando Botero and his works are the finest ambassadors of our country in this land of navigators and discoverers, of poets and fado singers”- Juan Manuel Santos

In 1960, Botero separated from Gloria Zea and traveled to New York. He led a modest life here as the New York art scene was primarily inclined towards abstract expressionism. Consequently, Botero was influenced by artists like Pollock, which led him to experiment with color, brushwork, and format, to the point of nearly abandoning his distinctive style characterized by the manipulation of volume. Aware of this, Botero returned to his usual style of flat colors and figurative representations.

Starting in 1962, he began a series of exhibitions in both Europe and the United States, as well as in Colombia. By 1970, the year his son Pedro was born to his second wife, Cecilia Zambrano, Fernando Botero had already become the world’s most sought-after sculptor. However, in 1974, his son Pedro tragically died in a traffic accident, leading to his second divorce and leaving significant marks on his artistic endeavors.

In 1978, the Colombian painter married Sophia Vari , a renowned Greek artist with whom he shared a significant part of his life, until sadly, she passed away in May 2023.

Since 1983, Fernando Botero has been exhibiting his works and donating them to various cities around the world. As a result, we can find his pieces in the streets of Medellín, Barcelona, Oviedo, Singapore, and Madrid, among others. In 2008, the Autonomous University of Nuevo León in Mexico conferred upon him an honorary Doctorate.

Renowned Colombian artist, Fernando Botero, died on September 15, 2023 , in Monaco at the age of 91 due to pneumonia . His artistic legacy will endure forever. In his hometown, seven days of mourning were declared.

Pedrito a Caballo, Fernando Botero (1975).

Top 10 Famous works by Fernando Botero

Some of the most recognized works by Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero:

• “Pedrito on Horseback” / “Pedrito a Caballo” (1974): This is an oil painting on canvas measuring 194.5 cm x 150.5 cm. For Botero, this work is his masterpiece and a refuge during a personal tragedy. The child depicted is Pedro, his son from his second marriage, who tragically passed away in an accident when he was young.
• “Mona Lisa at 12 Years Old” / “Mona lisa a los 12 años” (1978): This piece stands out as a unique version of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, the Mona Lisa . Painted in oil on canvas and measuring 183 cm x 166 cm, Botero incorporates his characteristic style of voluptuous and rounded figures into this work, which has become one of his most distinctive pieces.
• “Woman’s Torso” / “Torso de Mujer” (1986): It is a majestic bronze sculpture that rises to an impressive height of approximately 2.48 meters. It is often affectionately referred to as “La Gorda” (“The Fat One”). This artwork finds its home in Parque de Berrío, located in the captivating city of Medellín.
• “Woman with Mirror” / “Mujer con Espejo” (1987): An imposing bronze sculpture weighing 1000 kg. It is located in Plaza de Colón, in the heart of Madrid, Spain. The artwork captivates the gaze with the portrayal of a woman peacefully lying face down on the ground, holding a mirror in her hands. Her expression reflects deep introspection and enigmatic melancholy.
• “The Orchestra” / “La Orquesta” (1991): In this oil on canvas artwork, measuring 200 cm x 172 cm, Botero presents a band of musicians with a singer, all immersed in a spirit of celebration. The artist aims to convey a sense of harmony and joy through his portrayal.
• “Woman Smoking” / “Mujer Fumando” (1994): It is a creation executed in watercolor, spanning dimensions of 122 cm x 99 cm. In this work, Maestro Botero skillfully captures the essence of a woman elegantly holding a cigarette between her fingers. His meticulous focus on voluptuous forms, posture, and the serene expression of the figure masterfully combine to emphasize the sensuality and profound intimacy of the moment captured in the artwork.
• “Man on Horseback” / “Hombre a Caballo” (1996): This bronze sculpture is one of the most iconic works in the artist’s career. It depicts a rider in a majestic and proud posture. Over the years, this imposing work has been exhibited in multiple cities around the world, solidifying its place as a prominent piece in the sculptor’s body of work.
• “The Horse” / “El Caballo” (1997): This iconic sculpture showcases a horse of majestic presence and a distinctive rounded form, sculpted in bronze and measuring approximately 3 meters in height. This masterpiece reflects Botero’s profound passion for horses while also serving as a powerful representation of the mythical Trojan Horse.
• “The Death of Pablo Escobar” / “La muerte de Pablo Escobar” (1999): This artwork, created using the oil on canvas technique, has dimensions of 58 cm x 38 cm. While not considered a masterpiece, this artistic piece represents one of the most significant moments in Colombia’s history. Fernando Botero captures, in his distinctive style, the moment of the death of the drug lord Pablo Escobar , addressing issues related to violence and criminality that have marked the country’s history. An interesting detail is that, although Pablo Escobar admired Fernando Botero’s art, it cannot be said that the admiration was mutual. The painter created two works depicting the death of the drug trafficker.
• “Boterosutra Series” / “Serie Boterosutra” (2011): This work by Botero is part of an erotic art collection called Boterosutra , marking a milestone in the history of Colombian art as the first artistic representation of sexual intimacy between lovers. This series comprises around 70 small-sized pieces created using various techniques, including colored drawings, watercolors, brushstrokes, and also black and white, all of which constitute one of the most contemporary works by the painter.

Ryan Reynolds

Biography of Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Rodney Reynolds was born on October 23, 1976 in Vancouver, Canada, and he is a well-known actor. When Ryan was born, his mother, Tammy, was a student and a salesperson, while his father, Jim, worked in wholesale food sales and also excelled as a semi-professional boxer. In addition, Ryan has three older siblings.

He studied in his hometown of Vancouver until 1994 when he decided to join a theater group as an extracurricular activity while attending Kwantlen College. However, his passion for acting became a vocation, and Ryan dropped out of college to devote all his time and energy to his acting career.

Debut as an actor

He quickly landed small roles in successful and memorable TV series such as “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and “The X-Files”. In 1998, his big break came with the series “Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place”, which ran until 2001 and catapulted him to fame. The show became very popular thanks to its great comedic content, an area where Reynolds demonstrated perfect skill, but this was not the first time that Ryan had made a name for himself in a Hollywood comedy, as he had already been in “Life During Wartime” in 1997.

After working in several minor jobs, Ryan got his first major role as a protagonist in the crazy “Van Wilder – Animal Party”, where he played a college party organizer. The success of the film opened doors for him to work alongside Michael Douglas in “Till Death Do Us Part”, support Wesley Snipes in “Blade Trinity” or star in the horror movie “The Amityville Horror”. However, at this stage of his career, Ryan stood out mainly as a protagonist in comedies such as “Just Friends”, “Waiting” and “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle”. This led him to want to leave his comedic side behind, getting involved in different projects such as the thriller “Smokin’ Aces”, the independent film “Adventureland” and the action film “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”. Later on, he also participated in romantic films such as “The Proposal” and “Definitely, Maybe”. However, recognition of his acting ability did not come until Ryan was nominated for a Goya Award for his demanding role in “Buried”. It is worth noting that he also brought to life the comic book hero “Green Lantern” and the renowned “Deadpool”.

Contracts, curiosities

Prestigious brands like Hugo Boss have not been oblivious to Ryan Reynolds’ popularity, charisma, and good looks, offering him contracts to be the face of one of their fragrances : Boss Bottled Night, a fragrance that, through great advertising, managed to convey an irresistible seductive effect.

Two curiosities can be highlighted from his work: first, the nearly 10 kilos of solid muscle he gained thanks to rigorous physical training to bring Hannibal King to life in “Blade: Trinity”; and second, his appearance on the animated TV series Zeroman, in which he lent his voice to the character Ty Cheese. In addition, like many Hollywood stars, Ryan Reynolds has an eccentricity outside the world of entertainment: a great passion for motorcycles , of which he owns three collector’s items, one of which was designed exclusively for him and is none other than a Harley Davidson.

Romantic relationships

Regarding his personal life, Ryan Reynolds was in a romantic relationship with singer Alanis Morissette from 2002 to 2007. The couple got engaged in 2004, but in July 2006, People magazine reported that they had separated, although neither of them officially confirmed the news. Shortly after, in February 2007, they decided to end their engagement by mutual agreement. In May 2008, Reynolds announced his engagement to actress Scarlett Johansson , and they got married on September 27 of the same year. However, in December 2010, the couple announced in a statement to People magazine that they had decided to end their marriage.

So, on September 9, 2012, he married the actress Blake Lively in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. In October 2014, they announced that they were expecting their first child, and in December of that same year, Ryan Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively became parents with the birth of their daughter: Ines. Later, on April 14, 2016, his wife’s second pregnancy was confirmed, and on September 30, 2016, he became a father for the second time to a boy named James.

Biography of Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks, born July 9, 1956 in Concord, California, United States, is an actor known as Tom Hanks. Hanks was raised by his father Amos Mefford Hanks, who worked as a cook of English food, and his mother Janet Marylyn, a nurse. He was raised with the values of the Catholic and Mormon religion. During his time at Skyline High School in Oakland, he attended theater classes with his best friend. During his adolescence, Hanks demonstrated his acting talent and won the Best Theater Actor award at his institute. Later, he enrolled in Chabot College in Hayward, California and two years later did a exchange at California State University, Sacramento.

1981 – Debut as an actor

In 1979, the Hanks family moved to New York, which gave Tom the opportunity to debut as a supporting actor in the horror film “Sabe que estás sola” in 1981. Two years later, he landed a lead role in another film. Additionally, he did his first television work in the comedy series “Bosom Buddies.” Later, he decided to move to Los Angeles to participate in “Despedida de soltero” in 1984, although the film was not very successful, it allowed him to be discovered by Ron Howard, who later contacted him to offer a role in “Splash” in 1984.

Since then, Tom starred in several comedy films such as “Amigos del alma” (1980), “Esta casa es una ruina” (1986), “Big” (1988), “No matarás… al vecino” (1989), “Socios y sabuesos” (1989), and “Joe contra el volcán” (1990). His father was always very important in his career, constantly encouraging him to keep fighting for his dream. On several occasions, he helped him to get small roles. He also supported his participation in the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. Tom had already made some appearances in series like “Vacaciones en el mar”, “Happy Days”, “Taxi”, or “Family Ties”.

“The King of Comedy”

After a small role in the horror film “He Knows You’re Alone” (1980) directed by Armand Mastroianni, he starred in several comedies that typecast him in comedic roles. His charming personality and natural talent contributed to his growing popularity. Definitely his consecration came in the eighties, he was cataloged as the king of comedy . Thanks to “Big” (1988), he achieved great success for his performance, receiving the Los Angeles Critics Award and an Oscar nomination . Although he had a bit of a downfall after that, he regained momentum as a disillusioned former baseball pitcher who trains a women’s team in “A League of Their Own” (1992).

Tom considered it appropriate to change direction and tackle other stories, to move away from comedy a little. So, he eagerly sought more intense themes where he could showcase his versatility. With his work in “The Bonfire of the Vanities” (1989), directed by Brian de Palma, he attempted to take the first step to break away from light comedies, but the result was not as expected. However, his career took off again with his portrayal of an AIDS-stricken lawyer in “Philadelphia” (1992), directed by Jonathan Demme, an intense character that was quite a challenge. His effort was rewarded with an Oscar. He renewed his commercial success with “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993), directed by Nora Ephron, where he teamed up with Meg Ryan, and worked with her again in “You’ve Got Mail” (1998).

Some of his most acclaimed performances

In the mid-90s, Hanks established himself as one of Hollywood’s brightest stars. It’s worth mentioning that his career enjoyed significant success. For his role in Robert Zemeckis’ “ Forrest Gump ” (1994), this has been one of the most striking films of the decade, he was again deserving of an Oscar , a prize that increased, turning him into one of the best-paid actors in Hollywood. With the comedy “The Wonders” (1996), he made his directorial debut.

Later, he did the same in the field of production with the TV series “From the Earth to the Moon,” a work that took him several years. Hanks had the lead role in the feature film “Saving Private Ryan” (1997), directed by Steven Spielberg , with this role he was nominated for the Academy Award, although the film received five Oscars. In 2000, he worked with Robert Zemeckis again in the film “Cast Away,” a film in which his solo performance was praised, for which he received an Oscar nomination.

Between 2003 and 2004, he repeated his collaboration with Spielberg in “Catch Me If You Can” and also in “The Terminal.” In 2006, he starred in the hit film “The Da Vinci Code,” the cinematic version of Dan Brown’s controversial work. Starting in 2014, Hanks’ films have grossed over 4.2 billion in countries such as the United States and Canada, and over 8.4 billion in the rest of the world, he is definitely an actor who ensures great success for films. His fame is such that the asteroid (12818) Tomhanks bears his name.

Marriages, children.

The actor has had several marriages throughout his life. His first marriage was to Samantha Lewes in 1978, from which two children were born: Colin Hanks in 1977 and Elisabeth Ann in 1982. However, the couple divorced in 1985. Later, in 1988, he married actress and producer Rita Wilson , with whom he had two additional children: Chester Marlon in 1991 and Truman Theodore in 1996. In recent years, the actor has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, which requires a strict diet and daily care to maintain his health.

Marc Anthony

Biography of Marc Anthony

Marc Anthony (born September 16, 1968) is an American salsa singer and actor , born in New York. His real name is Marco Antonio Muñiz Rivera . From a young age, he has been involved in music, growing up with rock and rhythm & blues. His parents, Felipe Muñiz and Guillermina Rivera, discovered his passion and musical ability when he was a child. During his teenage years, to earn money, he began singing at bars and nightclubs , and quickly gained popularity. He was contacted by one of the members of the Latin Rascals group, and their producer Louie Vega invited him to record several albums with the Atlantic Records label.

Beginnings as a singer

One of Marc Anthony’s most successful musical products was the album “Rebel”, which achieved some success on the disco music charts. In 1992, his career in the salsa world took off when the famous Tito Puente took him as an opening act for a concert at Madison Square Garden. A year later, he recorded a salsa version of a song by Juan Gabriel that received excellent reviews and great popularity in the musical circles of New York. Soon, Marc Anthony appeared in several television productions and began to receive offers for concerts. After a few years, he was recognized as the new “king of salsa”. During the 1990s, his lyrics occupied the top position in Latin America and also in the United States.

The new “musical phenomenon”

Marc Anthony became a massively successful musical phenomenon , comparable to the success of Héctor Lavoe. At the same time, he continued to develop his acting career, appearing in films such as “Bringing out the Dead” directed by Martin Scorsese; “Big Night” directed by Stanley Tucci; “Hackers,” and “The Capeman,” a Broadway musical directed by singer and songwriter Paul Simon. He also performed the main theme of the soundtrack of “The Mask of Zorro” (1998), in which Antonio Banderas was the lead actor.

Third salsa album “Against the Stream”

That same year, he worked on the production of his third salsa album: “Contra la Corriente,” undoubtedly many salsa critics and aficionados affirm that it was the best album of his career, for which he received a Grammy for Best Latin-Tropical Album. In 1999, he released the album “Marc Anthony” to the market, this album undoubtedly demonstrates a new stage in his musical career, as it combined salsa with pop and also featured songs in English, in order to reach and conquer the Anglo-Saxon audience and market.

The first single, “I Need to Know,” put him in the top positions of the North American charts: it remained in the Top 10 of the Billboard for eleven weeks and eight more weeks in the Top 40. He also released the Spanish version, titled “Dímelo.” With this song, he won the Grammy for Best Latin Song of the Year and was number one on the Latin Billboard chart. He quickly released the second single, “You Sang to Me,” repeating the success of the previous one and selling over two million copies of the album.

Starting the new millennium, he released a greatest hits salsa album titled “Desde el principio.” After that, Marc Anthony went on a extensive tour that took him through the United States. All magazines and press talked about his triumphant concert at Madison Square Garden. Then he was in Canada and Central America. At that time, Marc Anthony received the admiration of his fans when he helped with his charitable work for the victims of Hurricane George, in sum, he founded a foundation that bears his name.

International tours

In 2011, he started the Dos Mundos Tour, with the company of Alejandro Fernández , a concert across Latin America. The following year, he was in Colombia at the Manacacías Summer Festival, many people from different parts of the country traveled to attend his concert. He had a significant participation in the 53rd International Song Festival of Viña del Mar, Chile, where he sang the song “¿Y cómo es él?” from his album “Iconos”. He received the highest distinction.

On March 3, 2012, Marc returned to Uruguay after 17 years and gave his performance at the Charrúa Stadium in Montevideo with an attendance of 25,000 spectators. In the GIGANT3S TOUR, he performed in several North American cities alongside Chayanne and Marco Antonio Solís . In 2013, he released his album 3.0. In 2014, he was the big winner of four of the five awards for which he was nominated at the Premios Lo Nuestro. Additionally, his career was recognized as one of the most successful Latin music artists. In 2016, he released a song called “Deja que te bese” with the collaboration of Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz, the song has over 50 million views on Youtube.

In September 2016, he carried out his “Marc Anthony Live” tour which included 5 dates at Radio City Music Hall. His private life has been somewhat controversial and has been exposed to various comments. He had his first daughter in 1994, Arianna Rosado-Muñiz, a product of his relationship with a former police officer from New York. In 2000 he married for the first time to Dayanara Torres, with whom he had two children. He later helped Jennifer Lopez in the production of the song “Sway” for the soundtrack of the movie Shall We Dance?. They then fell in love and after only one month of relationship, they got engaged in March 2004.

The couple had twins and Jennifer sold the exclusive photos of the children to People Magazine. However, after a few years, the couple decided to end their marriage on April 9, 2012. It is said that everything started when Jennifer Lopez met dancer Casper Smart and began a relationship with him two months after her separation from Marc. Later, Marc started a relationship with Venezuelan model Shannon de Lima, whom he married in 2014. Despite this, his relationship with Jennifer, the mother of his children, is harmonious, and he even participated in her song “Olvídame y pega la vuelta” in 2016. Two years earlier, the Puerto Rican singer made an impact with the hit song “Flor Pálida”.

On January 28, 2023, he married Nadia Ferreira in an incredible wedding surrounded by stars from film, music, and sports. The ceremony took place at the Perez Art Museum in Miami, with David Beckham as the best man.

  Ver esta publicación en Instagram   Una publicación compartida por Nadia Ferreira (@nadiatferreira)

Paul McCartney

Biography of Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney (born June 18, 1942) is a singer. He was born in Liverpool, England. His mother, Mary Patricia, was a nurse, while his father, James McCartney, was a volunteer firefighter. During Paul’s birth, his father was not present as he was fighting in the Battle of England during World War II. Paul grew up in a religious and strict environment, with his mother Catholic and his father Protestant, but later became agnostic. After returning from the war, his father devoted himself to selling cleaning products and, in his free time, played in bars.

Death of his mother

That’s why his son developed a deep love for music. He stood out in school for his intelligence and discipline and studied at Liverpool Institute secondary school, a good free secondary school. In 1954, he met George Harrison, with whom he quickly formed a strong friendship. At the time, McCartney’s mother was the one who kept the household and for work reasons they moved to Allerton, where they lived until 1964. On October 31, 1956, when McCartney was 14 years old, his mother died from a stroke.

After his mother’s death, McCartney was devastated. It took some time for him to return to normal. H is father saw music as a refuge to help his son feel better, so he took him to listen to the Jim Mac’s Jazz Band, where his father played trumpet or piano. He also gave him a trumpet, but when rock and roll became popular, he chose an acoustic guitar. The first song he composed was “I Lost My Little Girl” on that guitar, a Zenith. He also composed “When I’m Sixty-Four” on the home piano.

1957 – Met John Lennon

He met Lennon on July 6th, 1957. McCartney joined The Quarrymen, a school band led by Lennon, in 1958 as the lead guitarist. The band mixed rock and roll and skiffle, a popular music style, with jazz and blues. After several name changes, the band decided to call themselves The Beatles in August 1960 and recruited drummer Pete Best for their move to Hamburg. In 1961, one of its members, Sutcliffe, left the band and McCartney was forced to take over as bassist. They recorded as a backing band for English singer Tony Sheridan on the single My Bonnie.

1963 – “Beatlemania”

They managed to attract the attention of Brian Epstein, who became their manager in January 1962 and a key figure in their later success. With their first hit, “Love Me Do” in 1963, the “Beatlemania” began. John Lennon and Paul wrote a large number of songs together, but later their egos collided and they preferred to write separately. In 1970, The Beatles disbanded. But Paul continued his successful career with songs that reached number one. He recorded his first solo LP, “McCartney”, with songs very different from those that Lennon would write, with commercial melodies for varied tastes.

1980 – Paul McCartney Guinness Records

In 1980, he entered the Guinness Book of Records as the highest-selling songwriter in the world. His theme Yesterday , one of the most celebrated by The Beatles , has around 2,500 versions in the most diverse musical styles. Some of his solo hits are: Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Live and Let Die for the James Bond film received the Oscar for best musical theme; Coming Up from his solo album Paul McCartney II. He joined George Martin and Ringo Starr in 1982 for the recording of Tug of War. On Press to play, his next album, was recorded with Eric Stewart.

Awards, arrest, record.

Winner of 18 Grammy Awards, including two Lifetime Achievement Grammy Awards (one with the Beatles and another as a solo artist). He is a vegetarian and an animal rights advocate. He was arrested for marijuana possession in Tokyo in 1980 and was briefly in jail. He participated in the “Live Aid” concert against hunger in Ethiopia in 1985. I n 1990, he achieved the record for the largest attendance at a concert with 184,000 people in Rio de Janeiro. Since 1997 he is Sir Paul McCartney, invested as a knight by Queen Elizabeth II.

2013 – Other awards, marriages.

On February 10, 2013, he received a Grammy for “Best Traditional Pop Album” for his album “Kisses On The Bottom”. Later, he received a special award from PRS for Music in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the composition of his most famous song, “ Yesterday “. These songs, as well as “And I Love Her,” “You Will Not See Me,” and “I’m Looking Through You,” were written inspired by his relationship with British actress Jane Asher. After five years of engagement, the couple broke up due to his infidelity with Francie Schwartz. He married Linda Eastman on March 12, 1969, and together they formed the musical group Wings after the dissolution of the Beatles . In 1999, he presented his collection of poems entitled “Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics (1965-1999)”. After the death of his wife, McCartney experienced deep sadness.

In 2002, Paul McCartney married former model Heather Mills in an Irish castle. After a long legal battle in the London Supreme Court, in 2008 Mills was authorized to collect one fifth of the 250 million dollars she had demanded from McCartney for their four-year marriage. In 2011, McCartney married Nancy Shevell in a civil ceremony in London on October 9th of that year.

Relevant aspects of his life and musical career

• With 60 gold records and the sale of over 100 million albums and singles as a solo artist and with The Beatles, McCartney is recognized as one of the most successful composers and artists of all time.
• As a solo artist in 1999 and as a member of The Beatles in 1988, he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.
• As a solo artist and with The Beatles, he has been recognized with twenty-one Grammy Awards.
• 32 of the songs that McCartney has written or co-written have reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
• As of 2014, he had sold over 15 million certified units by the RIAA in the United States.
• In 1997, McCartney was elevated to the rank of knight for his services to music.
• In 1965, McCartney, Lennon, Harrison and Starr were named members of the Order of the British Empire .
• He has been married three times and is the father of five children.
• He has participated in projects to help international charities related to issues such as animal rights, seal hunting, landmine cleaning, vegetarianism, poverty and musical education.
• He ranks 11th on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Singers.
• He ranks first on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Artists as a member of The Beatles.
• He ranks third on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Bassists.
• Only surpassed by Bob Dylan , he ranks second on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Songwriters.

Celebrities

Nicola Porcella

Nicola Porcella Biography Nicola Emilio Porcella Solimano (February 5, 1988), better known as Nicola Porcella, is an actor and TV...

Wendy Guevara

Wendy Guevara Biography Wendy Guevara Venegas (August 12, 1993), better known as Wendy Guevara, is an influencer, actress, singer, and...

Paris Hilton

Paris Hilton Biography Paris Whitney Hilton (February 17, 1981), better known as Paris Hilton, is a socialite, businesswoman, model, DJ,...

Leonardo DiCaprio

Biography of Leonardo DiCaprio Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is a renowned actor and film producer who has won numerous awards within...

Denzel Washington

Biography of Denzel Washington Denzel Washington is an African American actor born on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, New...

Biography of Ryan Reynolds Ryan Rodney Reynolds was born on October 23, 1976 in Vancouver, Canada, and he is a...

Biography of Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt, better known as Brad Pitt, was born on December 18, 1963 in Shawnee,...

Entrepreneurs

Luciano Benetton

Luciano Benetton Biography Luciano Benetton (May 13, 1935) Born in Ponzano, Treviso, Italy. An Italian businessman and fashion designer, co-founder...

Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton Biography Louis Vuitton (August 4, 1821 – February 25, 1892) businessman and fashion designer. Founder of the leather...

Peter Drucker

Peter Drucker biography Peter Drucker (November 19, 1909 – November 11, 2005) writer, consultant, entrepreneur, and journalist. He was born...

Paul Allen biography Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953) entrepreneur, business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He was born in Seattle,...

Nik Powell biography Nik Powell (November 4, 1950) businessman and co-founder of the Virgin Group. He was born in Great...

Most Popular

Henri Fayol

Walt Disney

Taiichi Ohno

Philip B. Crosby

Kaoru Ishikawa

Ariana Grande

Adolf Hitler

• Environment
• Road to Net Zero
• Art & Design
• Film & TV
• Music & On-stage
• Pop Culture
• Fashion & Beauty
• Home & Garden
• Things to do
• Combat Sports
• Horse Racing
• Beyond the Headlines
• Trending Middle East
• Business Extra
• Culture Bites
• Year of Elections
• Pocketful of Dirhams
• Books of My Life
• Iraq: 20 Years On

How Rihanna manifested her success: from fashion and beauty to music and motherhood

A tweet that has resurfaced from a 2008 interview suggests the star's global domination was exactly what she has always set out to do.

Rihanna's Fenty Beauty cosmetics brand has helped to redefine inclusivity in the make-up world. The singer, who was born Robyn Fenty, is now worth $1.7 billion, according to Forbes.

Rihanna has come a long way since she first emerged on to the music scene in 2005, aged merely 17. Fast-forward 17 years, and she’s conquered much more than the music industry.

With several fashion partnerships and a beauty empire under her belt, earning her billionaire status last year, as well as eight studio albums, the star has been busy cementing her global superstardom for the best part of two decades.

And now, she is about to embark on a new journey – motherhood. Rihanna and boyfriend, rapper ASAP Rocky, announced they are expecting their first child in a typically stylish way, debuting her bare bump, decorated with jewelled body chains, from beneath a vintage pink Chanel coat during a stroll around Harlem, New York on Monday.

As it turns out, Rihanna has seemingly manifested her dream life. In a 2008 magazine interview that has resurfaced on social media, the star was asked where she saw herself in 10 years’ time.

14 years ago, Rihanna manifested everything in her life now pic.twitter.com/HvYs9aMeDW — Fenty Cop (@FentyCop) January 31, 2022

“That’s a cool question,” she replied. “In 10 years, I want to have already started my family and have some businesses of my own. A fashion line, a makeup line, and I still want to be doing what I am doing at a much bigger capacity – by the grace of God!”

Following her pregnancy announcement, the star’s tweet has gone viral, with many pointing out how she has achieved everything she set out to, and then some.

Here’s a closer look at exactly how she did it:

Rihanna was discovered by American record producer Evan Rogers, who invited her to the US from her native Barbados to record demo tapes. The trip led to her being signed with Def Jam in 2005, and quickly releasing her first two albums, Music of the Sun in 2005, and A Girl Like Me in 2006, both of which gained critical acclaim.

However, her status as a pop super-force was really cemented in 2007, with the release of single Umbrella, which topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, the US, and the UK, where it remained at No 1 for 10 consecutive weeks. It also earned the singer her first Grammy award. She has been nominated 33 times, winning nine gongs overall.

During her career, Rihanna has collaborated with the likes of Drake, Eminem, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Adam Levine, Paul McCartney, Ne-Yo and Shakira, to name a few.

It’s been five years since the star has released new music, much to her fans' disappointment. And it looks like they will have to wait a little longer now for a ninth studio album.

Just as she shook up the music industry back in 2005, Rihanna took her disruptive vision into the world of beauty in 2017, when she launched Fenty Beauty . The brand was a game-changer in the world of cosmetics, offering one of the first truly inclusive make-up lines at affordable prices.

Initially launched with foundations, highlighters, bronzers, blush compacts, lip glosses and blotting sheets in a diverse range for all skin colours, the brand has gone from strength-to-strength, and now includes a skincare arm.

Dubbed the “Fenty effect”, the brand forced other mainstream make-up companies to assess the lack of diversity in make-up shades, with many quickly expanding ranges to be more inclusive.

The company is estimated to be worth $2.8 billion, making Rihanna’s 50 per cent stake in the company worth $1.4 billion, according to Forbes , which last year officially named the star in its list of new billionaires .

Rihanna has also ventured into the world of fashion and lingerie. In 2018, she launched her Savage X Fenty underwear brand, which again, was designed to be inclusive for all body shapes and sizes. The brand debuted at New York Fashion Week in 2018, and has held annual star-studded fashion shows in the years since, often featuring supermodels and A-list celebrities, with the likes of Gigi and Bella Hadid, Lizzo, Travis Scott and Normani featuring.

In 2019, she also announced the launch of her high-end fashion label Fenty , released under LVMH, the luxury powerhouse that owns the likes of Louis Vuitton, Dior and Fendi. It was the first new luxury label launched by the company since 1987.

The brand launched with a pop-up in Paris, however, owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the brand was put on hold so she could focus on her Savage x Fenty collection.

_____________________________

See Rihanna's style evolution in 62 photos:

Rihanna, in a sequinned vest and cropped jeans, poses backstage during a MTV Networks Tempo Channel launch event on October 22, 2005, in Barbados. Getty Images

45 Fabulous Facts About Rihanna

Did you know that singer-songwriter Rihanna won her High School beauty pageant when she was 16 years old?

Rihanna is one of the world’s most influential female singer-songwriters of the 21 st century.

Her elaborate live shows and catchy tunes have people of all ages dancing and singing along.

But do you know how it started for Rihanna? Or where she comes from?

Here are 45 fabulous facts about Rihanna that you should know.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty is 36 years old. She was born on February 20 , 1988. Her star sign Pieces, meaning she is dreamy and romantic.

Rihanna was born in Saint Michael, Barbados, and grew up in Bridgetown, Barbados.

Her father is Irish-Barbadian, and her mother is Afro-Guyanese. Her parents divorced when she was just 14 years old.

She has two biological brothers, two half-sisters, and a half-brother.

RiRi attended army cadets when she was at school, and her drill sergeant was singer Shontelle.

At age 15, she won a talent show by singing “Hero” by Mariah Carey.

Rihanna grew up listening to reggae music and started to study music at school.

When Rihanna was 16, she won her high school beauty pageant.

In 2003 alongside two classmates, she formed a girl band in Barbados .

American record producer Evan Rogers discovered the trio and invited them for an audition.

Rihanna stood out as being the powerful voice, so she was invited for a second audition.

Rogers invited Rihanna to record some sample tapes, including “Pon de Replay” in his studio in the US.

Rihanna’s sample tapes were sent to Def Jam Records, and it was Jay-Z who listened and signed her.

Rihanna’s debut album “Music of the Sun” was released in August 2005, which reached number 10 on the Billboard 200 list, and over two million copies were sold worldwide.

On Gwen Stefani’s “Harajuku Lover” tour in 2005 , Rihanna was her opening act.

In August 2006 , she had her first acting role in Bring it On: All or nothing .

Her second album, “A Girl like Me,” was released just a year after her debut in April 2006.

At the Barbados Music Awards in 2006, Rihanna won two awards; Best New Artist and Best Female Artist of the Year.

In 2006 Rihanna created the Believe Foundation, which was designed to help terminally ill children.

Her release of S.O.S in 2006 was her first number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100.

RiRi released her album “Good Girl Gone Bad” in 2007.

Good Girl Gone Bad was her redefining album, which exposed her fierce, strong personality through an R&B-inspired album.

She was ranked number eight on Maxim’s Hot 100 Women list in 2007.

In 2007 Rihanna was given the honorary title of “Ambassador for Culture and Youth” for Barbados.

In 2008 the former president of Barbados created “Rihanna Day,” which is held every February 22 .

Following the 2008 release of her single “Umbrella,” she had to ban umbrellas being brought to her concerts in fear of spectators injuring others.

Rihanna won her first Grammy Award for her hit with Jay-Z, “Umbrella.”

In 2008 Rihanna set up a series of free concerts called “A Girl’s Night Out,” any money earned by sponsors was donated to her charity Believe Foundation.

In September 2009, Rihanna appeared on the cover of Italian Vogue Magazine as part of their “Extreme Couture” edition.

In 2011 her hit “S&M” became her tenth number-one single to get onto the Billboard list.

At age 23, she was the youngest artist to have had ten number ones featured on Billboard.

For two consecutive years, 2011-2012, Rihanna won International Female Solo Artist at the BRIT Awards.

Rihanna has a Maltese poodle cross called Oliver, who she adopted in 2015.

By 2016 Rihanna had headlined six tours and released eight studio albums.

Rihanna launched her lingerie line “Savage X Fenty” in 2018 , which was designed to offer a wide range of lingerie to all skin colors and body sizes.

In 2018 Rihanna purchased a $7 million house in West London, England.

In March 2018, Snapchat issued an apology to Rihanna following an ad campaign in a “would you rather” game, asking users would they rather “slap Rihanna” or “punch Chris Brown.”

Rihanna has had a minimum of six Guinness World Records. On February 25 , 2020, Rihanna received a Guinness World Record for being the most tracked artist on Songkick, with 3,867,117 followers.

In May 2019, Fenty fashion was launched under Louis Vuitton, which made Rihanna the first woman of color to have a luxury fashion brand.

Rihanna is 5′ 7″ tall (1.73 meters).

Rihanna played Marion Crane in Bates Motel , the character was originally portrayed by Janet Leigh in the 1960 Hitchcock film Psycho .

Rihanna has had more than 75,000,000 downloads, making her the best-selling digital download artist of all time.

She has also earned over 30 top-ten songs in the UK and Australia, making her the only artist in the 21 st century to achieve this feat so far.

Across the globe, there are a total of eight wax figures of Rihanna at the Madame Tussauds museums.

Rihanna has 25 known tattoos , she got her first one back in 2006, which was a musical note on her foot.

Rihanna is an idol and inspiration for any woman across the globe.

Her successful career in singing and songwriting has expanded into acting and fashion.

Rihanna has changed lives around the world in a positive way and given hope to many people, especially to those who are part of her charity.

Her songs are catchy, and her styles change with the seasons, and that’s what makes her one of the most successful female artists today.

Fact Lists , Singers

• Rihanna Now
• Celebrity Pets
• Rihanna Fandom

Previous Article

20 Strange Facts About North Korea

Next Article

10 Fun Facts About Flightless Birds

Related Posts

23 Remarkable Facts About Nestor Carbonell

25 Interesting Facts About Ryan Hurst

1000 Random & Interesting Facts About Literally Everything

40 Fun Facts About Alicia Keys

About the author.

Becca Marsh

Becca Marsh is a travel enthusiast and a lover of nature. She is the co-founder of Global Convoy, a travel production company. When she is not filming, she enjoys writing about culture and travel.

Popular Today

July 2: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

22 Terrific Facts About Tuesday

20 Jolly Facts About July

July | Special Days of the Year

We have a thorough fact-checking process and a dedicated team verifying our content for accuracy. But occasionally, we may get things wrong, or information becomes outdated. If you believe something to be incorrect, please leave us a message below.

Leave a Comment

Latest facts.

20 Facts About Larkspurs & Water Lilies, July’s Birth Flowers

What Happened at the Stonewall Riots?

20 Fun Facts About Balenciaga That You Didn’t Know

National Pink Day | June 23

The Fact Site is the number one source for the most interesting & random facts about animals, celebrities, food, films, games & so much more. You will learn something about everything!

Popular Facts Lists

1000 Interesting Facts

100 Random Fun Facts

100 Mind Blowing Facts

100 Strange But True Facts

100 Interesting Space Facts

Popular Pages

2024 Events & Facts

Big Questions

Today In History

World Records

Information

Privacy Policy

The Fact Shop

Rihanna – Biography, Facts & Life Story

Her Social Media Profiles

Height, weight & physical stats.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on 20 February 1988 in Saint Michael, Barbados. Rihanna is a singer, songwriter, businesswoman, actress, and dancer. She was brought up in Bridgetown. In 2003, Evan Rogers, an American Producer found her talented skills. After auditions, Rihanna signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings.

Rihanna releases her debut album  Music of the Sun , in 2005 that rose Rihanna to the popularity grounds. Rihanna’s album A Girl Like Me charted on the US  Billboard  200 in the top 10 list. Rihanna produced the top-rated singles “Pon de Replay”, “Unfaithful”, and “SOS”.

In 2007, Rihanna releases her third album  Good Girl Gone Bad , It garnered Rihanna her first Grammy Award, and turned out to be the main achievement in her professional career. Rihanna 4 th  studio album,  Rated R , is identified for its lyrical content and dark themes. Rihanna produces 3   Billboard  Hot 100 top-rated singles, “Only Girl (In the World)”, “What’s My Name”, and “S&M” in her 5 th album,  Loud . They result in a commercial acclamation.

Rihanna followed her victorious past with further albums,  Talk That Talk , and Unapologetic  (2012). Her 8 th album,  Anti  (2016), turned out to be her 2 nd   Billboard  200 best-selling album. She is recognized in the list of best-selling music artists around the globe. Rihanna is likewise renowned as a pop icon with 280 million records sold of all time.

Rihanna presently held 6 Guinness World Records. Rihanna likewise, received nine Grammy Awards, thirteen American Music Awards, and twelve  Billboard  Music Awards. Furthermore, in 2013 Rihanna earned the inaugural American Music Award for Icon.

Rihanna ’s singles “Umbrella”, “Take a Bow”, “Disturbia”, “Only Girl (In the World)”, “S&M”, “We Found Love”, “Diamonds”, “Stay” and “Work”, were ranked among the best selling singles of all time. Rihanna also collaborated with Eminem in songs, “Love the Way You Lie” and “The Monster”.

In 2016, Rihanna received the  Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. In early 2014, Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded Rihanna with the Fashion Icon lifetime achievement award. In 2018, The  Time  magazine listed her in the most influential people in the world. In 2017, Rihanna was titled “Humanitarian of the Year” by the Harvard Foundation.

On the  Billboard  Hot 100, Rihanna is recognized as the youngest solo singer to earn 14 number-one singles. In the United Kingdom and Australia, Rihanna likewise has more than thirty singles making her the only celebrity to earn that in the 21st century.

In 2018, Rihanna was awarded the position of Ambassador on behalf of the government of Barbados. Her responsibilities incorporate tourism, promotion of education, and investment matters. Rihanna was regarded as the Digital Songs Artist of the century. Billboard mentioned her name among the top Pop Songs artist. Furthermore, Rihanna became the most streamed solo artist of Spotify and Apple Music.

Check out exclusive ➡ facts about Rihanna .

Rihanna Education

School: Charles F. Broome Memorial School

College: Combermere High School, Waterford, St. Michael, Barbados

Rihanna Career

Profession: Actress, Singer, Song-writer

Known For: Known for her distinctive and versatile voice

First Song: Pon De Replay (2005)

Debut Album: Music of the Sun (2005)

Film Debut: Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006)

Net Worth: USD $260 million approx

Family & Relatives

Father: Ronald Fenty

Mother: Monica Braithwaite

Brother: Rajad Fenty

Jamie Fenty

Sister: Kandy Fenty Samantha Fenty

Marital Status: Married

Husband: Chris Brown

No. of Children: 2

Son: RZA Athelson, 2nd son name unknown

She has dated many people in the past, which includes famous celebrities that are listed below:

• Josh Henderson (2009)
• Travis Barker (2011)
• Leonardo DiCaprio (2015)
• Karim Benzema (2015)
• Lewis Hamilton (2015)
• Travis Scott (2015 – 2016)
• Drake (2016)
• Jay-Z (rumored)
• Hassan Jameel
• Chris Brown

Facts You Never Knew About Rihanna

• In the whole year of 2004, Rihanna made demo under the instructions of Rogers.
• Rihanna introduces more of dance-pop elements into her music.
• Rihanna has 23 Tattoos. Rihanna has a tattoo written backward saying “never a failure, always a lesson”, that gives her motivation every time she looks in the mirror.
• In February, ‘Rihanna Day’ was officially celebrated by the people of her birthplace as a national holiday on the eve of her birthday.
• Rihanna album Anti became one of the most streamed albums of the year.
• Rihanna participated in a beauty pageant at her school and won the crown of Miss Combermere.
• Popular rapper and producer Jay-Z signed Rihanna for her 6 album contract.
• Apart from her singing career, Rihanna was a military cadet in her school.
• Forbes  ranked Rihanna the 4 th most powerful celebrity.
• To calm down her nerves, Rihanna needs vodka or tequila shots before her stage performances.
• Rihanna began her singing career at the early age of 7. Amid her High School, She also formed a musical grouping with 2 other girls.
• Monica, her mother is a retired accountant of Afro-Guyanese background, and her father, Ronald Fenty, is a warehouse supervisor of Afro-Barbadian and Irish descent.
• In 2007, Rihanna won Gillette’s Venus Breeze “Celebrity Legs of a Goddess” award in 2007. After that, she insured her legs for $1 million.

Related Video

Who is Rihanna?

Rihanna is a Barbadian, American actress, singer, song-writer, born on 20 February, 1988 in Saint Michael Parish, Barbados.

How old is Rihanna?

Rihanna is 36 years old as of July 2024.

How tall is Rihanna?

Rihanna is 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m).

Related Celebrities

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Privacy Overview

• Born February 20 , 1988 · Bridgetown, St. Michael, Barbados
• Birth name Robyn Rihanna Fenty
• The Caribbean Queen
• The Barbados Babe
• The Bajan Beauty
• The Princess of Pop
• The Princess of R&B
• Height 5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
• Rihanna was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988 in Bridgetown, St. Michael, Barbados to Monica Braithwaite, an accountant & Ronald Fenty, a warehouse supervisor. Her mother is Afro-Guyanese and her father is of Afro-Barbadian and British Isles ancestry. Rihanna lived the life of a normal island girl going to Combermere, a top sixth form school. Rihanna won numerous beauty pageants and performed Mariah Carey 's single, Hero in a school talent show. Her life changed forever when one of her friends introduced her to Evan Rodgers, a producer from New York who was in Barbados for a vacation with his wife, who is a native. Rodgers arranged for her to go to New York to meet Jay-Z , CEO of Def Jam Records. He heard her sing and knew she was going to be incredibly successful. She was age 16 when she was signed to Def Jam. Since then, she's amassed phenomenal success. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Loud_Child
• Children RZA Athelston Mayers Riot Rose Mayers
• Parents Monica Braithwaite Ronald Fenty
• Relatives Reginald Leslie Forde (Grandparent) Betty Fenty (Grandparent) Rorrey Fenty (Sibling) Rajad Fenty (Sibling)
• Leather outfits and revealing outfits
• Ever changing hairstyles
• Her many tattoos
• Strong Bajan accent
• Mezzo-soprano vocals
• In the United Kingdom, she became the only female; and the only artist in 52 years to have three top ten songs at once on the "UK Official Chart". She also became the first female artist; in the history of the chart, to have a number one in five consecutive years.
• She's the highest paid female celebrity to be seated front row at fashion shows. She's paid an estimated $100,000, followed by Beyoncé , who is estimated at $80,000.
• Was tagged "The Digital Download Queen" on account of her songs being downloaded over 75,000,000 times combined.
• While filming a music video for her song "We Found Love" in Ireland, the farmer whose land was borrowed as a setting for the video, asked the crew to stop filming and leave the land after he objected to Rihanna's revealing outfits and state of undress, which he deemed as "inappropriate".
• Was signed to Def Jam Records at age 16.
• I love the high-risk (guys). I don't like cream puff, corny guys. Usually, they are the nice guys, the ones that won't hurt you. They will pull out the chair for you and the whole nine yards. Everything is perfect and boring. I like the risk, I like the edge. That's the thrill for me.
• [on Fashion] Wear the clothes. Don't let them wear you.
• [on Jesse Williams ] Jesse, who's in my music video for "Russian Roulette", is so hot!
• I love flirting at the moment. I'm single and I'm enjoying my freedom. But I don't give my phone number out that often. But if I'm dating, I check the boy from the top to the bottom.
• [on what a man needs to impress her] He has to be good in bed and the size matters. You know what I mean? The inner beauty counts as well, but without a toy it doesn't make it fun.

Contribute to this page

• Learn more about contributing

More from this person

• View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro

More to explore

Recently viewed.

'Is Rihanna Muslim?' Indians are Googling Pop Star's Religion After Her Tweet on Farmers' Protest

Curated By : Buzz Staff

Last Updated: February 03, 2021, 09:46 IST

Image credits: Rihanna/Twitter/Google Trends.

Rihanna tweeted a news article about the internet blockade in Delhi that followed after clashes between the protesting farmers and the police.

Pop-star Rihanna in 2016 released her hit single, ‘Work’ where she sung, ‘you gotta do the work, work, work, work, work, work.’ Almost five years later, Indians are taking that advice to heart.

On Tuesday, Rihanna tweeted a news article about the internet blockade in Delhi that followed after clashes between the protesting farmers and the police.

“Why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest,” tweeted the  ‘Don’t Stop The Music ‘ singer, who happens to be the fourth most-followed user on Twitter with more than 100 million followers.

Within minutes of that single tweet, a huge spike in Google trends was seen, as people Google-d to find who she really was.

why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest https://t.co/obmIlXhK9S — Rihanna (@rihanna) February 2, 2021

Rihanna’s tweet saw a divided Twitter: Some were of the opinion that her tweet will highlight the ongoing farmers protest in the country to the international media– more so with Rihanna tweeting about it to her 100 million-strong social media family. Others called it ‘paid’. Many others strongly reacted to it, suggesting that the pop star shouldn’t be talking about things she doesn’t know about.

Meanwhile, while Indians shared their opinion on what they thought of Rihanna’s tweet, many rushed to Google to search about her. Amid the usual searches, the one that stood out is – ‘Is Rihanna Muslim?’ and ‘Rihanna religion.’

Rihanna, who was raised in a religious household in Barbados, has been surrounded by the Christian faith since she was little. Rihanna has in fact, spoken at length about her religion and her faith to Interview Magazine in 2019, mentioning how it started when she was younger.

“My first time praying and fasting was when I was 7 years old. I did that on my own, because I wanted to go to New York, and I knew that this was a sacrifice I had to make in order for god to make sure I could get there,” she told the magazine.

Other search trends on Rihanna involved her music, where she was from.

Rihanna’s tweet about farmers has been a long-standing issue in India. Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at several Delhi border points, demanding a complete repeal of the three farm laws and legal guarantee of minimum support price for their crops. Enacted in September last year, the three laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

READ: This 22-Year-Old Student is Cycling From Kerala to Kashmir to Support Ongoing Farmer’s Protest

However, the protesting farmers have expressed their apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of the MSP and do away with the “mandi” (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

Read all the Latest News , Breaking News and Coronavirus News here

• farmers protest
• Kangana Ranaut tweet

• Fundamentals NEW

• Biographies
• Compare Countries
• World Atlas

Related resources for this article

• Primary Sources & E-Books

(born 1988). Barbadian pop and rhythm-and-blues (R&B) singer Rihanna became a worldwide star in the early 21st century. She was known for her distinctive and versatile voice and for her fashionable appearance.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20, 1988, in St. Michael parish, Barbados. As a child she listened to Caribbean music, such as reggae , as well as American hip-hop and R&B. She especially enjoyed singing and won a high-school talent show with a rendition of a Mariah Carey song. About the same time, she started a girl group with two friends, and in 2004 she attracted the attention of Evan Rogers, an American record producer. He helped her record a demo that led to an audition with the rapper Jay-Z . At the time Jay-Z headed the Def Jam record label, and he soon signed the budding vocalist. For her professional career, Fenty adopted her middle name, Rihanna.

With the lively single “Pon de Replay” (2005), Rihanna immediately captured an international audience. The song’s success buoyed sales for her debut full-length recording, Music of the Sun (2005). Rihanna soon followed with the album A Girl like Me (2006), featuring the up-tempo club-oriented “S.O.S.” The song became Rihanna’s first to top the Billboard singles chart.

For the album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), Rihanna sought to transform her youthful image. With the assistance of such high-profile collaborators as Timbaland and Justin Timberlake , she abandoned the tropical rhythms that had adorned her first two albums. Instead, she recorded a collection of sleek R&B that presented her as a fiercely independent and rebellious woman. (She also unveiled a spiky asymmetrical hairstyle.) The strategy paid off, as the album sold several million copies worldwide. Its lead single, “Umbrella,” featuring an introductory rap from Jay-Z, became one of the year’s biggest hits and earned Rihanna a Grammy Award .

In early 2009 Rihanna was beaten by her boyfriend, fellow R&B star Chris Brown. The incident was widely covered by tabloid news and gossip blogs. (Brown was subsequently convicted of assault.) The album that followed later that year, Rated R , much of which she cowrote, was marked by stark production and brooding lyrics that touched on revenge. Although her sales declined somewhat, she scored another major hit with “Rude Boy.” Rihanna returned to lighter fare on the dance-friendly Loud (2010). In 2011 a single from the album became her 10th number one Billboard hit. It made her, at age 23, the youngest artist ever to reach that milestone. Included in the total of 10 singles were prominent collaborations with hip-hop artists T.I. and Eminem that appeared on albums of theirs. Many felt Rihanna’s vocals on Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie” (2010) intensified the song’s depiction of an abusive relationship.

Rihanna maintained a steely and seductive persona on her next two albums. Talk That Talk (2011) produced the infectious international hit “We Found Love.” The Grammy Award-winning Unapologetic (2012) was anchored by the starry-eyed song “Diamonds.” Unapologetic also controversially featured a duet with Brown, with whom she rekindled her relationship for a brief time. Rihanna’s eighth studio album, Anti , was released in 2016. Several songs on that album—including “Work,” “Needed Me,” and “Love on the Brain”—reached number one on the Billboard list of top dance club songs.

In addition to her musical career, Rihanna acted in the movies Battleship (2012) and This Is the End (2013). She also voiced one of the main characters in the animated adventure Home (2015). Rihanna later appeared as a hacker in the movie Ocean’s 8 (2018).

Rihanna had collaborated on several fashion and cosmetics collections in the early 2010s. In 2017 she launched her own cosmetic line, Fenty Beauty.

It’s here: the NEW Britannica Kids website!

We’ve been busy, working hard to bring you new features and an updated design. We hope you and your family enjoy the NEW Britannica Kids. Take a minute to check out all the enhancements!

• The same safe and trusted content for explorers of all ages.
• Accessible across all of today's devices: phones, tablets, and desktops.
• Improved homework resources designed to support a variety of curriculum subjects and standards.
• A new, third level of content, designed specially to meet the advanced needs of the sophisticated scholar.
• And so much more!

Want to see it in action?

Start a free trial

To share with more than one person, separate addresses with a comma

Choose a language from the menu above to view a computer-translated version of this page. Please note: Text within images is not translated, some features may not work properly after translation, and the translation may not accurately convey the intended meaning. Britannica does not review the converted text.

After translating an article, all tools except font up/font down will be disabled. To re-enable the tools or to convert back to English, click "view original" on the Google Translate toolbar.

• Privacy Notice
• Terms of Use

• International
• Today’s Paper
• Join WhatsApp Channel
• Movie Reviews
• Tamil Cinema
• Telugu Cinema

Rihanna: Life, career, net worth and more

Over the years, rihanna won many accolades including nine grammy awards, 13 american music awards, 12 billboard music awards, and six guinness world records..

International pop star Rihanna drew attention on Tuesday after she reacted to a news report about the ongoing farmers’ protest in India. She tweeted, “Why aren’t we talking about this? #FarmersProtest.” Her tweet was widely shared on social media. If you are wondering who is Rihanna, read on.

Rihanna started her music career at the age of 15 after she performed for music producer Evan Rogers and Carl Struken in 2003. Her debut album Music of the Sun was released by Def Jam in 2005. But it was in 2007 that the singer gained recognition with the release of her album Good Girl Gone Bad. Her single “Umbrella” earned Rihanna her first Grammy award. In the following years, she released other successful albums like Rated R (2009), Loud (2010), Talk That Talk (2011), and Unapologetic (2012).

Over the years, the 32-year-old singer won many accolades including nine Grammy Awards, 13 American Music Awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards, and six Guinness World Records. She became the first female solo artist to sell out 10 concerts at London’s O2 Arena. The pop star achieved 14 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart since making her debut. She’s accumulated 31 Top 10 hits on the chart. With a net worth of USD 600 million (Rs 44,07,71,10,000), Rihanna featured in the Forbes’ list of richest self-made women in 2020.

• Don 3 teaser: Ranveer Singh's first look revealed, says '11 mulkon ki police dhoondti hai mujhe'
• Rajinikanth's Jailer sells 9 lakh tickets, Gadar 2 rules the North with 3 lakh ticket sales: What Independence Day weekend at movies looks like 
• Gadar 2 actor Simratt Kaur Randhawa says she went through intense 'depressive' episode because of no work

Apart from music, Rihanna also tried her hands at acting. She made her movie debut in 2012 with Battleship, following it up with movies like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), and Ocean’s 8 (2018). She has also been involved in philanthropic work through her non-profit organisation Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF). The “Believe It” singer has a strong presence on social media with over 81 million Facebook fans, 101 million Twitter followers and 90.3 million Instagram followers.

The “Don’t Stop The Music” singer is also an entrepreneur and co-owns makeup brand Fenty Beauty.

Luv Sinha breaks his silence on missing sister Sonakshi's wedding, citing his decision to distance himself from certain individuals. He shared a media column exposing the groom's father's alleged connections to a politician under ED investigations.

More Entertainment

Best of Express

Jul 02: Latest News

• 01 After hijab, now Mumbai college bans jeans, T-shirt
• 02 Air Europa flight diverted to Brazil after turbulence; 30 injured
• 03 5 killed in Lonavala waterfall mishap: All five bodies recovered, govt to issue orders banning entry of tourists at certain spots
• 04 Posthumous book by Ukrainian author Victoria Amelina will document war crimes since Russian invasion
• 05 New Criminal Laws Day 1: 224 FIRs filed in Maharashtra including 3 Zero FIRs and 8 online FIR applications, says DGP Rashmi Shukla
• Elections 2024
• Political Pulse
• Entertainment
• Movie Review
• Newsletters
• Web Stories
• T20 World Cup
• Express Shorts
• Mini Crossword
• Premium Stories
• Health & Wellness