Rihanna

Rihanna was born in a parish in Barbados called St. Michael. She 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 "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 16 when she was signed to Def Jam. Since then, she's amassed phenomenal success.

Her musical inspirations include Alicia Keys, 'Beyonce Knowles' and Destiny's Child, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Gwen Stefani, Bob Marley and Brandy Norwood.

Attended Combermere which is a sixth form school similar to technical school in America.

Performed Mariah Carey's "Hero" at her school's talent show.

Won a beauty pageant at her school.

Born to a black Barbadian father Ronald Fenty and a black Guyanese mother Monica Fenty.

She has two younger brothers Rorrey and Rajad.

Stated in an interview that her friend and former Island Def Jam record label artist Fefe Dobson was someone that she admired and looked up to. Having a fellow black artist writing, singing, and performing the music she truly loves.

Ranked #8 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list.

Sampled "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' " by Michael Jackson from his " Thriller" album in her song "Please Don't Stop the Music".

Ranked #15 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list.

According to Fashion Lifestyle she's had over 150 hairstyles since her music career took off in 2005. Her trademarks are her Long Straight Brown (2006), Medium Length Black Bob (2007) and Short Cropped look (2008).

Made an estimated $15,000,000 in 2008. (Source) - Forbes Magazine.

Was tagged "The Digital Download Queen" due to her songs being downloaded over 75,000,000 times combined.

Her 3rd studio album 'Good Girl Gone Bad' (2007) was the 3rd highest selling album in the world in 2007 and was the 8th highest 2008. It has sold just under 8 million copies worldwide and has spawned 3 number one Hot 100 hits and 2 worldwide number ones.

Appeared on the cover of Italian Vogue for there "Extreme Couture" edition. [September 2009].

Her ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown, was sentenced to five years of probation, six months of community service and one year of domestic violence counseling as a result of his attack on her in February, 2009 [August 29, 2009].

Is good friends with Katy Perry.

Her 3rd single 'Rude Boy', from her 4th studio album 'Rated R', became her sixth US number one single. This makes her the most successful female artist of the last 10 years.

She and then-boyfriend Chris Brown canceled their performance at the Grammys in February 2009 just hours before the show started after Brown was caught up in a late-night domestic dispute, which later turned out to be a physical attack on Rihanna.

She's the highest paid female celebrity to sit front row at fashion shows. She's paid an estimated $100,000, followed by Beyoncé Knowles, who is estimated at $80,000.

Is a big fan of Depeche Mode, The Prodigy and Chase & Status. She worked with Chase & Status on her album "Rated R" after calling member Saul Milton up at 3 AM.

Selling 62 million records since 2005, she's the most successful artist over the last decade. She also is the first ever artist ever to have 5, 3X platinum selling digital singles.

Broke her own record by scoring her 7th US number one. "Love The Way You Lie" with Eminem became her 7th number one single in 5 years. This gives her the most number ones from an artist in the last 10 years.

Has attained nine number one Hot 100 singles. Three of them were achieved in 2010. She become the only female in American history to have her first single to go number one after the second. [Febuary 2011].

In the UK, 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 has Seven number one singles in Australia as of Febuary 2011, making her the only non Australian artist to do so in the last 20 years.

Her 5th studio album 'Loud', sold 2.8 million copies worldwide in 3 months. The album also marks the launch of her business "Rihanna Entertainment"[Febuary 2011].

Billboard named Rihanna the Digital Songs Artist of the 2000s decade.

Is worth an estimated $143 million. [Forbes Febuary 2011].

Her controversial music video for "S&M", was banned in 11 countries within a day of it's release. This is Rihanna's second video to cause controversy as "Te Amo" was banned in many countries due to its same-sex nature.

As of March 1st, she's reached over 1.2 billion YouTube views on her official Vevo page.

Q Magazine named her one of the top 100 acts of the last century. [November 2009].

Became the youngest black female to grace the cover of American-Vogue [March 2011].

The song S&M featuring Britney Spears become her 10th No. 1 song on Billboard Hot 100.

At the 2011 BET awards, Rihanna was mistakenly announced as the winner of the Viewer's Choice Award. The actual winner was her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, who later received the award.

Ranked #43 in the 2010 FHM UK list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".

Named "Sexiest Woman" for 2011 by Esquire magazine [October 12, 2011]. Esquire gives the title of "sexiest woman" to a different celebrity each year.

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". (2011).

She has 14 tattoos so far in 2011.

Personal Quotes

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'll 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.

[on her musical sound change] Everyone was really surprised when i started liking new things and changing my image. I was 16 when i was signed and i'm 22 now. My musical taste and image is going to change naturally. It's not forced, i do what comes natural to me. Sometimes i like to be dark... other times i like to be really light and lady-like.

[on size zero models] Being a size zero is a career in itself so we shouldn't try and be like them, it is not realistic and it is not healthy. You shouldn't be pressured into trying to be thin by the fashion industry, because they only want models that are like human mannequins. They know that if we see an outfit on a mannequin in a shop window we will love it and want to buy it whatever size we are. That's why they have size zero models - they want to sell clothes. But you have to remember that it's not practical or possible for an everyday woman to look like that."

[on Homophobia] I know that a large part of my fanbase is gay. They've shown me love from the start. I mean in this industry, everyone from my glam people to my dancers are gay. You can't be homophobic in this line of work, i'm a popstar! It hurts me when i read fan mail from a fan who have been called names for liking me.

My weight fluctuates, but I don't weigh myself every day. I'm 5ft 8in and weigh around 9st 7lb.

[on Cheryl Cole] I think she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Like, how do you have a face like that, with hair like that and dimples, and a body like that, that's proportioned like that? And you have a successful career, something about that is not right.

[on Russell Brand] I first met him when he was interviewing me on TV. I was sick and it was the worst interview I have ever done... Nothing was funny to me. I thought it was the most stupid interview I ever did in my life. Why am I talking to this idiot? He made me want to throw up again.

I spend more time over there (in London) than I spend in L.A., and that's where I live. London is more like my home.

[on doing a duet with Katy Perry] We're actually working on some music together - hell yeah. I would love to tour with Katy. She's a rock star. And when I see her live, she just brings such a fun vibe, like a colorful rock star.

[on planning Katy Perry's bachelorette party] I have to come up with something cool, because she's getting married in India. So I'm like, 'OK, now what do I do to match that?' That's at the end of the year, so we've got some time to plan that.

[on Katy Perry] When I first met her, her personality was so on point, I felt like she had no edit button, she was really fun and had a great sense of humor.

[on missing her friend, Katy Perry's wedding] I will never ever forgive myself for that, it was a crazy time, it was a crazy week. I'm switching management. I'm really sad that I missed it.

[on having children] I don't really plan on the age. It could be a year from now. It could be 10 years from now. Whenever is right. I mean, I have a lot of other stuff to accomplish before I get to kids. Whenever the time is right, I'll just know. If I had a girl, she'd probably be really rebellious. She would be like a bundle of karma. I would love to bring them up in Barbados.

I definitely think a child deserves both parents. It would be selfish of me, because of my pride and independence to say, 'Oh, I just want a sperm donor, because I can do it myself.' I can do it myself, but that's not fair. I'm just saying that whatever comes my way I'll be able to handle it, but in a perfect book, there would be marriage and kids.

(jokingly responding when being questioned about a rumored relationship) I hate to burst your bubble but I'm dating girls!

[on collaborating with Britney Spears]: I asked my fans last week who they wanted me to collaborate with, and Britney was one of the most popular names. It's very strange because Britney never does features. It was really amazing that she really wanted to be part of this song. She really liked the song to begin with, but it was a different story when she had to sing it, and she really wanted to be a part of it. So it made it really, really special, because you never see two pop female artists doing songs together any more. Just call us 'R&B'.

[on Chris Brown] It's incredible to see how he pulled out of it the way he did. Even when the world seemed like it was against him, you know? I really like the music he's putting out. I'm a fan of his stuff. I've always been a fan. Obviously, I had some resentment toward him for a while, for obvious reasons. But I've put that behind me. It was taking up too much of my time. It was too much anger. I'm really excited to see the breakthrough he's had in his career. I would never wish anything horrible for him. Never. I never have. (2011).

I think that Madonna was a great inspiration for me, especially on my earlier work. If I had to examine her evolution through time, I think she reinvented her clothing style and music with success every single time. And at the same time remained a real force in entertainment in the whole world.