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`Laundry Service' (Epic)
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With a name that means "woman full of grace" in Arabic, Shakira has been called the "Colombian Alanis Morissette" by USA Today and been praised for her singing, dancing and "innocent sensuality" by Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
The best-selling Latin female artist of her generation and the latest worldwide spokeswoman for the Pepsi Generation, Shakira is being groomed as the next Latin superstar to make a big splash in the U.S. pop market.
If successful, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter would be the first "true" crossover artist since Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias in the 1980s. Both Shakira and Iglesias learned English as a second language.
Shakira released her first album at age 13 and within a decade had sold nearly 10 million albums. She has been dancing, writing and singing since age 3 and continues to write all her own music.
The 4-foot-11-inch tall firecracker and former soap-opera actress (who recently changed her hair color from a chestnut brunette to a Britney-like blond) began speaking English only a couple of years ago. Still, Shakira has all those ex-Mouseketeers and teeny-bopper divas beat as she...