Shakira: 1977—: Singer, Songwriter

Released in 2000 Laundry Service shot straight to number three on the Billboard charts, selling more than 200,000 copies in its first week. It was an album of love songs inspired by her relationship with de la Rúa. With it, Shakira had succeeded in creating music in a new language while preserving her distinctive style. The album is peppered with bits of tango, a heavy dose of rock guitar, brief flirtations with Andean flutes, and topped off with a decidedly Middle Eastern flair. "Yo soy una fusion," I'm a fusion she declared in Teen People. However, even as Laundry Service trumpeted her fame in the States and beyond, Shakira still knows who she is. Embracing both her roots and her future she declared to Time, "I plan to keep being the same artist, with the same musical language." She continued, "It's all still coming from my real feelings, my real-life experiences." And for her Hispanic fans who have supported her for so long, she told the Los Angeles Times, "I continue belonging to them. Forever." She has crossed over, but she hasn't turned away. That is something both her Anglo and her Latino fans can be thankful for.