Rihanna is a multi-platinum record selling singer and songwriter that has sold over 250 million records worldwide to be rated among one of the best-selling musicians of all time. She is best known for songs like “Pon de Replay”, “Umbrella”, “Disturbia”, “We Found Love”, and “The Monster” (with Eminem).
The nine-time Grammy Awards and twelve-time American Music Awards winner, who is also an actress and philanthropist, is noted for her numerous business ventures that include a fragrance, clothing, and make-up line. In 2014, she was made the creative director of the women’s line of the sportswear company, Puma and following the success of their collaboration, Rihanna has further been recognized as a fashion icon, receiving the 2014 Fashion Icon Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
Biography, Age & Ethnicity
Rihanna was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, one of three children of Monica (Braithwaite) and Ronald Fenty, on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados. Her mother was an accountant while her father worked as a warehouse supervisor. She is of Afro-Guyanese, Afro-Barbadian and Irish ancestry.
While growing up in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna listened to a lot of reggae music as she sold clothes with her father on the streets. She would later pick an interest in singing as she attended Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School before moving on to Combermere High School from which she dropped out to pursue a career in music amid her parents’ divorce. The talented singer had formed a little girl group with three of her classmates who were able to get an audition with American record producer Evan Rogers despite not having recorded any music.
Rogers was impressed with Rihanna’s voice and invited her to the United States to record a demo tape as they shopped for a record deal, but in the meantime, he signed her on to his production company, Syndicated Rhythm Productions. Rihanna went on to record a demo tape that included her future hit track “Pon de Replay” which Jay Z heard and invited her for an audition. The young Barbadian beauty was said to have made a huge impression on the rapper who was at the time the CEO of Def Jam Recordings, and he immediately signed her on to a six-album record deal.
“Pon de Replay” was made Rihanna’s first single from her debut album and it went on to become a club banger, peaking at the number one position on the Billboard Dance Club Songs and reaching the second spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart. The album itself, Music of the Sun, was released in August 2005 and has sold over two million copies worldwide.
Rihanna has since her first album released seven more bodies of work; ‘A Girl Like Me’ (2006), ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ (2007), ‘Rated R’ (2009), ‘Loud’ (2010), ‘Talk That Talk’ (2011), ‘Unapologetic’ (2012), and ‘Anti’ (2016), to attain legendary status in the music industry.
Who Is Rihanna’s Boyfriend?
Rihanna has been in a few high profile relationships since she was involved with Chris Brown and was physically assaulted by the singer on February 8, 2009. Some of the men she has dated since that time include Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp, rappers; Drake and Travis Scott, F1 driver Lewis Hamilton, and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema. She is now currently in a relationship with Saudi businessman Hassan Jameel.
Jameel and Rihanna reportedly began seeing each other in December 2016. By June of the following year, the couple was pictured being intimate with each other on a romantic getaway in Ibiza, Spain. They were subsequently pictured together on the streets getting coffee, solidifying their status to the public as a couple.
Hassan Jameel is the deputy president and vice chairman of Abdul Latif Jameel, a family-owned Saudi Arabia-based company that deals in the sales, manufacturing, assembly, and engineering of automobiles. It is the sole distributor of Toyota in Saudi Arabia and also has deep-rooted ties to the MENAT region (Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey). The Sophia University of Tokyo, Japan graduate was previously married to art specialist Lina Lazaar. The marriage lasted for five years before both parties went their separate ways in 2017.
Height, Weight & Body Stats
Birth Name: Robyn Rihanna Fenty
Place of Birth: Saint Michael, Barbados
Date of Birth: February 20, 1988
Occupation: Singer, Songwriter, Actress, Fashion Designer
Height: 5 feet 8 inches (173 cm)
Weight: 61 kg (134.5 pounds)
Body Stats: 36-26-36 inches (91.5-66-91.5 cm)
Zodiac Sign: Pisces