Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll

Her second official studio album, ¿Dónde Están los Ladrones?, produced entirely by Shakira herself and Emilio Estefan, Jr. as the executive producer, was released in September 1998. The album, inspired by an incident in an airport in which a suitcase full of her written lyrics was stolen, became a bigger hit than Pies Descalzos. The album has reached a peak position of number one-hundred-thirty-one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and held the top spot on the U.S. Latin Albums chart for eleven weeks. It has since sold over seven million copies worldwide and 1.5 million copies in the U.S. alone, making it one of the best selling Spanish albums in the U.S. Eight singles were taken from the album including "Ciega, Sordomuda", "Moscas En La Casa", "No Creo" which became her first single to chart on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, "Inevitable", "Tú", "Si Te Vas", "Octavo Día", and the "Ojos Así". The latter two songs won Shakira one Latin Grammy each with six of the eight singles reaching the top 40 on the U.S. Latin chart.
Shakira also received her first Grammy Award nomination in 1999 for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album. Shakira's first live album, MTV Unplugged was recorded in New York City on August 12, 1999. Highly acclaimed by American critics, it is rated as one of her best-ever live performances. The live album earned the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album in 2001 and gained sales of five million worldwide. In March 2000, Shakira embarked on her Tour Anfibio, a two-month tour of Latin America and the United States. In August 2000, she won an MTV Video Music Award in the category of People's Choice — Favorite International Artist for "Ojos Así". In September 2000, Shakira performed "Ojos Así" at the inaugural ceremony of the Latin Grammy Awards, where she was nominated in five categories: Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for MTV Unplugged, Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Octavo Día", Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Music Video for the video for "Ojos Así",. She won two Grammy awards.
• 2001–04: Laundry Service and international success
Upon the success of Dónde Están los Ladrones? and MTV Unplugged, Shakira began working on an English crossover album. She worked for over a year on new material for the album. "Whenever, Wherever" ("Suerte" in Spanish countries) was released as the first and lead single from her first English album and third studio album throughout the period of August 2001 and February 2002. The song took heavy influence from Andean music, including the charango and panpipes in its instrumentation. It became an international success by reaching number one in most countries. It was also her first success in the U.S., by reaching number six on the Hot 100. In 2003, Shakira wrote a song called "Come Down Love" with Tim Mitchell for the Hollywood movie The Italian Job starring South African actress Charlize Theron and Mark Wahlberg, but the song was not included on the soundtrack of the movie.