Shakira Gets A Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Shakira, the highest-selling Colombian recording artist of all time and a two-time Grammy winner, received the 2,454th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today.

Nearly 1,000 people — some of whom arrived as early as 5 a.m. — attended the late-morning ceremony in front of the W Hollywood Hotel. The event came one day before Shakira is honored in Las Vegas as the Latin Grammy Person of the Year.

"We all have a star," Shakira told the crowd. "We all come to this world with a talent and a gift and then, dreams are born, and no one has the authority to stop those dreams.

"... So I want to tell you all to dream as big as you can, and may your kids dream even bigger than you have, because in this country nothing is impossible," she said.

Born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll on Feb. 2, 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia, Shakira released her first album Magia in June 1991, when she was 14.

Shakira won great fame in Latin America and Spain for her 1995 release Pies Descalzos. Her 1998 album Donde Estan los Ladrones? sold more than seven million copies worldwide.

Shakira won her first Grammy in 2001 as MTV Unplugged was selected as best Latin pop album.

Shakira's first English-language album, Laundry Service, was released in 2001, selling more than 13 million copies worldwide. A single from the album, "Whenever, Wherever" was the best-selling single of 2002, topping the charts in 29 countries.

Shakira did not release another studio album until 2005. Fijacion Oral Vol. 1, her first all-Spanish language album since Donde Estan los Ladrones? sold more than 1.1 million copies, spent 17 weeks atop the U.S. Billboard top Latin albums chart and won a Grammy as best Latin rock/alternative album.

Shakira released the English-language Oral Fixation Vol. 2 later in 2005, which included "Hips Don't Lie," the best-selling song of the 2000s.

Shakira's next album She Wolf, released in 2009, marked a shift from Latin pop and pop rock to electropop and dancehall. Her most recent album Sale el Sol, released in 2010, sold more than two million copies worldwide. A single from the album, "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" was chosen as the official song for the 2010 World Cup.