Rihanna was born on on this date in 1983. She is a Black Barbadian American entertainer.Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born in the St. Michael parish in Barbados to Monica (Braithwaite), an accountant, and Ronald Fenty, a warehouse supervisor. Her mother is of Afro-Guyanese descent and her father has Afro-Barbadian and English/Irish/Scottish ancestry (known as “Redlegs” in the Caribbean). Rihanna lived the life of a normal island girl going to Combermere, a top sixth form school. Rihanna won numerous beauty pageants and performed Mariah Carey “Hero” in a school talent show.Her life changed when one of her friends introduced her to Evan Rodgers, a producer from New York who was in Barbados for a vacation with his wife, who is a native. Rodgers arranged for her to go to New York to meet Jay Z, CEO of Def Jam Records. He heard her sing and knew she was going to be incredibly successful. She was 16 when she was signed to Def Jam. Since then, she’s amassed phenomenal success.She has named Madonna as her idol and biggest influence. She said that she wanted to be the “black Madonna, I think that Madonna was a great inspiration for me, especially on my earlier work. If I had to examine her evolution through time, I think she reinvented her clothing style and music with success every single time. And at the same time remained a real force in entertainment in the whole world.” Rihanna also cites Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey as major influences and idols. Of Janet Jackson, Rihanna has commented, “she was one of the first female pop icons that I could relate to.” Rihanna has said the late R&B singer Aaliyah has a huge impact on her style and also complimented on the singers artistry as well. Rihanna was also inspired to start her career after watching Beyoncé on television with Destiny’s Child.Now a Worldwide superstar, Rihanna, has sold over 50 million albums and 190 million digital tracks worldwide, and currently holds the record as the top-selling digital artist of all time. The recipient of seven Grammy Awards® and eleven Billboard Music Awards, she was named the world’s #1 social media star by Forbes, with over 5 billion views on YouTube/VEVO, the most ever for any female artist, and over 36 million Twitter followers and 87 million Facebook Likes.In addition to her 23 Top 10 singles, she also has 18 #1 singles on the Billboard Dance Club Song Charts. She continues to make pop music history as UNAPOLOGETIC, her 7th studio album in seven years debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart on first week UNAPOLOGETIC exploded on the success of “Diamonds,” the fastest-rising single of Rihanna’s career, which became her record-breaking 12th Hot 100 #1 hit. As of 2014, she has 13 hot 100 #1s.
Written by Dianne Washington