Rihanna
Rihanna is a world famous singer, who can be called a national heroine of Barbados at this date as namely this exotic island is a place of the future star’s birth. Rihanna developed her vocal talent being a child. She always liked singing and when the girl studied at school, she was a member of a girl group. Thanks to the perfect performance of Mariah Carey’s song «Hero», Rihanna won the competition ‘Miss School’. In 2003, Rihanna, as a member of the group, was introduced to the famous producer Evan Rogers, who was on holiday in Barbados at that time. Rogers immediately pointed Rihanna among other members of the trio and offered to work with him. He sent Rihanna’s demo-records to different record companies till the famous rapper Jay-Z, who owned Def Jam Record Company, listened to one of such records. That was a starting point of the professional career of the young talent. Rihanna began to record her first CD. The CD titled Music of the Sun was released in 2005. The most popular and successful tracks were «Pon de Replay» and «If It’s Lovin’ That You Want». The rising star made a world tour with Gwen Stefani, where she sang as a warm-up, presenting her album. In 2006, the singer released her second album A Girl Like Me. In no time the CD topped music hit parades of USA and England. Rihanna’s real hit was a single «SOS». Tracks «Unfaithful», «We Ride» and «Break It Off» were also very popular. Rihanna released her third album Good Girls Gone Bad in 2007. Till now this album is considered to be the most successful in the singer’s career. Ne-Yo, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, and Timbaland aided in creation of this CD. Cooperation with world stars in combination with Rihanna’s talent provided the album with a great success. The song «Umbrella» became a world hit and earned Rihanna a prestigious Grammy Award (2008). This album was re-released in 2008. The most popular tracks of this album were «If I Never See Your Face Again» (duet with Maroon 5), «Disturbia», «Take a Bow», and «Rehab» (featuring Justin Timberlake).
In the end of 2009, Rihanna released her fourth album titled Rated R. This album was recognized the best album of the year. Singles «Rude Boy», «Russian Roulette», and «Hard» became world hits and the CD got the status of the platinum album.
One of the most notable and popular duets of Rihanna is the song «Love the Way You Lie» (2010) performed with Eminem and which became number one hit in USA, Europe, and Australia. Rihanna’s fifth album Loud was released in the end of 2010. The track «Only Girl (In the World)» topped the world charts and earned Rihanna the second Grammy Award (2011). The most successful singles from this album are «Who's That Chick?» (featuring David Guetta), «What’s My Name?» (featuring the rapper Drake), and «S&M».
