Robyn Rihanna Fenty (/riˈænə/;[2] born 20 February 1988) is a Barbadian-born singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, and raised in Bridgetown, during 2003, she recorded demo tapes under the direction of record producer Evan Rogers and signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings after auditioning for its then-president, hip hop producer and rapper Jay-Z. In 2005, Rihanna rose to fame with the release of her debut studio album Music of the Sun and its follow-up A Girl like Me (2006), which charted on the top 10 of the US Billboard 200 and respectively produced the successful singles “Pon de Replay”, “SOS” and “Unfaithful”.
She assumed creative control for her third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), and adopted a public image as a sex symbol, while reinventing her music. Its lead single, “Umbrella”, became an international breakthrough in her career, and the song won Rihanna her first Grammy Award at the 50th Annual Grammy Awardsin 2008. She then annually released four consecutive RIAA multi-platinum certified studio albums, including the Grammy Award winner Unapologetic (2012). Her eighth studio album, Anti (2016), topped the US Billboard 200 and became one of the most streamed albums of the year.[3] Many of her songs rank among the world’s best-selling singles of all time, including the singles “Umbrella”, “Take a Bow”, “Disturbia”, “Only Girl (In the World)”, “S&M”, “We Found Love”, “Diamonds”, “Stay” and “Work” in which she is the lead artist, and her collaborations “Live Your Life” (with T.I.), “Love the Way You Lie” and “The Monster” (both with Eminem).
Recognized as a pop icon of today’s music, Rihanna is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with 250 million records sold worldwide.[4] Rihanna is the youngest solo artist to earn fourteen number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and has a total of thirty one top-ten singles. She was named the Digital Songs Artist of the 2000s decade, the top Hot 100 artist of the 2010s decade, as well as the all-time top Pop Songs artist by Billboard .[5][6][7][8] Additionally, she is Spotify’s most streamed female artist of all time.[9] Among numerous awards and accolades, Rihanna has won nine Grammy Awards, twelve American Music Awards and twelve Billboard Music Awards. Furthermore, she was awarded with the inaugural American Music Award for Icon in 2013 and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award in 2016. Rihanna received the Fashion Icon lifetime achievement award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2014. In 2012, Forbes ranked her the fourth most powerful celebrity, while Time included her on the annual list of the most influential people in the world.[10]
