A pop superstar with a beautiful voice and a face to match, Rihanna was discovered in her native Barbados when she was just 15.

She'd been singing practically from birth, and the young musician often formed musical groups with other girls at school. Rihanna was harmonizing with some friends when her vocal stylings were overheard by producer Evan Rogers while he was on vacation with his wife. Rogers was positive the girl had star potential, and this soon led the young artist to move to the States, where she recorded a demo with Rogers and soon scored a record deal with Def Jam. She released her debut album, Music of the Sun, in 2005, and soon became a major fixture in the pop music world, with regular rotation on radio and MTV. Her second album, A Girl Like Me, came in 2006, and a third, Good Girl Gone Bad, came in 2007. All proved to be major hits, both critically and commercially, and Rihanna soon found that she'd become a bonafide star and an icon of music, fashion, and media. She was splashed across the tabloid after being involved in a violent domestic incident with her then boyfriend Chris Brown the day of the Grammy awards in 2009. Three years later she would make her acting debut in the special effect action film Battleship. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi.
Some people seem to have all the luck. And then there are those fortunate few who not only have all the luck, but the talent to go along with it. Rising dance-pop diva Rihanna has both luck and talent, and she stands poised to reign supreme on the pop charts. Back-to-back summer hits "Pon de Replay" (2005) and "S.O.S." (2006) catapulted her from a young singer in Barbados to worldwide star status, and her fusion of R&B, hip hop, and reggae have helped her stand out among other pop stars.
Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, Rihanna grew up in the parish of St. Michael on the island of Barbados. Although she is living out her dream now as a professional singer, Rihanna did not ever imagine she would hear her songs on the radio. She revealed in a Boston Globe profile, "I would sing in the mirror, holding a brush to my mouth like it was a microphone." And even though the neighbors would complain about her loud singing, she kept at it. Without any professional singing experience, her first standout moment occurred when she was in high school and won a talent contest singing Mariah Carey's "Hero." Along with Carey, Rihanna counts Whitney Houston and Beyoncé as her musical idols.
In December of 2003, while still a high school student, Rihanna was introduced to producer Evan Rogers through a mutual friend. Rogers, who had worked with Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Ruben Studdar, and Kelly Clarkson, was on vacation with his wife, Jackie, a native of Barbados, when he heard Rihanna sing. Rogers was impressed, and flew her to New York to record a demo. Over the next year Rihanna worked on her demo with Rogers and his partner Carl Sturken, who ran Syndicated Rhythm Productions. They began circulating the demo, which included the single "Pon de Replay." Def Jam label president and CEO Shawn Carter, better known as Jay-Z, was the first and last label exec to get a sit-down with Rihanna. After an impressive audition at Jay-Z's office, Executive Vice President Jay Brown recalled in the Globe, "I wanted an artist who could be developed. When I knew she could sing, I knew I could work with her." After cancelling a set of meetings with other labels, Rihanna, who was only 16 years old, literally signed with Def Jam on the spot, with lawyers completing the contract by 3:00 A.M.
Shortly after signing with Def Jam, Rihanna's career kicked into overdrive and by May of 2005 she had released her first single, "Pon de Replay." It didn't take long for the infectious rhythms of this breakout summer hit to top the charts and score as a huge dancehall hit. Shortly after its release, Sirius Satellite Radio Hip Hop musical director Geronimo predicted that "Pon de Replay" would become the summer's big hit. In fact, only Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" beat out "Pon de Replay" for the number one spot on Billboard's chart.
When her first CD, Music of the Sun, came out in August it debuted at number ten on the charts. Amid an avalanche of pop CDs, Music of the Sun managed to earn respectable praise for Rihanna's "above-average" singing. Rolling Stone critic Jason Birchmeier noted, "As with most albums of this ilk, Music of the Sun descends into faceless slow jams after a while … but thankfully it picks up the pace toward the end of its 13-song run and concludes on a fun note, with a remix of "Pon de Replay" featuring Elephant Man. The result is one of the more engaging urban dance-pop albums of the year."
In 2005 Rihanna took to the road with Gwen Stefani, where she was schooled in rock, an influence that appeared on her 2006 CD A Girl Like Me on the track "Kisses Don't Lie," which blends a rock beat with Caribbean rhythms. On her website Rihanna noted, "Coming from Barbados, I really hadn't heard that much rock music. Touring with Gwen changes my perspective. So, when I was discussing this project with L.A. Reid, Chairman of Island Def Jam Records, I made sure to say I want to experiment with some rock." The album, which was executive produced by Jay-Z, is pure pop, with two runaway hits, "S.O.S" and "Unfaithful." Most critics have credited Rihanna with avoiding a sophomore slump through clever and ambitious songs that continue to show the singer's promise. Although still only 18 years old, Rihanna shows maturity, both in her personal life and in her music. She told London Guardian reporter Amina Taylor, "My mom raised me to be a child and know my place but also to think like a woman…. So fortunately I am very mature for my age. In this business you have to work with the things that get thrown your way…. I don't feel under any additional pressure being young. Starting early means I get a chance to grow as a person and as an artist."
Selected discography
Albums
Music of the Sun, Island Def Jam, 2005; rereleased with bonus track, Universal/Mercury, 2005.A Girl Like Me, Def Jam, 2006.
Sources
Periodicals
Boston Globe, July 19, 2005; May 5, 2006.
Chicago Tribune, November 15, 2005.
Guardian (London, England), November 25, 2005.
Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2006.
New York Times, September 5, 2005; April 24, 2006.
Rolling Stone, August 18, 2005; September 8, 2005; May 26, 2006.
U.S.A. Today, August 2, 2005.
Washington Post, April 26, 2006.
Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados. Her mother is Monica Braithwaite, a retired Afro-Guyanese accountant, and her father is Ronald Fenty, a warehouse supervisor of Barbadian and Irish descent.[13][14] Rihanna has two brothers, Rorrey and Rajad Fenty, and two half-sisters and a half-brother from her father's side, each born by different mothers from his previous relationships.[15][16][17] Growing up in a three-bedroom bungalow in Bridgetown and selling clothes with her father on a street stall, Rihanna's childhood was deeply affected by her father's addiction to crack cocaine, alcohol, and marijuana, and her parents' turbulent marriage ended when she was 14.[12][14][18] Rihanna grew up listening to reggae music and began singing at around the age of seven.[15][19] She attended Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and then the Combermere High School, where she formed a musical trio with two of her classmates.[15] Rihanna was an army cadet in a sub-military programme; the singer-songwriter Shontelle was her drill sergeant.[20] Although she initially wanted to graduate from high school, she chose to pursue a musical career instead.[21]
Rihanna's career began through her association with American record producer Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers; she met Rogers through mutual friends in Barbados in December 2003.[22] Rogers soon asked Rihanna to come to his hotel room, where she performed renditions of the songs "Emotion" and "Hero".[22] This impressed Rogers, who then took her on various trips to New York, where she was accompanied by her mother, Monica, to record some demo tapes which could be sent to record labels.[22][23] Rihanna was signed to Rogers' and Sturken's production company, Syndicated Rhythm Productions, who assigned her a lawyer and manager before the completed demo tape was distributed to various record labels around the world in 2004.[23] In February 2005, the president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings Jay-Z requested to meet Rihanna and she auditioned for him and industry executive L.A. Reid, performing Whitney Houston's version of "For the Love of You" as well as the original songs "Pon de Replay" and "The Last Time".[23][24] On the same day of the audition, Rihanna signed a six-album record deal with Def Jam Recordings, later relocating from Barbados to New York to live with Rogers and his wife.