Rihanna

Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados.

She is the daughter of accountant Monica (née Braithwaite) and warehouse supervisor Ronald Fenty.

Her mother is Afro-Guyanese, while her father is a Barbadian of African, Irish, English, and Scottish descent.

Rihanna has two brothers, Rorrey and Rajad Fenty, and two half-sisters and a half-brother from her father's side, each born to different mothers from his previous relationships.

She grew up in a three-bedroom bungalow in Bridgetown and sold clothes with her father in a stall on the street.

Her childhood was deeply affected by her father's alcoholism and crack cocaine addiction, which contributed to her parents' strained marriage.

Rihanna's father used to abuse her mother physically, and Rihanna would try to get in between them to break up fights.

As a child, Rihanna had many CT scans for the excruciating headaches she suffered, recalling, "The doctors even thought it was a tumor, because it was that intense."

By the time she was 14, her parents had divorced, and her health began to improve.

She grew up listening to reggae music.

She attended Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and Combermere School, where she studied alongside future international cricketers Chris Jordan and Carlos Brathwaite.

At age 11, Rihanna was a cadet in Barbados' Cadet Corps; the later Barbadian singer-songwriter Shontelle was her drill sergeant.

She initially wanted to graduate from high school, though chose to pursue a musical career instead.

In 2003, Rihanna formed a musical trio with two of her classmates in her home country of Barbados.

Without a name or any material, the girl group auditioned with American record producer Evan Rogers, who commented, "The minute Rihanna walked into the room, it was like the other two girls didn't exist."

Rihanna went to Rogers's hotel room, where she performed renditions of Destiny's Child's "Emotion" and Mariah Carey's "Hero".

Impressed, Rogers scheduled a second meeting with Rihanna's mother present and then invited Rihanna to his hometown in the United States to record some demo tapes that could be sent to record labels.

Recordings were intermittent, taking about a year because she was only able to record during school holidays.

"Pon de Replay" and "The Last Time" were two tracks recorded for the demo tape, which were eventually included on her debut album Music of the Sun.

That same year, Rihanna was signed to Rogers's and Carl Sturken's production company, Syndicated Rhythm Productions.

Signed with Def Jam Recordings in 2005, she gained mainstream recognition following the release of her first two studio albums, Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl Like Me (2006), influenced by Caribbean music, both peaking in the top ten on the US Billboard 200 chart.

Her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), incorporated elements of dance-pop and established her as a major icon in the music industry.

Its lead single "Umbrella" peaked the US Billboard Hot 100, and won her first Grammy Award.

Rihanna continued to mix pop, dance, and R&B genres on her next studio albums, Rated R (2009), Loud (2010), Talk That Talk (2011), and Unapologetic (2012)—the latter of which peaked the Billboard 200.

The albums spawned a string of chart-topping singles, including "Rude Boy", "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?", "S&M", "We Found Love", and "Diamonds".

Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2018.

Forbes ranked her among the top ten highest-paid celebrities in 2012 and 2014.

As of 2024, she is the wealthiest female musician, with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion.

Aside from music, Rihanna is recognized for her humanitarian involvement,

entrepreneurship, and fashion industry influence.

She established the Clara Lionel Foundation, cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty, and fashion house Fenty under LVMH, becoming the first black woman to lead a luxury brand for LVMH.

Rihanna has acted in major roles in Battleship (2012), Home (2015), Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), and Ocean's 8 (2018).

Her eighth album, Anti (2016), showcased new creative control following her departure from Def Jam in favor of Jay-Z's Roc Nation label.

It became her second US number one album and was supported by the chart-topping single "Work".

During her musical career, Rihanna has collaborated with artists including Coldplay, Drake, Eminem, Kanye West, Ne-Yo, and Shakira.

With sales of over 250 million records worldwide, Rihanna is the second-best-selling female music artist of all time and the highest-certified female artist of all time on the RIAA's Top Artists (Digital Singles) ranking.

She has achieved 14 number-one singles, 32 top-ten singles in the US, and 31 top-ten entries in the UK.

Her accolades include nine Grammy Awards, 13 American Music Awards (including the Icon Award), 12 Billboard Music Awards, six Guinness World Records, the NAACP's President's Award, and an Academy Award nomination.

In 2018, she was appointed as an ambassador by the Government of Barbados and declared a National Hero of Barbados in 2021.