Shakira’s early refrigerator payment and her 49th birthday in 2026

Colombian singer Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll earned her first notable payment at age 16 when a regional TV network compensated her with a refrigerator for a 1993 performance. She continued to work small private shows, bar‑mitzvahs and quinceañeras, selling only about 1,200 copies of her debut album *Magia* and facing early commercial failures.

Despite the modest start, Shakira’s career later surged with the 1995 album *Pies Descalzos* and the 2001 breakthrough *Laundry Service*, eventually making her one of the highest‑earning Latin artists worldwide. In 2026 she turned 49, having been born on 2 February 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia.