Rihanna, The #61 Artist of the Rock Era, Part One

 "Rihanna is the Queen!"

"She is so talented."

"She's an amazing singer."

"Rihanna is extremely versatile."

"I love her voice."

"Her singing is so relaxing.  She's my favorite singer."

"She has recorded some of the best music of the last decade."

"Rihanna is so cool."

"Wow!  I love her music!"

'Superb sexy voice."

"Iconic."

Robin Fenty was born February 20, 1988 in Saint Michael, Barbados.  She experienced severe headaches as a child and was deeply affected by her father's addictions to crack cocaine and alcohol.  Rihanna began singing around the time she was seven.  

In 2003, Rihanna and two classmates formed a trio, and she was discovered soon after by producer Evan Rogers.  During breaks in school, Rihanna recorded demo tapes over the next year.  In 2004, Rihanna won a high school talent show as well as the Miss Combermere school beauty pageant.  

Rihanna signed a contract with the production company, Syndicated Rhythm Productions, owned by Rogers and Carl Sturken and the company distributed her tape to record labels.  

Jay-Z, then president of Def Jam Recordings, heard the tape and invited Rihanna to audition for he and Antonio "L.A." Reid. lkjfsf?  Both were impressed, and Rihanna signed a recording contract with the company.  Rihanna moved to the United States to live with Rogers and his wife. 

 Rihanna recorded music for her debut album, and "Pon De Replay" was released as a single, which reached the Top 5 in 15 countries, including #1 in New Zealand and #2 in the United States, the U.K. and Ireland.  It has sold over two million copies.

Rihanna released the album Music of the Sun in 2005, which debuted at #10.  It attained Gold status in the U.S. and sold over two million copies worldwide.  "If It's Lovin' That You Want" reached #9 in Australia; though it peaked at #36 in the United States, it still sold over one million copies.

 Rihanna released the album A Girl Like Me in 2006, which reached the Top 10 in 13 countries, including #1 in Canada.  The single "SOS" reached the Top 5 in 11 countries, including #1 in the United States and Australia.  It has sold over two million copies and earned MTV Video Music Awards for Viewer's Choice and Best New Artist in a Video. 

 

The album sold one million units in the U.S. alone and has gone over four million worldwide.  "Unfaithful" went to #1 in Canada and Switzerland and the Top 10 in every major country in the world, including #6 in the United States.  The single has sold over three million copies. 

 Rihanna headlined a tour for the first time in promotion of Music of the Sun.   "Break It Off", with Sean Paul,  reached the Top 10 and earned a BMI Pop Award for one of its Award-Winning Songs.

Rihanna won an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist and Billboard Music Awards for Female Artist of the Year, Female Hot 100 Artist of the Year and Pop 100 Artist of the Year.  She was also nominated for World's Best-Selling R&B Artist at the World Music Awards.

 

In 2007, she released the album Good Girl Gone Bad, which featured uptempo dance songs.  Rihanna combined with Jay-Z for the lead single "Umbrella", which topped the U.K. chart for 10 weeks, the longest-running #1 since 1994.  It reached #1 in every major country except France, where it stalled at #6.  

"Umbrella" sold over six million copies around the world and gave Rihanna and Jay-Z a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and a nomination for the prestigious Record of the Year.  The two also won an MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year and Monster Single of the Year and Rihanna was nominated for Female Artist of the Year.  

Rihanna added the U.K., Ireland and Switzerland to Canada in her list of countries that ranked her album #1.  Good Girl Gone Bad is approaching six million in sales in the United States and eight million worldwide.

"Shut Up And Drive" made it an incredible eight consecutive Gold singles and it has now sold over two million copies in the U.S.  It peaked at #3 in France, #4 in Australia, #5 in the U.K. and Ireland, #6 in Germany and Canada but only #15 in the United States.  Billboard appeared to have methodology problems again, ranking a two-million seller at #15.

 

"Hate That I Love You" with Ne-Yo, however, reached #7 and was nominated for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the Grammy Awards.  The single ran her string of consecutive Gold singles to nine with sales of over two million.  It should be pointed out that in 1989, the Recording Industry Association of America lowered the standard for a Gold single to sales of over 500,000 units, making comparisons for Gold singles of pre-'89 and post'89 moot.

 Rihanna pulled a fourth big hit off the album with "Don't Stop The Music"--#1 in Germany, Australia, France and Switzerland, #2 in Canada and #3 in New Zealand.  Sales of over four million in the U.S. netted the song only a #3 ranking, but Rihanna had the last laugh when the song was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the Grammy Awards.

 Rihanna performed 80 shows in North America and Europe before embarking on a tour with Kanye West in 2008.  Later in the year, she released the album Good Girl Gone Bad:  Reloaded, which featured three new songs.  "Take A Bow" jumped from 53-1, second only to Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder" the year before (64-1) for the biggest leap to the top at that time.  It also hit #1 in the United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland.

"Take A Bow" has sold over four million copies and the video was nominated for Best Female Video at the MTV VMA's.

Rihanna earned Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist honors at the American Music Awards.  She won World Music Awards for World's Best-Selling Pop Female Artist and World's Best Entertainer of the Year and was nominated for World's Best-Selling R&B Female Artist.

 "Disturbia" is another monster hit from the album and has sold over six million copies in the U.S. alone.  It ran to #1 in the United States and New Zealand, #2 in Canada, #3 in the U.K. and France, #4 in Ireland and Switzerland, #6 in Germany and #6 in Australia.  "Disturbia" earned a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording.

 "Rehab", another single from the main Good Girl Gone Bad album, reached #4 in Germany but only #16 in the United States, despite two million in sales.

Join us for Part Two tomorrow!