Journey from the remote island paradise of Barbados to follow her  American dream of stardom!!

“I just had a dream. I had an idea and I knew what I wanted to do. This is what I going to do. All I wanted to do was to make music internationally. In Barbados, it is unrealistic dream”

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20, 1988 to  Monica (Braithwaite) and Ronald Fenty. She was born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown. Rihanna has two brothers, Rorrey and Rajad Fenty, and two half-sisters and a half-brother from her father’s side. Rihanna’s childhood was deeply affected by her father’s addiction to crack cocaine and alcohol which contributed to her parents’ rocky marriage. She said in an interview of ABC news ” I always said to myself, I am never gonna date somebody like my dad.” As a child, she suffered the excruciating headaches for which she was also suspected of tumour. But it was proven negative with CT scans. By the time she was fourteen, Rihanna’s parents had divorced and her health began to improve. Rihanna grew up listening to reggae music and began singing at around the age of seven. She attended Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and Combermere High School. Rihanna was an army cadet in a sub-military programme and the singer-songwriter Shontelle was her drill sergeant. Although she initially wanted to graduate from high school, she chose to pursue a musical career instead.

She is a little Barbadian girl turned into singer and songwriter. The stardom came courtesy of music director Evan Rogers when he was vacationing in Barbados with his wife, a native of the island. She was introduced to him then. He offered the talented Rihanna a chance to record. At just 16 years old, she left her family and went to New York. She first recorded demo tapes under the direction of record producer Evan Rogers in 2003. She ultimately signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings after auditioning for its then-president, hip hop producer and rapper Jay Z. Rihanna rose to fame with the release of her debut studio album “Music of the Sun” in 2005. Her first albums established her as a “Pop/R&B Princess”. The next album “A Girl like Me” was released in 2006, which charted on  the top 10 of the U.S. Billboard 200 with the hit singles “Pon de Replay” and “SOS”. The follow-up third release “Good Girl Gone Bad” in 2007 reinvented her style and image as sex symbol. The lead single “Umbrella” became an international breakthrough in her career. She won her first Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration with Jay Z in 2008. She released four Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) platinum-certified albums, including the Grammy Award winner Unapologetic (2012).
Now, Rihanna is one of the best-selling artists of all time .  Her eighth studio album Anti (2016) and its lead single “Work” reached number-one on the Billboard 200 and Hot 100. Her songs  “Love the Way You Lie” with Eminem rank among the world’s best-selling singles of all time. She was named the Digital Songs Artist of the 2000s decade and the top Hot 100 artist of the 2010s decade by Billboard. She had many successful musical tour namely “Rihanna: Live in Concert Tour (2006)” “Good Girl Gone Bad Tour (2007–09)”, “Last Girl on Earth Tour (2010–11)”, “Loud Tour (2011)”, “Diamonds World Tour (2013)”, “The Monster Tour (with Eminem) (2014)”, “Anti World Tour (2016)”.

She was in relationship with Chris brown but her first big love singer Chris Brown had physically assaulted her. He was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats. On June 22, 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault. Brown received five years probation and was  ordered to stay fifty yards (46 meters) away from Rihanna, unless at public events, which then would be reduced to ten yards (nine meters).In February 2011, at the request of Brown’s lawyer and with Rihanna’s consent, Judge Patricia Schnegg modified the restraining order to a “level one order”, which allows the singers to appear at awards shows together in the future. To the ABC news exclusive interview, when she was asked how it happened to such a powerful lady, she answered ” I’m strong. I didn’t cause it. It happened to me and it
can happen to anybody. There are lot of women who have experienced what I did, not in the public. So it really made me feel difficult. I was like oh! my God, here goes my little bit of privacy exposed. It’s something that nobody wants anyone to know. I fell in love with that kind of person and its embarrassing. So far and unconditional in love that I went back. I don’t want that to happen and that’s not what I want to teach to people. But again, I am a human being and people put me in very unrealistic expectation. I am not perfect and also completely normal to go back. You start lying to yourself, the minute the physical wounds go away. When I realize that my selfish decision for love could result into some young girl getting killed, I couldn’t be easy with that part and held responsible for telling them go back. Even if Chris never hit me again, who is to say that their boyfriend won’t hit or kill them. These are young girls and I couldn’t imagine how much of an impact i had on these girls until it happened. It was a wake up call for me, big time. Specially when I took myself out of this situation and I will say that to any young girls who is going through domestic violence. Don’t react of of love, eff love to come out of the situation and look at it through a person and for what it really is. Then make a decision because love is so blind ”

From December 2009 to 2010, Rihanna dated Dodgers baseball player Matt Kemp.  She then dated the Canadian rapper Drake but in a January 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, Rihanna confirmed that she had rekindled her relationship with Chris Brown, though he remained under probation for the 2009 domestic violence incident. The confirmation followed persistent media speculation throughout 2012 regarding the pair’s reunion. In a May 2013 interview, Brown confirmed that he and Rihanna had broken up again. She said “I resented him so much and he knew and he kept asking me – you hate me and I kept saying no. But everything he did was annoying to me He being around me and he talking to me. So I finally said I cannot continue to do this. Obviously he didn’t want us to be apart but I know how to make the decision for me.” Chris brown also launched a series of public appeal saying he had written her a song, an apology called changed man but Rihanna denied to hear it and said she never felt to.  She says ” men when they hit a women, the face, broken arm and black eye gonna heal, that’s not the problem. It’s the scar inside which doesn’t. You remember and flashback every time and it’s painful. I don’t think he understood that. They never do and They can’t”. Being asked – What do you want to hear from him, she replied ” nothing, I want him to accept this as a manhood and accept the responsibility and not find a way to feel sorry for himself. I want him to grow up and have a great career and take this as something that you had to go through. Just grow up and learn”. In 2015, Rihanna briefly dated Travis Scott, a rapper from Missouri City, Texas. Currently, Rihanna and Drake are officially dating. Just few weeks past, they locked the lips on the stage in Mtv VMA 2016 and created a sensation.

Apart from being pop icon, Rihanna has also interest in business and endorsement. Rihanna’s first fragrance, “Reb’l Fleur”, was released in January 2011.Rihanna’s second fragrance, “Rebelle”, was released in February 2012. In November 2012, Rihanna released her third fragrance, “Nude”. Rihanna’s fourth women’s fragrance, titled Rogue was released on September 14, 2013. She announced her latest fragrance, RiRi by Rihanna. The scent features notes of passion fruit extract, rum absolute, sparkling cassis, and Italian mandarin. Rihanna is a co-owner, with various other music artists, in the music streaming service Tidal. In November 2015, Rihanna and Benoit Demouy launched a beauty and stylist agency named Fr8me.

In 2006, she created her Believe Foundation to help terminally ill children. In 2007, Rihanna was named as one of the Cartier Love Charity Bracelet Ambassadors, with each celebrity representing a different global charity. To help raise awareness and combat HIV/AIDS, Rihanna and other public figures designed clothing for the February 2008 H&M Fashion Against AIDS line. Rihanna also has been a part of the MAC Viva Glam campaign, which benefits women, men, and children living with HIV/AIDS.

To talk about awards she received, Rihanna has won eight Grammy Awards, eight American Music Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, two BRIT Awards, and the inaugural Icon Award at the American Music Awards of 2013. she also received the Fashion Icon lifetime achievement award from the Council of Fashion  Designers of America in 2014. Forbes ranked Rihanna the fourth most powerful celebrity of 2012, and was named one of Time’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” in the same year.

With a force of combined strength to stand out the domestic violence, her charitable efforts and business pursuits, Rihanna’s bold image and  Caribbean infused R & B pop has turned her into the Global sensation she is today!!!