Rihanna
by: Sara Aponte

As many of you know, Rihanna is a R&B singer. Lots of people classify her as a dance hall singer. Rihanna has become more famous then she has ever imagined. She got in the scene of entertainment very fast. Rihanna was born in the beautiful island of Barbados in 1987. When she was young, she started singing to her family and friends, just for plain entertainment.Rihanna got involved in Music in her early teens. On one special day, a very good friend of Rihanna told her, she knew a producer called Evan Rogers, so she went and took Rihanna to him. He ask her to sing any song she wanted and Evan Rogers was very surprised on Rihanna’s talent. Immediately after that, they worked on demos that had more then 11 tracks. They mailed out the demos to many recording companies, which one of them was Def Jam Recordings, and they were the ones who gave Rihanna a chance to make it big.Shane Carter, but most know him as “Jay Z”, was also surprised on the talent of Rihanna. He immediately started recording her LP disc. Not only did Rihanna sing the notes, but she wrote lots of them to. Since then, she has gone to various radio stations. Rihanna said she is inspired by lots of artist like Beyonce Knowles, and Mariah Carey. As time passes, she is going to get more famous, and people are going to have the opportunity of hearing her amazing voice.Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, is an R&B singer from the Caribbean island of Barbados. Rihanna was first discovered in Barbados by music producer, Evan Rogers, who along with his partner Carl Sturken, assisted Rihanna in recording a demo to be sent to record labels like Def Jam.Upon auditioning for CEO Jay-Z, Rihanna was signed right there on the spot. In August 2005, she released her debut album, Music of the Sun, which she co-wrote. The album peaked within the top ten in the U.S., Canada, and the top forty in the U.K., propelled by the hit single Pon de Replay, which climbed to #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. That year, Rihanna also toured with Gwen Stefani, which undoubtedly helped promote the album.In April 2006, Rihanna released her sophomore album, A Girl Like Me, which would peak at #5 in the U.S. and #6 in the U.K. The lead single, SOS (Rescue Me), climbed to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Pop 100, Hot Dance Music/Club Play, and became the biggest first week digital single ever, selling over 169,000 copies in its first week.Her second single, Unfaithful, written by Ne-Yo, became her third top 10 hit in the U.S. Rihanna has several endorsement deals under her belt, including ones for Nike and J.C. Penney. She also had a cameo role in Bring It On 3.Rihanna made her debut in the American music industry when she was only seventeen. Hailing from Saint Michael, Barbados, she was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988. Her father, Ronald, was a native of Barbados, while her mother, Monica, was from Guyana. Having shown a love for music at an early age, she started a musical trio with her friends from Combermere Secondary School. Since then, she has performed musical number for her school, where her talent became well-known.Rihanna's earliest musical influences were from her Caribbean culture, as well as Beyonce Knowles, Alicia Keys, and Fefe Dobson. In 2003, she was introduced to Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken, the music producers who recorded her first songs for demonstration for record labels in the United States. Rap artist Jay-Z recognized the young girl's talent and signed her up with Def Jam Records.Her first album, "Music of the Sun" was launched in the US in 2005. The album reached platinum status after massive sales in other countries. It contained the hit single "Pon De Replay" which reached the second top spot in the Billboard Hot 100 charts. She has performed the song in many TV programs like the Tyra Banks Show, Ellen DeGeneres Show, Late Show with David Letterman, and many others."A Girl Like Me" was her immediately released second album in April 2006. This sophomore release featured more hit songs like "SOS", "Unfaithful", and "We Ride". During this year, Rihanna has done collaborative projects with other artists like Ne-Yo, Sean Paul, and Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls. She also made product endorsements with Secret, JC Penney, Nike, and Clinique.In 2007, Rihanna launched her third album entitled, "Good Girl Gone Bad" which contained the record-breaking single, "Umbrella". She recorded the song with Jay-Z and soared to the top of the Billboard charts, remaining at the spot for more than 10 weeks. The music video for this single also won her the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year and Monster Single of the Year in 2007.Other accomplishments by Rihanna include her being ranked as one of the richest Hollywood teens by The Times of India. At the Live Earth Tokyo concert in July 20007, Rihanna performed alongside various artists to promote environmental conservation. At present, she is working with projects alongside Beyonce and Chris Brown, and is currently promoting her album in many countries.At this year's Grammy awards, the red carpet was chock-full of stylish celebrities in their most extravagant gowns and couture accessories. It's no wonder the paparazzi were out in full-force to catch glimpses of 2008's musically inclined. Here were some of the top style trends for the fabulous 2008 Grammy Awards...Not only did the Barbados-born beauty score big for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration with her hit song "Umbrella" that features Jay-Z, but Rihanna also hit the right note donning a bright blue (the apparent color of the evening), 80s themed, feather-trimmed dress by friend and fantastic designer, Zac Posen. To complement her electric ensemble, she wore a simple, yet stunning 27-carat cuff bracelet by Chopard.Still, the trend of cuff bracelets runs rampant as other celebs followed suit...Irreplaceable Beyonce also donned a beautiful diamond Caviar Cuff by Lorraine Schwartz. This angular and aesthetically pleasing piece alone costs half a million dollars. We can only wonder at the cost of her Elie Saab couture gown that made her look like she floated right down from heaven to attend.You're never gonna find a cuff like this beautiful yellow-gold Neil Lane piece that songstress Natasha Bedingfield strutted down the aisle wearing. The yellow-gold color perfectly complemented the deep, rich purple gown this blonde bombshell wore for the evening.American Idol Diva Fantasia also joined the cuff club with a gorgeous H.Stern piece that swirled like a snake. The sparkling silver was the perfect match to her skin-tone and her gathered-in-all-the-right-places black gown.Take notes from the stars on how not to over-accessorize. Each of these fabulous ladies paired their large cuff bracelets with small and simple pieces, like tiny rings and stud earrings. Most didn't even bother with an eye-attracting necklace.Today every girl also wants to carry the handbag that her favorite celebrity carries. Celebrity inspired trendy handbags are all the rage today. It's easy to understand why. When we see celebrities like Jessica Simpson, Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, Demi Moore, Hiliary Duff, Lindsay Lohan and Reese Witherspoon carrying handbags we want to carry the same handbag too!Well, good luck! What you're going to find is that the quilted Chanel handbag being carried by Rihanna probably costs $2,000 to $2,500. I don't know many people who can afford that. You may also find that Halle Berry's Jimmy Choo Mahala bag will set you back a whopping $2,225. I'll bet you can't afford that either.What you can afford however are celebrity inspired handbags. These inspired handbags are not meant to be exact replica handbags. These trendy celebrity inspired handbags are designed taking the most recognizable design element of the original bag and re-working it into a handbag for the masses.Have you ever seen the price of a Hermes Birkin handbag? A real one may cost you $10,000 or more. I've seen Hermes Birkin handbags with an asking price of $55,000. Ridiculous.Carefully crafted and quality made these handbags are fashionable and echo the very latest handbag trends. You'll find a wide array of different types of celebrity inspired handbag. You'll find travel bags, clutches and evening bags, hobo purses, quilted handbags, shoulder bags and many more.You'll also be thrilled with the prices. As mentioned above, authentic designer handbags sell for thousands of dollars. Designer inspired handbags are affordable for every woman. With some styles in the $50 - $70 range a lot of women end of finding a handbag style they like and they purchase it in several different colors.Interested in the latest Prada Spring handbag? It's going to set you back $2,500. You can find a designer inspired handbag for $52. A Fendi handbag will set you back $900 to $2,100 or more. A designer inspired handbag that echoes the Prada style will cost you around $70.The funny thing is that celebrity inspired and designer inspired trendy handbags are gaining in popularity. With the price of authentic designer handbags skyrocketing and with the pervasive problem of fake designer handbags a lot of women don't want to risk spending thousands of dollars for a fake. A lot of women today purposely buy fake designer handbags or save even more money and get even more style buying designer inspired handbags.