Rihanna - Straight From Barbados

Rihanna was born in Saint Michael, Barbados in 1988, and has been a musical talent since she was a small child. In 2003, when only 15 years of age, she received her first big break when a friend introduced her to Evan Rogers, a prodigious music producer who happened to be on holiday in Barbados at the time.

Rogers helped Rihanna record her first material in the U.S., which was then sent to various recording companies as a pitch, one of which, landed on the desk of Jay-Z, who signed her to Def Jam Records.

Rihanna cites her rapid rise in the music industry to her love of music and her Caribbean background, as well as musical influences like Alicia Keys and Beyoncé Knowles. Some of these influences showed up in her 2005 debut album, Music of the Sun, from which the first single, Pon de Replay, was released in October 2005 and reached number 2 in both the U.S. and the U.K. singles charts.

Despite Pon de Replay's commercial success though, the album was heavily criticised as "lacking replay value, ingenuity and rhythm," but since then it went on to reach the top 10 in both the U.S. and Canadian charts, gaining a platinum certification into the bargain.

To promote her first album, Rihanna toured as the support act for American pop singer Gwen Stefani, which is when Rihanna tickets suddenly became a strong commodity. Many Stefani fans were wowed by the young singer, and a strong army of fans began to grow.

Her second album, A Girl Like Me, came swiftly in April 2006 - less than eight months after the release of the first - and debuted at number five in the U.S. and number four in the U.K..

The lead single, SOS, was subsequently used in a promotional deal with Nike, and the song made it to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. SOS also peaked at number one in Australia and number two in the U.K. - Rihanna's first major international success.

Her second single, Unfaithful, was written by R&B singer Ne-Yo, and became her third top ten hit in the U.S. and U.K.. The third single, We Ride, failed to chart at all in the U.S., but in the U.K. it became her fifth top 20 hit, where it peaked at number 17.

Rihanna's fourth single from the album, Break It Off, featured Sean Paul and climbed to number 45 in the States based purely on airplay. It was then released as a digital download in February, 2007, which hiked the song from number fifty-two in the chart, to number nine.

Rihanna went into the studio early in 2007 with Ne-Yo, Stargate, and Timbaland, to record her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad. The album was released on June 5, 2007.

The first single, Umbrella, featuring Jay-Z, was released in March and reached number one in a multitude of countries, including the U.S.. It went straight to number 1 in the U.K. where it stayed for 10 consecutive weeks, making it the longest running number 1 single since Wet Wet Wet's, Love Is All Around, in 1994, and the longest running number 1 by a female artist since Whitney Houston's, I Will Always Love You, in 1992.

Rihanna worked with Timbaland on three of the songs from the album, and Justin Timberlake co-wrote and provided background vocals to the track, Rehab. Seven weeks after the album was released it went gold in the United States and Platinum on the United World Albums Chart.

Rihanna will tour the U.K. this December, called the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour, tickets for which you can purchase here at viagogo.co.uk.

Discography (Studio Albums)
2005: Music of the Sun (#35 UK #10 USA)
2006: A Girl Like Me (#5 UK #5 USA)
2007: Good Girl Gone Bad (#1 UK #2 USA)

Forthcoming UK Tour Dates
December: 2-Dublin, 3-Belfast, 6-Manchester, 7-Sheffield, 8-Nottingham, 10-Birmingham, 11-Bournemouth, 13-Newcastle, 14-Glasgow, 16-London, 17-Brighton, 19-Cardiff