Robyn Rihanna Fenty

Robyn Rihanna Fenty is a Grammy-award winning singer and songwriter who performs under the stage name “Rihanna.”  Born in Barbados on the 20th of February, 1988 to Ronald and Monica Fenty, Rihanna began her life in the small town of Saint Michael.  Rihanna, the eldest of three children in the home, was troubled by her parents’ troubled marriage and her father’s struggle with drug addiction.

Rihanna was singing at 7 years old and continued performing throughout primary school. At the age of 15, Rihanna joined with two of her classmates to form a small musical group at the Combermere School. In 2003, Rihanna and her band-mates were introduced to record produce Evan Rogers. Rogers was on vacation in Barbados at the time and was blown away by Rihanna’s talent.  Rihanna and her mother spent the following year travelling between Barbados and the Rogers’ home in Connecticut. At the age of 16, Rihanna left home and moved to Connecticut to live with the Rogers to begin recording her first demo album.

Rihanna worked with producer-songwriter Carl Sturken to produce a four-song demo that included Rihanna’s first hit song, “Pon de Replay.” Working only on school breaks and holidays, Rihanna and Sturken finished the demo after a year. One the demo was completed, it was sent to various recording companies including Def Jam records. After hearing the demo, Def Jam invited Rihanna to sing and audition for Jay-Z , the president of Def Jam at the time. Rihanna sang Whitney Houston’s “For the Love of You” at the audition and was signed to Def Jam records the next day. Rihanna would spend the next 3 months working on her first album.

Music of the Sun and her follow-up album A Girl Like Me enjoyed modest commercial success, earning a Gold and Platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America respectively. While both albums were received coolly by critics, they did produce over half a dozen Billboard Top 100 hits including one number 1 hit, “Unfaithful.” While producing and promoting her first two albums, Rihanna performed as an opening act for Gwen Stefani in 2005 and toured with the Pussycat Dolls in 2006 and 2007.

For her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, Rihanna decided to move in a new direction musically, dropping Rogers and Sturken and turning to producers Timbaland, will. i. am., and Sean Garrett. With a rebellious image and up-tempo dance tracks, Good Girl Gone Bad, was a critical and commercial success. The album yielded eight hit singles, Double Platinum certification, and a Grammy Award for Rihanna. In 2008, Rihanna headlined her own tour promoting the album and joined Kanye West and others on the Glow in the Dark Tour.

On February 8, 2009, Rihanna was assaulted by her then-boyfriend, singer Chris Brown. The assault left Rihanna visibly battered and caused her to miss a scheduled performance at the 2009 Grammy Awards. On June 22, 2009, Brown pled guilty to felony assault and was sentenced to five years of probation, 180 days of community service, and was ordered to stay away from Rihanna.

Rihanna spent the rest of 2009 collaborating with artists such as Jay-Z and Kanye West. Rihanna also won two more Grammys and released her fourth studio album, Rated R. The album was another critical and commercial hit, producing three more Billboard Top 10 hits and being certified Platinum. To promote the album, Rihanna embarked on The Last Girl in the World Tour.

In 2010, Rihanna has worked with rapper Eminem to produce the hit single “Love the Way You Lie” which marks Rihanna’s seventeenth Top 100 single. She also released a self-titled book, started her own company, and worked on the Peter Berg film Battleship. Rihanna also produced her fifth studio album, Loud, scheduled for release on November 16, 2010.   Find Rihanna and all your favorite musicians with Comcast Cable Deals.

1988 - Born on February 20th in Saint Michael, Barbados. Barbadian singer.

2004 - Attended Combermere High School in Waterford, St. Michael. Rihanna won a beauty pageant and performed Mariah Carey's "Hero" in a school talent show. She was signed to Def Jam.

2005 - Her debut single Pon De Replay was issued in the summer, rapidly climbing to the #2 position on both the US and UK mainstream charts.

2006 - Filming for her first acting role in the straight-to-video cheerleading flick "Bring It On: All or Nothing" was undertaken between sessions for her second album "A Girl Like Me", which arrived a mere 8 months after the first.

2007 - In June 2007, Rihanna released her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad. It topped the charts in countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Russia and Ireland, and peaked at number two in the United States and Australia.  It yielded eight hit singles. all singles reaching the top twenty on the Billboard Hot 100. including the worldwide number-one hit "Umbrella," featuring Jay-Z.

2008 - In June 2008, Rihanna released the re-issue of her third album, titled Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded. She released the first singles from the re-release "Take a Bow". which became a worldwide number-one hit. She earned the seventh female singer to have two songs in the top five. In addition, at the 2008 Grammy Awards, she earned her first Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.

2009 - She collaborated with Jay-Z and Kanye West on "Run This Town. The song peaked at number two on Billboard Hot 100 and also reached the top ten in ten other countries. She appeared on the cover of Vogue Italia for the September 2009 Issue. the photo shoot was influenced by Rihanna's hair, which she had cut for the shoot into a mohawk-like style.

2010 - In January 2010, she received two Grammy Awards for her 2009 single "Run This Town", bringing her total number of Grammy awards to three.