Posts for 'Interviews' Category

Your new album has a more electronic and dance feel to it than previous albums. Why did you want to move in that direction?

Julie Mills Wilson WASHINGTON From the beginning, I wanted an album that was dancy and fun. I wanted to have fun with this, and I want people to have fun with.

it as well, to forget about the economic crisis at least for 10 seconds on the dance floor. I hear that you are a foreign-language buff. How many languages do you speak?

Kathy Dolan, WASHINGTON I speak English, Spanish, Portuguese and some Italian. In my family, there are a few people who speak seven languages.

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The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has announced its list of the 25 famous names who’ll get stars on the Walk of Fame next year, and in addition to the usual array of actors (Hugh Jackman, Cameron Diaz, Kyra Sedgwick, Robert Downey Jr., Felicity Huffman and hubby William H. Macy), a token director (hooray for Tim Burton!) and one fictional character (Tinkerbell), there’s a number of pop and rock and soul figures whose names will soon be trampled upon by tourists from all over the world.

Among them: veteran Canadian power-trio Rush, R&B stalwart Babyface, Colombian sexpot Shakira, saxophonist Dave Koz, Motown legends the Miracles (Smokey Robinson already has his star), John Stamos (OK, that doesn’t count ... but he did play with the Beach Boys for a time) ... and the Village People.

But that list got me wondering: What other music stars have received this sidewalk honor?

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Producer LATI GROBMAN has hit out at the "aggressive" paparazzi stalking LINDSAY LOHAN on the set of their new movie LABOR PAINS - branding the commotion they cause "insane".

Lohan's every move is caught on camera by photographers - and it's no different when the 21-year-old is at work.

And Grobman cannot believe the lengths some snappers will go to to get the perfect shot of Lohan.

She tells People.com, "It's the most insane thing I've ever seen in my life. They do things that are very, very aggressive.

"I'm not a producer anymore, I'm a policewoman!"

But Grobman is pleased to be working with Lohan, and admits she has been won over by her professionalism: "The difference between her and the other girls that are naughty in the business is that she's actually talented.

"It's not (like) Paris Hilton and the rest of them. We took a chance. It's good that we did. So far, so good."

Shakira Washington is an 18-year-old senior at Central High School.

She runs the 100-meter hurdles and is a member of the 4 x 100-meter relay team. She's been on the track team all four years of high school.

She finished third in the hurdles in the SIAC meet and placed second in the sectional, which qualifies her for the regional.

Her mother is Shelia Washington. Her father, George, is deceased. Her fraternal twin sister is Shelise. She has an older sister, Erin, and an older brother, Eric.

Shakira plans to go to Philadelphia (Pa.) University and major in fashion design.

She maintains a 3.9 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale.

She and Shelise each received $2,000 in scholarships from the Northside Kiwanis Club.

What are the three words that best describe you?

Honest. Friendly. Artistic.

Take us through your school day.

My classes are advanced environmental science, desktop publishing, advanced literature, statistics, advanced 3-D art, photography and economics.

In AP literature, we shared poems we liked. I picked Alice Walker's "A Woman Is Not a Potted Plant."

In art, I finished a jewelry piece last week and I'm starting printmaking.

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Not so long ago, Latin American artists who spoke up for social causes often risked prison, exile or far worse.

What a difference a generation makes. On Thursday, a phalanx of Spanish-speaking pop artists headed by Colombian superstar Shakira and Spanish-Italian singer Miguel Bosé gathered here to promote a new initiative to aid Latin America's millions of poor, malnourished and undereducated children. They were joined by the world's second-richest man, a top U.S. philanthropist and an international mob of reporters drawn by a potent cocktail of celebrity, money and power, laced with an emerging social conscience.

Swathed in showbiz glamour, the philanthropic-promotional project will culminate this afternoon with two free all-star concerts, one in the Zócalo, or massive central plaza, of the Mexican capital, the other in the Costanera Sur, an ecological reserve on the edge of downtown Buenos Aires.

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Colombian singer Shakira is using her fame as a top-selling artist and hip-swiveling dancer to help poor Latin American children but she also has her heart set on a new role - mother to her own children.

"I want two," Skakira told Reuters on Thursday at an event to promote her charity, the ALAS Foundation (which stands for Latin America in Solidarity Action when translated into English) that was set up in 2006 to help needy Latin American children.

But asked when she would like to start a family, she laughed nervously and said: "That's a good question."

Shakira, 31, has been dating Antonio de la Rua, the son of a former Argentine president, for nearly eight years, with swarms of photographers constantly tailing the celebrity couple looking for hints about a possible wedding.

Shakira is the biggest-selling Spanish singer of all time, having sold more than 50 million albums in English and Spanish worldwide, and wants to use her fame to raise awareness about the extreme poverty affecting millions of Latin American children.

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Colombian pop singer Shakira brought her glamor to Capitol Hill Tuesday, to urge U.S. Congress to approve more spending to help send the world's poor children to school. VOA's Kent Klein reports from Washington.

Shakira is best known for her rhythmic beats, her sexy dance moves and her unique voice, but she had much more serious matters on her mind when she spoke in a crowded hearing room on Capitol Hill.

The Grammy-winning pop diva is the honorary chairman of a week of events sponsored by an advocacy group called the Global Campaign for Education. The organization wants to provide an education for the estimated 300 million young people around the world who do not have access to school, about 72 million of them between the ages of six and 12.

"I grew up in the developing world, and I grew up seeing with my own eyes that children beg for an education, and I met thousands of parents who were desparate to provide an education to their kids without being able to," said Shakira.

Shakira met with leading U.S. lawmakers Tuesday, and asked them to support a bill in Congress that would have the U.S. provide $10 billion over five years for global education.

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Shakira is trying to shake things up to provide a basic education to every child in the world.

The pop singer met with U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey Tuesday to discuss The Education for All Act.

The Democrat is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee that oversees U.S. foreign assistance programs and also is co-sponsor of the proposed bill.

"I was delighted to meet an advocate who has repeatedly said that she prefers to use the light that is shone on her to shine it on the causes that are truly important, like basic education for children around the world," Menendez said.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown joined a telephone conference Monday with the Grammy-winning singer famed for her hit "Hips Don't Lie." Shakira is working to highlight the cause of education advocacy group the Global Campaign for Education.  

Angelina Jolie. George Clooney. Shakira.

Not a red-carpet lineup, but a roll call of celebrities the sometimes dour British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has recruited to add glamour to his appeals to help the developing world.

Brown joined a telephone conference Monday with Shakira, praising the Colombian pop star for her role in work to see that every child in the world has a basic education.

The Grammy-winning singer is supporting a week of events in support of the Global Campaign for Education.

She said the advocacy group is pressing world leaders to provide funding for primary education for 72 million young children who now miss out on schooling as a result of poverty.

The group also aims to inspire support for 226 million older children who miss out on classes because of truancy or a lack of access to schools.

Brown is the world's "No. 1 champion of education," said the group's chairman, Gene Sperling, an ex-White House economic adviser to former President Clinton.

Shakira also praised Brown, who as British treasury chief in 2006 pledged $15 billion over 10 years for education in the developing world — the largest offer of aid from a Group of Eight industrialized nation.

"He is a man with wonderful intentions," the singer said.

Brown in the past has held talks with Clooney on violence in Darfur, chatted with Jolie on education, and worked closely with Bono and Bob Geldof on aid for Africa.

Pop star Shakira and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will both take part in a conference call today to discuss global education for developing countries as part of Global Campaign for Education Action Week this week.

Shakira is the honorary chairperson GCE Action Week.

The Latino pop star will be on the call along with Brown and World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

The coalition will call on their 120 countries to action government leaders to support basic education for all children. It is estimated that there are 72 young children and 226 million older youths who are out of school around the world.

GCE Action Week is designed to draw attention to the problem.

On Tuesday, Shakira will head to Washington to visit Members of Congress to raise the awareness of the Education for All Act of 2007.

The committee expects the USA to take a leadership role in developing education for under developed nations,

The act calls for $1 billion in funding to go towards the project in 2008 and scale up to $3 billion in year 2012.