Biography or Rihanna

1. Rihanna
ARTIST FACT FILE.
By Lauren Kench

2. Rihanna’s real name and age
 Rihanna’s real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty. Her
middle name is Arabic and means “sweet basil”. She
uses this as her stage name, however is still referred
to as Robyn by her family and close friends.
 Robyn aka Rihanna is 29 years old and was born on
the 20th of February 1988.

3. Genre of music
 Rihanna sings a range of genres, contemporary R&B, reggae,
dance-pop, pop music and hip hop music. One example of
the many R&B songs by Rihanna, could be wild thoughts
(2017). An example of a reggae song could man down (2010).
We found love (2011) is an example of a dance-pop song by
Rihanna and work (2016) is an example of a hip-hop song by
Rihanna.

4. Image/style.
 Rihanna has a very different style to most other artists. In 2011, she said
to rolling stone “I always wanted to be the opposite of everyone else. So I
would go to the club in a polo T-shirt and pants and sneakers and a hat
on backward, just so I would not be dressed like other girls”. Rihanna has
ever-changing hairstyles and a penchant for the extreme side of fashion.
She is one of the music industry’s ultimate style chameleons. She has
inspired endless column inches for her sartorial choices, which have
spanned every designer name under the sun. She goes from androgynous
to girl, voluminous gowns to sleek suits. However always rocks every
style.

5. Record label.
Rihanna is currently signed to Roc
Nations. However the previous record
label that she was signed too Def Jam, is
still involved with the project.

6. How did she get signed?
 As a teenager, Rihanna turned to signing as a release from her troubles at
home. She formed a girl group with two classmates at the age of 15. They
managed to score themselves an audition with music producer Evan
Rodgers. He was awed by how talented Rihanna was. He said “the minute
Rihanna walked into the room, it was like the other two girls didn’t exist”.
Less than a year later when Rihanna was only 16, she left Barbados to
move in with Rodgers to work on recording a demo album. In 2005,
Rodgers landed Rihanna with an audition for Def Jam Records with Jay-Z.
He signed her on the spot.

7. What did she do before she was signed?
 Before Rihanna was signed to Def Jam Records she lived at home with her
family. Her childhood was marred by her father’s struggles with
addictions to alcohol and crack cocaine and her parents’ marital
problems- they divorced when she was only 14 years old. She also
struggled with crippling headaches for several years during her
childhood. At the age of 15 she turned to singing because it was the only
way she could escape from her home life problems. She was shortly
signed after she created a girl group with two of her classmates.

8. Who is her target audience?
 Rihanna’s target audience is primarily teenage girls, aged
from about 14-19, however her music is of wide range,
meaning that it can appeal to all ages and both genders. She
is very inspirational and acts as a role model for many
people, because of how hard her upbringing was and how
well she has succeeded after all of her childhood problems
and her problems later on in life with relationships and
abuse. This widens her target audience because women and
teenagers look up to Rihanna for inspiration and support.

9. Awards and recognitions.
 Rihanna has been nominated for 554 awards and won 159 of those. She
has received awards for her work in music, film and the fashion industry.
Her first single “Pon de Replay” led her to win five awards, following her
achieving further accolades for both herself and her debut album. Her
second album earned the singer more awards and nominations but her
third studio album became Rihanna’s breakout album with the singer
receiving a string of awards and nominations in newer categories. The
lead single umbrella earned Rihanna her first Grammy Award in 2008. It
was also named the ‘song of the decade’ at the Barbados music awards in
2010. Rihanna has won 8 Grammy awards in her lifetime so far.