Rihanna's biography presentation

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 20 th 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.