Robyn Rihanna Fenty (born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman and actress based in the United States. She is one of the best-selling female music artists of the 21st century and the second wealthiest ever. Rihanna is the highest-certified female digital single artist and has six U.S. diamond certified singles (seven as a featured artist). She has achieved 14 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. The recipient of various accolades, Rihanna is one of the best-selling recording artists ever, with sales estimated at 250 million units worldwide.
Rihanna signed with Def Jam Recordings in 2005 and found mainstream recognition following the release of her first two studio albums, Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl Like Me (2006). Both influenced by Caribbean music, the albums peaked within the top ten on the US Billboard 200 chart. Her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), incorporated elements of dance-pop, and established her status as a pop icon. Its lead single “Umbrella” peaked atop the US Billboard Hot 100 and won her first Grammy Award.
Rihanna continued to blend pop, dance, and R&B influences on her next albums, Rated R (2009), Loud (2010), Talk That Talk (2011), and Unapologetic (2012)—the latter of which topped the Billboard 200. The albums spawned the Billboard Hot 100-number one singles “Rude Boy”, “Only Girl (In the World)”, “What’s My Name?”, “S&M”, “We Found Love”, and “Diamonds”. Her eighth album, Anti (2016), showcased new creative control following her departure from Def Jam in favor of Jay-Z’s label, Roc Nation. Becoming her second US number one album, it was supported by the chart-topping single “Work”.
In early 2007, Rihanna appeared on the single “Roll It” with Jamaican band J-Status and fellow Barbadian singer-songwriter Shontelle. The song appeared on J-Status’ debut album The Beginning, released in several European countries only. Around that time, Rihanna had already begun work on her third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad. With the help of producers Timbaland, Tricky Stewart and Sean Garrett she embraced a new musical direction through uptempo dance tracks. Released in May 2007, the album charted at No. 2 in Australia and the US and topped the charts in multiple countries, including Brazil, Canada, Ireland and the UK. The album received the most positive critical reviews of her first three albums.
Rihanna performing during Good Girl Gone Bad Tour in Brisbane, 2008
The lead single, “Umbrella”, topped the charts in 13 countries and remained at No. 1 in the UK for 10 consecutive weeks, the longest-running No. 1 single there since Wet Wet Wet’s single “Love Is All Around” spent 15 weeks at the top in 1994. It was Rihanna’s first single to be named one of the best-selling singles worldwide, with sales of over 8 million copies. The songs “Shut Up and Drive”, “Hate That I Love You” (featuring Ne-Yo), and “Don’t Stop the Music” were also released as singles, with the latter becoming an international hit. In support of the album, Rihanna began the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour in September 2007, with 80 shows across the US, Canada, and Europe. Rihanna was nominated for several 2008 Grammy Awards for Good Girl Gone Bad, winning Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for “Umbrella” alongside Jay-Z, her first Grammy Award.
Aside from music, Rihanna is recognized for her humanitarian involvement, entrepreneurship, and fashion industry influence. She established the Clara Lionel Foundation, cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty, and fashion house Fenty under LVMH, becoming the first black woman to lead a luxury brand for LVMH. Rihanna has acted in major roles in Battleship (2012), Home (2015), Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), and Ocean’s 8 (2018). In 2018, she was appointed as an ambassador by the Government of Barbados and declared a National Hero of Barbados in 2021.
Early life
Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados. She is the daughter of accountant Monica (née Braithwaite) and warehouse supervisor Ronald Fenty. Her mother is Afro-Guyanese, while her father is a Barbadian of African, Irish, English, and Scottish descent. Rihanna has two brothers, Rorrey and Rajad Fenty, and two half-sisters and a half-brother from her father’s side, each born to different mothers from his previous relationships. She grew up in a three-bedroom bungalow in Bridgetown and sold clothes with her father in a stall on the street. Rihanna has said that her childhood was deeply affected by her father’s alcoholism and crack cocaine addiction, which contributed to her parents’ strained marriage. She has said in interviews that her father used to abuse her mother physically, and that she would try to get in between them to break up fights.
As a child, Rihanna had many CT scans for the excruciating headaches that she suffered, recalling that “doctors even thought it was a tumor, because it was that intense.” By the time she was 14, her parents had divorced, and her health began to improve. She grew up listening to reggae music. She attended Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and Combermere School, where she studied alongside future international cricketers Chris Jordan and Carlos Brathwaite. At age 11, Rihanna was a cadet in Barbados’s Cadet Corps; the later Barbadian singer-songwriter Shontelle was her drill sergeant. She initially wanted to graduate from high school, but she chose to pursue a musical career instead.
Music career
2003–2006: Beginnings and early releases
In 2003, Rihanna formed a musical trio with two of her classmates in Barbados. Without a name or any material, the girl group auditioned with American record producer Evan Rogers, who commented, “The minute Rihanna walked into the room, it was like the other two girls didn’t exist.” Rihanna later performed renditions of Destiny’s Child’s “Emotion” and Mariah Carey’s “Hero”. Impressed, Rogers scheduled a second meeting with Rihanna’s mother present and then invited Rihanna to his hometown in the United States to record some demo tapes that could be sent to record labels. Recordings were intermittent, taking about a year because she was only able to record during school holidays. “Pon de Replay” and “The Last Time” were two tracks recorded for the demo tape, which were eventually included on her debut album Music of the Sun. That same year, Rihanna was signed to Rogers’s and Carl Sturken’s production company, Syndicated Rhythm Productions.
After signing with Def Jam, Jay-Z and his team did the A&R for Rihanna’s debut album and spent the next three months recording and completing her debut album. She worked with different producers to complete her debut studio album, primarily Rogers and his production partner Carl Sturken. With several songs to pick as a lead single, “Pon de Replay” was chosen because it seemed like the best song suited for a summer release.
In May 2005, her debut single, “Pon de Replay”, was released under her mononym “Rihanna”. It charted successfully worldwide, peaking in the top five in fifteen countries, including at No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart. The song became a club hit in the United States, peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs.
Music of the Sun was released in August 2005. It debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 and received a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of over 500,000 units. The album sold over 2 million copies worldwide.
A second single, “If It’s Lovin’ that You Want”, was not as successful as its predecessor, but reached the top 10 in Australia, Ireland and New Zealand. Aside from her work in music, Rihanna made her acting debut in a cameo role in the successful straight-to-DVD film Bring It On: All or Nothing, released in August 2006.
Rihanna’s demo was shipped out to Def Jam Recordings, where Jay Brown, an A&R executive at the record label, was one of the first to hear the demo. Brown played the demo tape for rapper Jay-Z, who had recently been appointed as president and CEO of Def Jam. When Jay-Z first heard the track “Pon de Replay”, he felt the song was too big for her.
Fenty
Main article: Fenty (fashion house)
Fenty was a fashion brand by Rihanna under the luxury fashion group LVMH, which launched in May 2019. She was the first woman to create an original brand for LVMH and also the first woman of colour to lead an LVMH brand. The house launched in a pop-up store on May 22, 2019, in Paris, before launching worldwide online on May 29 and included clothing, accessories, and footwear. It was the first line that LVMH had launched since 1987. The fashion brand was described as ground-breaking, and in a statement regarding the launch, Rihanna said that she had been given a “unique opportunity to develop a fashion house in the luxury sector, with no artistic limits.” Due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, in February 2021, Rihanna and LVMH decided to “put on hold” her Fenty fashion house and continue building on the SavagexFenty lingerie line.
Rihanna exclusively uses her surname for business endeavours not related to her music career so as not to conflate the two. In January 2019, Rihanna filed a lawsuit against her father, Ronald Fenty, over the use of the Fenty name for commercial purposes. The lawsuit alleges Rihanna’s cosmetics brand, Fenty Beauty, was damaged commercially by her father’s company, Fenty Entertainment, through misrepresentation of his company being affiliated with her.
In September 2021 Rihanna dropped the lawsuit against her father.
Savage X Fenty
Main article: Savage X Fenty
In 2018, Rihanna launched a lingerie brand named Savage X Fenty. The line was born from Rihanna’s vision creating an inclusive brand. Products come in a variety of shades to match all skin tones and a range of sizes. She showcased the brand at the New York Fashion Week in September 2018. The brand has been positively reviewed by the public for including plus size models in their promotion, though some fans argued there were not enough plus sizes.
In September 2019, Rihanna promoted the brand in a show again during the New York Fashion Week held at the Barclays Centre with modelling appearances from models Alex Wek, Bella Hadid, Cara Delevingne, actress Laverne Cox, and musicians Normani and 21 Savage. The show featured performances by DJ Khaled, Halsey, ASAP Ferg, Big Sean, Migos, Fat Joe, Fabolous, and Tierra Whack and premiered on Amazon Prime Video on September 20, 2019, as the Savage X Fenty Show. The show was renewed for a third time in 2020, with appearances from musicians such as Travis Scott, Rosalía, Bad Bunny, Ella Mai, Lizzo, Big Sean, Miguel, Roddy Ricch and Rico Nasty. This version also premiered on Amazon Prime Video on October 2, 2020.
Fenty Skin
In July 2020, Rihanna launched a skin care brand called Fenty Skin.
Fenty Hair
In June 2024, Rihanna launched a hair care brand called Fenty Hair. The products of the brand are intended to be suitable for all hair types, textures and routines.
RIHANNA URL LINKS:
Website: https://www.rihanna.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badgalriri
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/rihanna
TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@rihanna
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rihanna
X: https://www.x.com/rihanna