Rihanna

Who is Rihanna?

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on 20 February 1988 in Saint Michael, Barbados. Discovered as a teenager, she was signed to Def Jam Recordings in 2005 and went on to release a string of globally chart-topping singles and albums through the 2000s and 2010s, including "Umbrella," "Diamonds," and "Work," becoming one of the best-selling music artists in history and a multiple Grammy Award winner. She later expanded into business, founding the cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty in 2017, widely praised for the unusual breadth of its foundation shade range, followed by the lingerie label Savage X Fenty, ventures that made her one of the wealthiest self-made female entrepreneurs in the world. She has served as an official ambassador for Barbados on education, tourism, and investment, and headlined the Super Bowl LVII halftime show in 2023. On 30 November 2021, the fifty-fifth anniversary of Barbadian independence and the day the country became a republic, Prime Minister Mia Mottley conferred on her the title of National Hero of Barbados, the eleventh person and, alongside Sir Garfield Sobers, one of only two living Barbadians ever to receive the honor.

Sources: The Washington Post, "New republic Barbados names Rihanna national hero after removing Queen Elizabeth" · PBS NewsHour, "Rihanna's officially titled 'right excellent,' named Barbados national hero" · Al Jazeera, "New republic Barbados names Rihanna as a national hero"