Cuban singer Gloria Estefan claimed her fellow Latin superstar Shakira didn't know a word of English when she started recording "Laundry Service," the album that launched her career English-language music career, Univision reported.
"When Shakira began working with us, she didn't know English, so I had to translate the songs from the album 'Laundry Service' and convince her that she could make it big singing in English," said Estefan, according to Univision.
"The first time Shakira had to give a concert singing in English she was very nervous. I went to her dressing room to calm her down and said 'Relax, you're going to do great and everything will be OK.' She walked to the stage and nailed it," said Estefan.
Back in August, during an interview with Oprah Winfrey on Oprah's Next Chapter, Estefan talked about helping other Latin stars launch their careers. According to news site She Knows, the "Mi Tierra" singer feels specially proud of helping Shakira.
"They wanted her just to throw a couple of songs in English on a Latin record and I fought hard," said Estefan. "I said, 'Listen. This is her shot. You can't do it halfway, you know?' An American audience is not gonna get a record that's mostly Spanish because there's a couple of English cuts on it. They're gonna want to hear the whole thing. This is gonna work. I fought hard for her. Fought hard. And she sold like 13 million of that album."
Estefan was quite right about Shakira's promising future. With an estimated fortune of 200 million dollars, the Colombian singer is one of the most successful singer-songwriter of her time.
The "Hips Don't Lie" singer, who told The Guardian UK she studied writing lyrics in English even when she could barely speak the language, was added to The Hollywood Walk of Fame on 2011 after selling an estimated 70 million albums worldwide.