Now: Rihanna

Robyn Rihanna Fenty, better known as Rihanna, is a recording artist and model. Born February 20, 1988 in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers. She subsequently signed a contract with Def Jam Recordings after auditioning for then-label head Jay-Z.

In 2005, Rihanna released her debut studio album, "Music of the Sun," which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard 200 and features the Billboard Hot 100 hit single "Pon de Replay". Less than a year later, she released her second studio album, "A Girl Like Me" (2006), which peaked within the top five of the Billboard albums chart, and produced her first US number one hit single, "SOS", as well as Billboard Hot 100 top ten entries "Unfaithful" and "Break It Off."

Rihanna's third studio album, "Good Girl Gone Bad" (2007), peaking at number two on the Billboard 200, featured five top ten hits including three US number one hit singles - "Umbrella", "Take a Bow" and "Disturbia" - and the worldwide hit "Don't Stop the Music." The album was nominated for nine Grammy Awards, winning Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Umbrella," which features Jay-Z.

Rihanna has sold over 12 million records, worldwide in her four-year career span and has received several accolades, including the 2007 World Music Awards for World's Best-Selling Pop Female Artist and Female Entertainer of the Year, as well as the 2008 American Music Awards for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist and Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist.

Rihanna has attained five Hot 100 number one singles, becoming the first of two female artists with the most number ones attained within the 2000s. She also serves as one of Barbados' honorary cultural ambassadors.

After signing with Def Jam, she spent the next three months recording and completing her debut album. The album featured production from Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken, Stargate and Poke & Tone. She first collaborated with rapper Memphis Bleek on his fourth studio album 534 before her debut. She released her debut single, "Pon de Replay", on August 22, 2005, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It also became a global hit where it peaked within the top ten across fifteen countries.

Her debut album, "Music of the Sun," was released in August 2005 in the United States. The album reached number ten on the Billboard 200, selling 69,000 copies in its first week. The album has sold over two millions copies worldwide and is certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, denoting shipments to US retailers of over 500,000 units.

Her music was marketed within the soca and reggae genres because of her Caribbean descent. The album received mixed reviews by music critics. Rolling Stone magazine rated it 2.5 out of 5 stars and described as lacking the replay value, ingenuity and rhythm of the single with "generic vocal hiccups and frills" of US R&B inflecting upon her "Caribbean charm."

Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described the album as a "glut of teen R&B chanteuses" and described her lead single "Pon de Replay" as "a dancehall-pop mixture that owes plenty of its sweat and shimmy to Beyoncé's "Baby Boy"." A reviewer for Entertainment Weekly commented that the "dancehall/R&B debut is filled with chintzy production and maudlin arrangements that block out the Music of the Sun."

The album's second single, "If It's Lovin' that You Want" was less successful than "Pon de Replay", having managed a peak position of No. 36 in the U.S., and No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The third single, "Let Me," was only released in Japan, peaking at number eight.

A month after the release of her debut album, she began working on her second studio album. The album contained production from record producers Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken who produced most of her debut album, "Stargate," J. R. Rotem and label-mate singer-songwriter Ne-Yo.

While recording the album, Rihanna served as an opening act for Gwen Stefani to promote her debut album. The lead single, "SOS", peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her first No. 1 in the United States.

"A Girl Like Me" was released in April 2006, less than eight months later of her debut. The album reached number five on the Billboard 200 selling 115,000 copies in its first week and has been certified platinum by the RIAA, having shipped over one million units.

The critical response to the album was mixed; Rolling Stone magazine commented "Like her filler-packed debut album, this similar but superior follow-up doesn't deliver anything else as ingenious as its lead single." Critics also described the album as a record that almost identically alternates between the sunny dancehall/dub-pop, hip-hop-infused club bangers and gushy, adult-oriented ballads. The second single, "Unfaithful", became a major worldwide hit, reaching the top ten in dozen countries around the world, including the United States where it reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as topping the charts in Canada, France and Switzerland.

The album's third single, "We Ride" failed to reprise the success of the lead single but the fourth single, "Break It Off" featuring Sean Paul, jumped from No. 52 to No. 9. After the release of the album, she embarked on the Rock Tha Block Tour and then toured with Pussycat Dolls from November 2006 to February 2007 in the United Kingdom.

Rihanna released her third album, "Good Girl Gone Bad," in June 2007. Prior to the release of the album, she spent the week of the Grammys writing songs for the album with Ne-Yo. She adopted a more sexual image while recording the album, eventually dying her hair black and cutting it short. Rihanna worked with Timbaland and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, as well as previous musical collaborators such as Stargate, Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers to re-imagine her album compositions with uptempo dance tracks.

Rihanna commented, "I want to keep people dancing but still be soulful at the same time [...] You feel different every album, and [at] this stage I feel like I want to do a lot of uptempo [songs]." The album peaked at No. 2 in the United States.

Unlike previous work, the album featured a more dance-pop sound instead of the dancehall, reggae and ballad styles. The album received positive reviews by critics, becoming her most critically acclaimed album at that time compared to her previous efforts. It yielded eight hit singles - all singles reaching the top twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 - including the worldwide No. 1 hit "Umbrella," featuring Jay-Z.

"Umbrella" was the No. 1 single in the United Kingdom for ten consecutive weeks, making it the longest-running No. 1 single since Wet Wet Wet's single "Love Is All Around" spent fifteen weeks at the top in 1994. The song is listed No. 3 on the 100 Best Songs of 2007 published by Rolling Stone magazine.

Her other singles, "Shut Up and Drive", "Don't Stop The Music" and "Hate That I Love You" were able to mirror the success of "Umbrella," with "Don't Stop the Music" reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

With the re-issue of her third album, titled "Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded," which was released in June 2008. Rihanna released the first singles from the re-release "Take a Bow" - which became a worldwide No. 1 hit - the duet with Maroon 5, "If I Never See Your Face Again," and the other US number-one hit "Disturbia."

Rihanna was featured on rapper T.I.'s "Live Your Life," which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Rihanna her fifth No. 1 single on the Hot 100 thus far ("SOS," "Umbrella," "Take a Bow" and "Disturbia," as well as T.I.'s "Live Your Life").

"Good Girl Gone Bad" has shipped over two million units in the United States, receiving a two-time platinum certification from RIAA, giving Rihanna her best-selling album to date. She was nominated in four categories at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, winning Monster Single of the Year and Video of the Year. At the 2008 Grammy Awards, Rihanna earned her first Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, in addition to receiving five other nominations, including Record of the Year, Best Dance Recording, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group and Best R&B Song.

In support of the album, she embarked on her first headlining tour The Good Girl Gone Bad Tour on September 12, 2007, with several shows across the United States, Canada and Europe and then embarked on the Glow in the Dark Tour with Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and N.E.R.D on April 16, 2008. Rihanna also won Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist at the 2008 American Music Awards.

Rihanna visited Cincinnati in June of 2008, joining Kanye West for a show at U.S. Bank Arena.

Rihanna performed at back-to-back MTV Video Music Awards shows in 2007 and 2008, appearing with Chris Brown to sing her song "Umbrella" at the 2007 VMAs and performing her No. 1 hit "Disturbia" at the 2008 event.

On February 8, 2009, Rihanna's scheduled performance at the 2009 Grammy Awards was canceled.

Twenty-year-old singer Chris Brown, Rihanna's boyfriend at the time, was arrested after an early morning argument inside a rented Lamborghini on a Hollywood street on February 8.

• Related: Rihanna on the E-News blog

Rihanna was eager to move on with her life, a source close to the singer told People magazine in March, and she wasn't shying away from the spotlight.

"She's out and about now," the source said. "She's not hiding at this point. She's trying to get her life back in order."

"She's trying to figure it all out. It's going to be hard," the source added.

Attorney Donald Etra said Rihanna would not be in court April 6 for Brown's rescheduled arraignment on felony assault and threat charges. The lawyer appeared on her behalf March 5, telling the court that his client was not requesting an order of protection against her alleged attacker.

In April, Brown's attorney said he believed a police photo of Rihanna that was leaked to the media could hurt the prosecution's case against Chris Brown.

If the photo's appearance proved to be the result of a police transgression, Mark Geragos said he would move to have Brown's case dismissed.

At the request of the singer's attorney, Donald Etra, Schnegg agreed to release the nearly $1.4 million worth of jewels Rihanna had donned the night of the incident. The baubles were taken into police custody, along with a bloodstained Gucci gown, as evidence in the case.

In May, Rihanna's attorney, Donald Etra, said Rihanna would be called to testify at the June 22 preliminary hearing in Brown's felony assault case while facing her alleged attacker.

"The judge advised me that there will be a subpoena for Rihanna as a witness at the preliminary hearing," Etra said following a morning hearing. "She will definitely comply."

"He has to be here anytime a witness is called," Brown's attorney Mark Geragos said.

Singer Chris Brown was sentenced in August to serve five years probation and to spend more than 1,400 hours in "labor-oriented service" for assaulting Rihanna.

At the same time, CNN obtained a probation report for Brown that says the pair were involved in at least two other domestic violence incidents before the February attack for which Brown was sentenced.

The probation report, which was obtained after Brown's sentencing, was used to reach his plea agreement.

A month after Rihanna was booked for her first public performance since she allegedly was assaulted by Chris Brown, the show was postponed.

The 21-year-old R&B star had been scheduled to perform in June in the United Arab Emirates. But Yassin Matbouly of Vibe Entertainment Management Agency said in a statement that she's not yet ready to return to the stage.

"We want to share with you that Rihanna and her management will not be accepting to hold a public concert at this time as it is not appropriate timing for her," he said.

Matbouly, who said the concert likely would have taken place in Dubai or possibly Abu Dhabi, speculated that the scope of the concert may have been intimidating. Organizers were looking for a 25,000-seat venue and, he said, the media attention would have been massive.

"Rihanna's management contacted us on Saturday and explained she was unable to come to the UAE in May, but said she is keen to still perform in the region.

"Vibe has been ready and was looking forward to putting this concert together for the crowd of the Middle East. ... This is very sad for us at this time knowing the concert will not happen, but we will not give up and we will continue to put our offer to Rihanna's management for a future date."

The concert producers are said to be eyeing dates for sometime in the fall.

Before Rihanna dated Chris Brown, she apparently went out with actor Shia LaBeouf - but it didn't last long.

The couple met through a stylist in 2007 while he was filming "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," LaBeouf told Playboy magazine.

"[I was] filming a sword fight when I got the message. I said, 'Can this be my life?'" he said.

The duo set up a dinner date over text message, but they never developed much of a relationship.

"It never got beyond one date," he said. "The spark wasn't there. We weren't passionate about each other in that way, so we remain friends."

In October, Rihanna announced via Twitter that she'd release her first album since 2007’s "Good Girl Gone Bad" in November.

“The Wait Is Ova. Nov 23 09," she Tweeted.

It was the first message Rihanna sent after she set up a Twitter account.

The album will be the singer's fourth solo album.

Rihanna debuted "Russian Roulette," the first single from "Rated R," on Ryan Seacrest's show.

The ballad follows a woman on the verge of taking a turn at the suicide game: You can see it thorugh my chest/That I'm terrified/But I'm not leaving/I know that I must pass this test/So just pull the trigger.

The song eerily ends with a gunshot.

"Russian Roulette" was written and produced by Ne-Yo, who also wrote Rihanna's 2006 No. 1 hit "Unfaithful" and dueted with the Grammy-winning singer on the Top 10 smash "Hate That I Love You."

In her first interview since being assaulted by ex-boyfriend Chris Brown in February, Rihanna told ABC's "Good Morning America" she's "embarrassed" that she went back to Brown after "eight or nine" violent episodes.

"I fell in love with this person. That's embarrassing. That's the type of person I fell in love with. So far in love, so unconditional, that I went back. That's not what I want to teach people," Rihanna said. "It's pretty easy to go back. You start lying to yourself. The physical wounds go away. You want this thing to go away. This is a memory you don't want to ever have again.

"It's completely normal to go back. You start lying to yourself. I'll say that to any young girl who is going through domestic violence: 'Don't react off of love.'

"I am strong. This happened to me. I didn't cause this. I didn't do it. This can happen to me and it can happen to anybody.

"When I realized that my selfish decision for love could result in some young girl getting killed, I could not be easy with that part. I couldn't be responsible for that. Even if Chris never hit me again, who's to say their boyfriend won't? Who's to say they won't kill these girls? I didn't realize how much of an impact I had on these girls' lives until that happened."