Rihanna's Full Biography

Rihanna was only 16 when she signed her first record deal, and in 2005 she released her first album, Music Of the Sun which sold more than 2 million copies. She's had more than a dozen number one hits and performed at the Super Bowl in 2023.

Yet she came from an inauspicious start born into a family struggling with addiction and going through her parents divorce 2 years before signed with Def Jam records. Rihanna's success story starts with overcoming continues through a series of successes and hasn't stopped yet.

Rihanna's Early Life And Education

She's one of only a handful of artists so successful they can be known by a single name, but at birth she was named Robyn Rihanna Fenty.

She was born on Barbados, in St Michael Parish, on February 20th and 1988, the firstborn to Monica Braithwaite, an accountant, and Ronald Fenty, a warehouse supervisor. Her parents would later give her two siblings, and three half-siblings.

However, Rihanna start was inauspicious; she reportedly struggled with her parents marital issues and her father's abuse of alcohol and cocaine before their divorced when she was 14 years old.

Her education was in Barbados, at Broome Memorial Primary School and Combermere High School, and she loved singing from a very young age.

Rihanna turned to her own creative expression to deal with these struggles and poured herself into her music. She has described suffering severe headaches throughout her youth which she tried to hide in order to fit in. They were so excruciating that her doctor put her through multiple CT scans and feared she might be suffering a brain tumor.

Later after her parents divorced, Rihanna says the headaches significantly decreased, and she was able to focus more on her music. A year after the divorce she was involved in a musical trio with two classmates. She managed to land an audition with producer Evan Rogers, who has described her presence as so intense that when she walked into the room it was like the other performers didn't exist.

He invited her to come to New York and record a demo, and it didn’t take long from there for her to sign her first record contract and become recognized as a star.

Rihanna's Career

2000s

Rihanna's career launched like a rocket. space the initial interview with Evan Rogers was in 2003. She returned with him to New York to cut a demo, staying with Rogers and his wife while she did so. By January of 2005 she was performing an audition in front of rapper Jay Z, the president of Def Jam records.

Jay Z, too, recognized her star power and her first single, “Pon de Replay,” was released 8 months later.

She didn’t slow down, either, going on to release three more albums over the next four years, and make an appearance in the cheerleader competition drama, Bring It On: All Or Nothing, in 2006.

In 2007, at 19, Rihanna marked the transition from teen pop sensation into sultry singer, with her Good Girl Gone Bad tour, album, and documentary.

Her tone shifted further in 2009, after images leaked to the tabloids brought a domestic abuse incident to the public, and her then-boyfriend, Chris Brown, was prosecuted for felony assault. The next album she released, Rated R, was described as ‘darker’ and more ‘foreboding’ tone than her previous music.

2010s

Rihanna continued cutting albums, and also took more acting roles over the next ten years, including appearances in the movie Battleship in 2012, as herself in the apocolyptic comedy This Is The End in 2013, and as the Moon Goddess in the 2014 remake of Annie.

In both 2012 and 2018, Time Magazine counted Rihanna in its list of 100 most influential people, and Forbes ranked her #1 on a 2012 list of influential social media stars.

By this point, her fame wasn’t all in her performance, but in her philanthropic actions. She was named Harvard University's "Humanitarian of the Year" in 2017, appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary by the government of Barbados, and praised by President Barack Obama as “a powerful force in the fight to give people dignity.”

Rihanna's Discography:

Rihanna's Business Ventures

Aside from her music and acting, Rihanna has released four fragrances for women and one for men, is co-owner of the music streaming service Tidal, and in 2016 began releasing her music through her own label.

She’s also part of a beauty and stylist agency called Frame, and a photo agency called “A Dog Ate My Homework.”

Then there are her Fenty businesses. They started with a fashion brand, followed by a cosmetics line, Fenty Beauty, a skin care line, and a lingerie line, Savage x Fenty, designed to complement all skin tones and a revolutionarily-wide range of body types.

Rihanna's Personal Life

Relationships

Rihanna began dating singer Chris Brown in 2007. This relationship ended with his domestic violence charges in 2009.

From 2009 through 2016, she had an on-and-off relationship status with rapper Drake.

During one of the ‘off’ periods, she acknowledged she’s been seeing Brown, despite his probation for his domestic violence case. A few months later he confirmed it had been broken off again.

From 2017 to 2020, Rihanna dated Hassan Jameel, a Saudi businessman.

In 2021, she was in a relationship with rapper ASAP Rocky, and in 2022, gave birth to her first son.

She revealed her pregnancy with her second child in her halftime show at the 2023 Super Bowl and gave birth in August 2023.

Religion

Rihanna has said she was raised in the Christian faith and has referenced trusting in and relying on God regularly.

Health and Pregnancies

Rihanna has two sons with ASAP Rocky. Rza and fifteen months later in August 2023, Riot was born.

She has shared that she had severe headaches as a child, raising doctors’ fears that she might have a brain tumor, but the headaches were manageable after her parents’ divorce.

Rihanna's Net Worth

As she continues her music career and multiple businesses, Rihanna's net worth is estimated at around $1.4 billion.

Rihanna's Activism

Her activism began with her career, launching her Believe Foundation in 2016 to help terminally ill children.

Her other projects have included designing for the H&M Fashion Against AIDS line, performing free concerts with sponsorships that covered medical supplies, school supplies, and toys for children in need, participating in the Stand Up To Cancer television special that raised $100 million for cancer research, and a slate of other donations and projects centering around cancer, children’s medical needs, HIV/AIDS, COVID relief, and more.

She has also participated in events surrounding LGBTQ rights and racial equality, refusing to perform a Super Bowl halftime show in 2020 to support Colin Kaepernick’s activism for racial equality.

Rihanna's Controversies

Rihanna has been criticized for music videos addressing rape and domestic violence, and for supporting Colin Kaepernick’s activism.