Everything You Need to Know

• Performances
• Inspirations
• Biography
• Music

Who is Rhianna?

Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, on February 20, 1988, in Barbados, Rihanna signed with Def Jam records at age 16 and in 2005 released her first album Music of the Sun, which sold more than two million copies worldwide. She went on to release more albums and an array of hit songs, including "Unfaithful," "Umbrella," "Disturbia," "Take a Bow," "Diamonds" and "We Found Love." A global pop star with an unrelentingly edgy image, Rihanna has also won multiple industry accolades, including Grammys and MTV awards.

Performances

The Good Girl Gone Bad Tour was first Rihanna's worldwide tour, reaching North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. The tour supported Rihanna's third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad. During the tour, Rihanna presented different image and style, while revealing leather outfits. American artists Akon and Ciara were featured as one of the opening acts on the tour. In Malaysia, the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour sparked controversy when the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party recommended that Rihanna's show from the tour should be banned in the country, citing her provocative outfits as the main reason. Overall, critics gave the tour mixed reviews. A DVD, titled Good Girl Gone Bad Live was released on June 16, 2008, and features the show from Evening News Arena in Manchester, England, held on December 6, 2007.

Her third tour began on April 16, 2010 in Antwerp, Belgium, in support of her fourth studio album Rated R. On the Australian leg of this tour, she performed three songs from her subsequent album, Loud. The tour grossed approximately $40 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics.

She embarked on her fourth tour in Baltimore, USA, in support of her fifth studio album Loud. Rappers Drake, Kanye West and Jay-Z made guest appearances on some dates to perform their collaborations "What's My Name?", "Run This Town", "All of the Lights" and "Umbrella", respectively. Rihanna broke a record by playing 10 shows at the O2 Arena during the European leg of the tour. It became the seventh highest grossing tour of 2011 and critics acclaimed the show for its liveliness and higher caliber of quality compared to her previous tours. A DVD, titled Loud Tour Live at the O2 was released on December 13, 2012, and features the shows from the O2 Arena in London held between December 20 and December 22, 2011.

The Diamonds World Tour was launched in support of her seventh studio album Unapologetic, kicking off in Buffalo, New York and concluding in New Orleans, USA. Rihanna broke numerous records during the tour including becoming the youngest artist ever to headline a show at the Stade de France, perform at the Millennium Stadium and twice at the Twickenham Stadium and being the youngest artist to sell out these stadiums. She also broke a record of having one of the largest concert audiences in history, performing in front of 100,000 people during Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix Night Race, giving her the largest audience at the event ever compared to previous acts like Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Maroon 5, Katy Perry, The Killers and Justin Bieber. The tour featured support acts including David Guetta, Haim and ASAP Rocky among others. It was the fifth highest grossing tour of 2013 and was met with positive reviews from critics.

The Inspiration

Rihanna has named Madonna as her idol and biggest influence. She said that she wanted to be the "black Madonna" and praised the singer for being able to constantly reinvent herself successfully throughout her career. "I think that Madonna was a great inspiration for me, especially on my earlier work. If I had to examine her evolution through time, I think she reinvented her clothing style and music with success every single time. And at the same time remained a real force in entertainment in the whole world." Another major influence on Rihanna's music and career has been Mariah Carey, whose song "Hero" she performed when Rihanna was still a teenager at her high school talent show.[ She revealed that Carey's song "Vision of Love" "was the song that made [her] want to do music."