Danny White - Rihanna

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by
Michael OMara Books Limited
9 Lion Yard
Tremadoc Road
London SW4 7NQ

Copyright Michael OMara Books Limited 2013

All rights reserved. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-78243-047-6 in trade paperback print format
ISBN: 978-1-78243-049-0 in EPub format
ISBN: 978-1-78243-050-6 in Mobipocket format

Designed and typeset by Ana Bjezancevic

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Introduction

1. Life Before Fame

2. A Dream Come True

3. A Star is Born

4. The Price of Fame

5. A Change of Direction

6. The Rebel Flower

7. Conquering Them All

Bibliography

Discography

Picture Credits

Index

List of illustrations

Pictures

What complex creatures superstars are. If you closely examine any of the hallowed few at the pinnacle of fame you will uncover a heady mass of contradictions, and no star of the modern age is more contradictory than Robyn Rihanna Fenty. She is at once imperious and beaten; controlling and submissive; her image simultaneously sexually charged and charmingly innocent. She carefully manipulates and revels in her media notoriety, but the price she has had to pay has broken her heart. Since the very start of her career, the sassy songbird has positioned herself as the devil-may-care, rebel artist of pop, yet her committed, industrious work rate goes beyond that of an obsessive, prompting one commentator to wonder whether she is, in fact, a robot.

The contradictory atmosphere continues into her music itself. While the lyrics of her hits are frequently concerned with the most adult of themes including domestic violence and sadomasochistic sex their musical charm is often deliberately childlike. With an ella, ella here, and an ooh na na there, she has made global smash hits out of songs whose musical structure is the same as nursery rhymes. Indeed, even her most controversial hit, S&M, reworked a childrens rhyme into an X-rated celebration of sadomasochism. Rihanna, who once said she wanted to become the black Madonna, certainly shares the material girls love of extremes, reinventions and mixed messages.

Well, it works for us. The Barbadian had, as of 2012, sold 8.7 million albums in the US alone, and 58 million songs via downloads. She has had more US number one hits twelve than Whitney Houston did in her entire career. She has won six GRAMMY Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, five American Music Awards, eighteen Billboard Music Awards and all this before she turned twenty-five years old. The media cannot get enough of her: thanks in part to the darkly fascinating Chris Brown saga, she generated 10,355 headlines in 2012 alone, according to Forbes magazine. She is keenly followed on social networks including Twitter, where she has over 27 million followers, and was the first female artist to attract 2 billion views on YouTube, outstripping even Lady Gaga.

Yet how she delights in mystifying us. She is the pop industrys chief chameleon; somehow able to make radical changes to her appearance and image with ostensibly minor adjustments. A natural tease, she has kept us on the edge of our seats for years.

Here is the real Rihanna.

I had a life before my record deal, said Rihanna in 2007. And what a life it was. Her early years were dramatic and character-building; they provided ample opportunity for her to go off the rails, and yet somehow Rihanna remained fundamentally on course. Her childhood was played out under the dark shadow of her fathers dependence on class-A drugs, fierce domestic violence within the family home, and her resultant self-doubt and health difficulties. Yet, to hear her talk sometimes, it would be easy to get a very different impression of her early years. It was perfect, really, she told Interview magazine, for instance. She has been more candid elsewhere. In a separate interview she said, My tough childhood made me the person I am today. In reality, hers was a childhood of stark contrasts: one of austerity, tests and torment amid surroundings that were close to blissful.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on 20 February 1988 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on the island of Barbados. Her parents were Ronald Fenty, then a warehouse supervisor for a garment manufacturer, and Monica Braithwaite, then an accountant. Monicas mother had moved to Barbados from Guyana. Ronalds forebears included Irish settlers, yet it was his stepfather who had the greatest impact on him as he grew up. He had beaten young Ronald, whose vulnerability was intensified by the fact his mother did not intervene. These experiences left a weighty mark on Ronalds life and it has been speculated that this maternal failing filled him with resentment towards women, thus igniting the furious fire in him that led to him beating Monica after they married. It is also highly likely that this cycle of abuse was, unhappily, something Ronald was unable to break, a difficulty faced by many victims of familial violence.

Ronald met Monica when they were both high school students. At first they were just good friends; in time they became lovers. Pertinently, at the age of fourteen, Ronald was already taking drugs including cannabis and, most perilously, the hugely addictive crack cocaine. As the couple did not wed until 1985, when they were both in their thirties, Monica entered the marriage under no illusions at all that her partner had serious issues with drug addiction. She tried hard to see the man himself as separate to the addiction, but he would regularly test her patience to its very limits. Indeed, Ronalds drug problem and its bitter consequences became known by many in the neighbourhood. According to The Sun, some onlookers dubbed Ronald a parrow a disparaging local colloquialism meaning a freeloading drug addict. This was not the only tittle-tattle the pair attracted: they also faced prejudicial glances and comments over the fact that theirs was a mixed-race marriage. Further, when the newlywed couple did not have a baby during the first three years of their marriage, some locals gossiped to the effect that Ronalds drug use had left him sterile.

In fact, Ronald had three children from a previous marriage, so the infertility rumours were incorrect Rihanna actually has two half-sisters and a half-brother. She met one of her half-sisters, Kandy, when she was fifteen years of age and Kandy also introduced Rihanna to her own two daughters, Brandy and Crystal. Her nieces took to Rihanna from the moment they first met. Another of her half-sisters, Samantha, noted their similarities, describing Rihanna as a mini-me. After three years of marriage, the birth of Ronald and Monicas first child nailed the infertility rumour, and Rihanna was soon joined by two younger brothers. Rorrey was born in November 1990, and Rajad in April 1997. As the eldest of the familys offspring with nine years separating her and her youngest sibling Rihanna is, according to those who subscribe to birth-order theories, expected to have a nurturing, organized and compassionate nature. Another characteristic common among eldest siblings is an enhanced ability to communicate. The theory is that they will have heard more adult conversations during their formative years than their subsequent siblings. A tendency for people-pleasing is also believed to be ubiquitous among firstborns, as they have often been hurt by losing the undivided attention of their parents at an early age, and then work hard to get it back. Some would say that public performers are inherently people-pleasers, driven by a need for approval, particularly the warmth of applause.