Z. B. Hill - Rihanna

Rihana

by Z.B. Hill

Superstars of Hip-Hop

Alicia Keys

Beyonc

Black Eyed Peas

Ciara

Dr. Dre

Drake

Eminem

50 Cent

Flo Rida

Hip Hop: A Short History

Jay-Z

Kanye West

Lil Wayne

LL Cool J

Ludacris

Mary J. Blige

Notorious B.I.G.

Rihanna

Sean Diddy Combs

Snoop Dogg

T.I.

T-Pain

Timbaland

Tupac

Usher

Rihanna

by Z.B. Hill

Mason Crest

Rihana

Mason Crest 370 Reed Road Broomall, Pennsylvania 19008 www.masoncrest.com

Copyright 2013 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

First printing
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hill, Z. B.

Rihanna / by Z.B. Hill.

p. cm. (Superstars of hip-hop)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-4222-2526-4 (hard cover) ISBN 978-1-4222-2508-0 (series hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4222-2552-3 (soft cover) ISBN 978-1-4222-9228-0 (ebook)

1. Rihanna, 1988Juvenile literature. 2.SingersBiographyJuvenile literature. I. Title.

ML3930.R44E27 2012

782.42164092dc23

[B]

2011020113

Produced by Harding House Publishing Services, Inc.

www.hardinghousepages.com

Interior Design by MK Bassett-Harvey.

Cover design by Torque Advertising & Design.

Publishers notes:

All quotations in this book come from original sources and contain the spelling and grammatical inconsistencies of the original text.

The Web sites mentioned in this book were active at the time of publication. The publisher is not responsible for Web sites that have changed their addresses or discontinued operation since the date of publication. The publisher will review and update the Web site addresses each time the book is reprinted.

DISCLAIMER: The following story has been thoroughly researched, and to the best of our knowledge, represents a true story. While every possible effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the publisher will not assume liability for damages caused by inaccuracies in the data, and makes no warranty on the accuracy of the information contained herein. This story has not been authorized nor endorsed by Rihanna.

Contents

Hip-Hop lingo

Prejudice is judging someone unfairly because of race, religion, sex, or something else.

A producer is the person in charge of putting together songs. A producer makes the big decisions about the music.

An audition is when a person sings or performs for someone to see if that person likes her work and wants to give her a job.

Today, Rihanna is one of the worlds most popular singers. Her songs are hits in countries across the globe. When Rihanna puts out new music, the whole world knows it. Shes sold millions of albums and had many hit songs.

Rihanna is famous around the world. But she wasnt always so well known. Rihanna started her life far from the heights shed reach in music. She was once a young girl with a dream of making it big.

Early Life

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20, 1988, on the Caribbean island of Barbados. Like most Caribbean islands, Barbados is a sunny and beautiful place. There are many beaches. People come from all over the world to relax and enjoy themselves there. But for Rihanna, it was simply home.

Rihannas mom, Monica Fenty, was an accountant. She also co-owned a small clothing store. Rihannas dad, Ronald Fenty, worked at a factory that made clothes. Her mom was from Guyana, a small country in South America. Her dad was both African and Irish. Both her parents, however, grew up in Barbados. So they both called themselves Barbadians or Bajan.

Growing up, Rihannas dad struggled with drug addiction. He and Rihannas mom fought a lot. Drugs only made things worse. Sometimes the fights got out of control. Then Rihanna would try to break them up. She tried to bring peace to the home. Sometimes it worked but never for long.

Today, Rihanna gives her mom credit for keeping her kids away from their fathers drug habit. Rihanna didnt always know what was going on. She didnt always understand why her parents were fighting. But she knew it had something to do with drugs. Rihanna later told Giant magazine about those days: I just knew that my mom and dad would always argue when there was a foil paper with an ashtray. He would just go to the bathroom all the time. I didnt know what it was. I really did not know. I just thought it was normal. Then one day, I heard them arguing about it. Then he did it again. And I told her. I said, Mom, he did that ashtray thing again.

This went on for years. Rihannas parents split up many times during her childhood. Monica would kick Ronald out of the house, only to let him back in again.

Too Much for One Kid

Like any normal kid, it hurt Rihanna to grow up around so much fighting. But she never showed her pain to the world. She went to school every day with a smile on her face. She never cried or acted out in class or at home. So when she started to get really bad headaches, no one knew what was wrong.

At first, her mom thought Rihanna had a brain tumor. She was terrified! At the age of eight, Rihanna had to have a lot of tests. But doctors found nothing wrong with Rihannas brain. Stress was making her head hurt, not a tumor.

Rihanna grew up on the beautiful island of Barbados in the Caribbean.

For Rihannas parents, this was a wakeup call. Their daughter needed them to be at peace. Monica would not let Ronald see his children until he got off drugs. So he made a hard choice. Rihanna told Giant, My dad saw that what was between him and us was the drugs. He knew that to get closer to us, he had to cut that out. And he did.

Rihannas dad had to put his life back together before he could be a good father for Rihanna.

Things still werent great, though. When Rihanna was fourteen years old, her mom was fed up. She decided to end the marriage and get a divorce. At that point, it was more of a relief, Rihanna told Giant.

After her parents divorce, and after her dad stopped using drugs, Rihannas head stopped hurting.

The Color of Her Skin

School was not a safe place for Rihanna to escape her problems. In fact, kids were very mean to her when she was young. In grade school, Rihanna often faced racism because of her skin color. In Barbados, where most people have dark skin, Rihannas light skin really stood out. For the first six years of school, she went home every day feeling very upset.