IN THE BEGINNING...

• Robyn Rihanna Fenty born February 20, 1988, known as Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist and actress. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at age 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers. She subsequently signed a contract with Def Jam Recordings.

• she met Rogers through mutual friends in Barbados in December 2003. Rogers soon asked Rihanna to come to his hotel room, where she performed renditions of the songs "Emotion" and "Hero". This impressed Rogers, who then took her on various trips to New York, where she was accompanied by her mother, Monica, to record some demo tapes which could be sent to record labels

GETTING SIGNED...

• In February 2005, the president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings Jay-Z requested to meet Rihanna and she auditioned for him and industry executive L.A. Reid, performing Whitney Houston's version of "For the Love of You" as well as the original songs "Pon de Replay" and "The Last Time". On the same day of the audition, Rihanna signed a six-album record deal with Def Jam Recordings, later relocating from Barbados to New York to live with Rogers and his wife.

DEF JAM RECORDINGS

• Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Music Group.

DEF JAM ARTISTS

R ‘n’ B MIX• "Rihanna is the rare rhythm

and blues (R&B) diva to emerge from the Caribbean world.“ Becoming an international sensation, Rihanna is known for blending R&B with Caribbean music, such as reggae and dancehall.

• Although her main genre is R ‘n’ B Rihanna’s albums cover music from pop to rock and dance to reggae