北美年轻的R&B/Soul女歌手Rihanna，1988年，Rihanna出生于加勒比海地区巴巴多斯岛的St. Michael教区，原名Robyn Rihanna Fenty。在进入美国流行音乐界之前，Rihanna只是一位经历普通，热爱唱歌的小女孩。当然，Rihanna拥有极佳的歌唱天赋并曾在2004年获得过Combermere中学歌唱比赛的冠军。虽然Rihanna在当地已经小有名气而且时常在朋友和家庭聚会时演唱，但她只是把唱歌当作一种爱好而已。然而一个人命运的改变有时候往往就在一夜之间。2003年12月的一天，来自美国纽约的著名音乐制作人伊万罗杰斯（Evan Rogers）和他巴巴多斯岛长大的妻子一同回到该岛度假。由于Evan Rogers妻子和Rihanna拥有共同的朋友，因此Rihanna就有机会被朋友推荐给了Evan Rogers。经Evan Rogers制作过专辑的畅销歌手包括：超级男孩（NSYNC），克里斯蒂娜阿奎莱拉（Christina Aguilera），杰西卡辛普森（Jessica Simpson），修成正果的首届美国偶像冠军凯丽克拉克森（Kelly Clarkson），意大利著名女歌手劳拉保希尼（Laura Pausini）和“豆沙嗓”罗德（Rod Stewart）。
独具慧眼的Evan Rogers看到了Rihanna的潜质，很快就答应给她一次录制小样的机会。在Evan Rogers以及另一位制作人Carl Sturken的帮助下，Rihanna完成了这张共有12首歌曲小样的录制，而这其中就包括她的首支大获成功的单曲《Pon de Replay》。之后，这张Demo唱片被寄往各大唱片公司。是金子迟早都会发光，在说唱巨星，Def Jam公司CEO Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter听到这张专辑之后，他立刻决定将这块大金子揽入怀中。
2005年夏，Def Jam公司发行了Rihanna的首支单曲《Pon de Replay》，而这首歌曲同时也是Rihanna首张专辑《Music of the Sun》中的主打单曲。由Evan Rogers和Carl Sturken制作的《Pon de Replay》在发行之后大受欢迎，勇夺Billboard Hot 100单曲榜亚军，仅惜败于前辈玛丽亚凯丽（Mariah Carey）的14周冠军单曲《We Belong Together》。这支单曲的成功使年轻的Rihanna在美国一夜之间家喻户晓。
2006年，Rihanna的第二张个人专辑《A Girl Like Me》面世》，首周名列Billboard 200专辑榜第五位。
2007年，Rihanna的第三张个人专集《GOOD Girl Gone Bad》面世，主打歌＂Umbrella"迅速登上欧美地区主要排行榜榜首．"Shut Up and Drive"，"Don't Stop The Music＂，"Hate That I Love You",也取得了很不错的成绩．
２００８年５月１７日，＂Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded＂推出，主打歌"Take a Bow"在Billboard和the UK Singles Chart速登榜首，取得了巨大的成功，"Disturbia"也不负众望，获得骄人成绩．
到目前为止，Rihanna在出道三年多的时间里，已有５首告示牌第一的歌曲：SOS", "Umbrella", "Take a Bow", "Disturbia"，"Live Your Life",这已使她成为了２０００－２０１０这十年中歌曲获得第一的数目最多的歌手．
Rihanna established herself big-time in summer 2005 with her debut smash hit, "Pon de Replay," and continued to demonstrate her smash hit potential in subsequent years (e.g., "S.O.S.," 2006; "Umbrella," 2007). By the time of her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), she was a full-fledged international pop star with a regular presence atop the charts, from Germany to Japan. Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados, she always exhibited a special quality, winning beauty and talent contests as a schoolchild. But because she lived on the fairly remote island of Barbados in the West Indies, she never foresaw the sort of stardom that would later befall her.
That stardom came courtesy of a fateful meeting with a man named Evan Rogers. The New Yorker was vacationing in Barbados with his wife, a native of the island, when someone turned him on to Rihanna. Since Rogers had spent years producing pop artists including superstars like *NSYNC, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, Laura Pausini, and Rod Stewart he offered her the opportunity to record some music after he recognized her talent and potential. Along with Rogers' production partner, Carl Sturken (the other half of Syndicated Rhythm Productions), Rihanna recorded some demos that sparked the interest of the Carter Administration that is, newly appointed Def Jam president Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter. This led to an audition and, in turn, an on-the-spot offer to sign with Def Jam, which Rihanna indeed inked on the spot.
Come summer 2005, Def Jam rolled out "Pon de Replay," the lead single of Music of the Sun, which was produced almost entirely by Rogers and Sturken and which synthesized Caribbean rhythms and beats with urban-pop songwriting. "Pon de Replay" caught fire almost immediately, climbing all the way to number two on The Billboard Hot 100 and contesting the half-summer reign of Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" atop the chart, and this was before Music of the Sun even had been released. The album spawned one other hit, "If It's Lovin' That You Want," which broke the Top 40. Rihanna's follow-up album, A Girl Like Me, was a greater success, spawning three big hits: a chart-topper ("S.O.S.") and two Top Tens ("Unfaithful," "Break It Off").
Rihanna's third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), continued her success and, more notably, signaled a change of direction. Whereas her past two albums had been been imbalanced often weighed down by faceless balladry and canned Caribbean-isms Good Girl Gone Bad was a first-rate dance-pop album. Moreover, it was surprisingly solid, stacked with potential singles and easily enjoyable from beginning to end. Collaborators included Jay-Z, Ne-Yo, Timbaland, and StarGate. The lead single, "Umbrella," shot to number one and, for the third year in a row, was a potential "song of the summer." By this point it was clear that Rihanna had become one of the biggest singles artists of the mid-2000s.
