16 facts you probably didn’t know about Rihanna, from signing a contract with Jay-Z’s record label to how her hit song Umbrella almost went to Britney Spears
- Before Rihanna became a successful singer with multiple Grammys and Guinness World Records, she underwent training in Barbados with Shontelle as her drill sergeant
- She might be known for her multibillion-dollar Fenty Beauty cosmetics empire today, but her mum didn’t allow her to wear make-up growing up
1. You’ve probably been pronouncing her name wrong
According to multiple videos of the singer, Rihanna actually pronounces her name “ree-ann-uh” not “ree-ah-nuh”.
Her full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty.
2. She received training in Barbados
Before she became a worldwide phenomenon, Rihanna was an army cadet in a sub-military programme in Barbados, the singer’s home country.
In a 2007 Daily Mail interview, she told the publication that her training actually helped her to compete in the beauty pageant.
“My training came in handy for learning to balance books on my head for the catwalk,” she said. Her drill sergeant, singer-songwriter Shontelle, told BBC News in 2009, that she had to order Rihanna around.
“That’s what drill sergeants do. We boss cadets around, we make them do push-ups … especially when they show up on the parade square late,” she said.
3. Rihanna signed her first record deal at 16 years old, and Jay-Z played a role in the offer
After an audition for record producer Evan Rogers in 2003, Rihanna produced a demo in 2004 and was later flown to New York to meet Jay-Z, the then-president of the Def Jam record label.