Shannon Tweed

Shannon Tweed was born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, to a mink rancher. Shannon Tweed was raised on a mink ranch in Whitbourne, Newfoundland and Labrador. Shannon Tweed has six brothers and sisters. Shannon Tweed graduated from Mount Royal Collegiate in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and became involved in beauty pageants at a young age. In 1978, Shannon Tweed was third runner-up in the Miss Ottawa Pageant and won the Miss Canada talent competition (her specialty: singing).

Shakira

When Shakira was four, her father took her to a local Middle Eastern restaurant, where Shakira first heard the doumbek, a traditional drum used in Arabic music and which typically accompanied belly dancing. Before she knew it, Shakira was dancing on the table, as restaurant patrons responded by clapping enthusiastically. It was then that Shakira said she knew she wanted to be a performer. Shakira enjoyed singing for schoolmates and teachers (and even the nuns) at her Catholic school, but in the second grade was rejected for the school choir because her vibrato was too strong. The music teacher told her that Shakira sounded "like a goat". At school, Shakira says she had been known as "the belly dancer girl", as she would demonstrate every Friday at school a number she had learned. "That's how I discovered my passion for live performance," she says.

Mariah Carey

In 1988, Mariah Carey met Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola at a party, where Starr gave him Mariah Carey's demo tape. Mottola played the tape when leaving the party and was impressed. Mariah Carey returned to find Carey, but she had left. Nevertheless, Mottola tracked her down and signed her to a recording contract. This Cinderella-like story became part of the standard publicity surrounding Mariah Carey's entrance into the industry.