Robyn Rihanna Fenty (born February 20, 1988), known mononymously as Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist, singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the United States to record demo tapes. After signing with Def Jam in 2005, she soon gained recognition with the release of her first two studio albums, Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl Like Me (2006), both of which were influenced by Caribbean music and peaked within the top ten of the US Billboard 200 chart.
Rihanna's third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), incorporated elements of dance-pop and established her status as a sex symbol in the music industry. The chart-topping single "Umbrella" earned Rihanna her first Grammy Award and catapulted her to global stardom. She continued to mix pop, dance, and R&B genres on her next studio albums, Rated R (2009), Loud (2010), Talk That Talk (2011), and Unapologetic (2012), the last of which became her first Billboard 200 number one. The albums spawned a string of chart-topping singles, including "Rude Boy", "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?", "S&M", "We Found Love", "Where Have You Been" and "Diamonds". Her eighth album, Anti (2016), showcased a new creative control following her departure from Def Jam. It became her second US number one album and featured the chart-topping single "Work". During her musical career, Rihanna has collaborated with many artists, such as Drake, Eminem, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Ne-Yo, and Shakira.
With sales of over 250 million records worldwide, Rihanna is the second-best-selling female music artist of all time. She has earned 14 number-ones and 32 top-ten singles in the US and 31 top-ten entries in the UK. Her accolades include nine Grammy Awards, 13 American Music Awards (including the Icon Award), 12 Billboard Music Awards, six Guinness World Records, the NAACP's President's Award, and an Academy Award nomination. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2018. Forbes ranked her among the top ten highest-paid celebrities in 2012 and 2014. As of 2023, she is the wealthiest female musician, with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion.
Aside from music, Rihanna is known for her involvement in humanitarian causes, entrepreneurial ventures, and the fashion industry. She is the founder of the nonprofit organization Clara Lionel Foundation, cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty, and fashion house Fenty under LVMH; she is the first black woman to head a luxury brand for LVMH.[7] Rihanna has also ventured into acting, appearing in major roles in Battleship (2012), Home (2015), Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), and Ocean's 8 (2018). She was appointed as an ambassador of education, tourism, and investment by the Government of Barbados in 2018 and was declared a National Hero of Barbados on the first day of the country's parliamentary republic in 2021, entitling her to the style of "The Right Excellent" for life.
She appeared on Saturday Night Live as the musical guest 5 times: The first time she made her musical guest debut on December 5, 2009, the eighth episode of Season 35, hosted by actress Blake Lively, where she performed "Russian Roulette" and "Hard" and appeared on the SNL Digital Short.
She returns to Saturday Night Live as the musical guest for her 2nd appearance on October 30, 2010, the fifth episode and the Halloween show of Season 36, hosted by actor Jon Hamm, star of AMC's period drama series Mad Men, where she performed "What's My Name?" and "Only Girl (In the World)" and on the SNL Digital Short for the second time.
She returned to Saturday Night Live again as the musical guest for her 3rd appearance on May 5, 2012, the twentieth episode of Season 37, hosted by former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons with the New York Giants Eli Manning, she returned to Saturday Night Live as the musical guest, where she performed a medley of "Birthday Cake" and "Talk Talk Talk" and "Where Have You Been".
She returned to Saturday Night Live again as the musical guest for her 4th appearance on November 10, 2012, the sixth episode of Season 38, hosted by actress Anne Hathaway, where she performed "Diamonds" and "Stay".
She returned to Saturday Night Live once again as the musical guest for 5th appearance on May 16, 2015, which is the Season 40 finale, hosted by stand-up comedian and actor Louis C.K., where she performed "Bitch Better Have My Money" and "American Oxygen", thus making her a five-time musical guest.
She was also impersonated by Jennifer Lopez in the February 27, 2010 episode during the "We Are The World 3" sketch.
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