Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

Rihanna

When Rihanna brought a little Caribbean heat to the summer of 2005 with her break-though hit Pon De Replay, the signs where clear that she would be a massive success.

This Good Girl Gone Bad singer will grace the Smile Jamaica Africa Unite stage for the first time at James Bond Beach this Saturday night.

At age 20, the Barbadian singer has achieved more success than some American stars as a Grammy winner, platinum seller, fashion trendsetter and Revlon cover girl.

Despite the success, Rihanna claims that she is still true to her roots and eager to return to Jamaica to perform at Smile Jamaica.

"I feel honoured that I was even asked by the Marley family to perform at this tribute to Bob Marley, I am a huge fan, I also love Jamaica ... the first time I performed here it was amazing," she said.

An ever-present figure in the international press, Rihanna is known as a superstar to the world yet, to her friends, she is still a country girl.

Keeping it real

"I just have to be myself, I can't try to be anything but me, I'm still the same person despite the success. I love doing normal things more than the glamorous life. I keep good people around me, people who just make me feel easy; they don't try to put pressures on me. I have a lot of my best friends who grew with me around me, a lot of them travel with me."

A lover of reggae, pop, hip hop and rock music, Rihanna enjoys listening to artistes such as Bob Marley, Kylie Minogue, Robin Thicke, Sean Paul and Sizzla Kalonji.

While she doesn't consider herself to be a soca artiste, she is up to trying new things and said she will probably try her hand at soca sooner or later.

Back home in Barbados, it's all about supporting their sunshine girl Rihanna.

It's crazy in Barbados, people are very supportive of me and what I do. I'm actually going there soon for a tribute they are having for me."

Travelling

Unfortunately, the young singer doesn't get to visit her home country very often due to a busy work schedule. Since being signed to Def Jam records in 2005, Rihanna has released three albums, the last one Gone Girl Gone Bad seeing multiple smash hit songs such as Umbrella, featuring Jay Z, Hate That I Love You, featuring Ne-yo, Shut Up and Drive, among others. Rihanna is presently on tour in Europe while preparing for her tour with Kanye West in the Spring, and will be returning to the studio later in 2008 for her fourth album.

Like her mentor Jay Z, Rihanna keeps on trodding forward, expressing an interest in diverse areas of entertainment, as she told The Gleaner: "I want to be an entrepreneur and start businesses of my own, go into movies and go into fashion. I love fashion and getting dressed up and thing."

With a bright future ahead, Rihanna still keeps track of her fellow Caribbean artistes, hoping to see others break out internationally as well.

"I just love to see my people from such a small end of the world go international and speak of di greatness of the Caribbean. I love to see all the Caribbean succeed, to be one of those people means a lot to me."