Shakira honoured with star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Nearly 1,000 people – some of whom arrived as early as 5am – attended the ceremony in front of the W Hollywood Hotel.

The event came a day before the 34-year-old songstress was due to be honoured in Las Vegas as the Latin Grammy Person of the Year.

She told the crowd: 'We all have a star. We all come to this world with a talent and a gift and then, dreams are born, and no one has the authority to stop those dreams.

'So I want to tell you all to dream as big as you can, and may your kids dream even bigger than you have, because in this country nothing is impossible.'

The highest-selling Colombian recording artist of all time and a two-time Grammy winner was born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll on 2 February 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia, and released her first album, Magia, in June 1991, aged just 13.

Her 1998 album – Dónde Están Los Ladrones? – sold more than seven million copies worldwide. She won her first Grammy three years later in 2001.