
Via The Sun: Her dad’s treasured photo shows a pretty teenager dressed for a carnival in Barbados. Thirteen-year-old Robyn Fenty smiles warmly in an outfit emblazoned with musical notes and the number one.
Only now can we appreciate the significance.
For Robyn – known to millions by her middle name Rihanna – has blasted from humble beginnings on the Caribbean island to become the biggest female pop star in the world. Just four years before the cheery carnival snap was taken, Rihanna had walked in on her dad doing crack in their modest home in Bridgetown – and vowed her life would be different. That moment, and her father Ronald’s descent into hopeless addiction, helped spur the streetwise girl on to global success – and an estimated £143million fortune.
The Sun tracked down her 57-year-old dad to Rihanna’s old home town, where he sells clothes from the back of a car. And standing outside the tiny bungalow where Rihanna grew up, Ronald Fenty, who says he is now drug free, showed off his snaps and revealed her early talent.
He said: “The first time I heard her sing she was three years old, lying on her bed with a hairbrush for a microphone. Then, when she was seven, I heard her singing with our neighbour and I was amazed. She was doing the Aladdin song A Whole New World – it was so pretty I couldn’t believe it.” He added: “I made sure she went to school and did well. She liked to dance and had natural rhythm but she wasn’t doing all the school productions and stuff. So her success came a bit out of the blue.”
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