pnet news | Music:- If you’re a pop singer, especially a woman, you must be an airhead. Goes without saying.

Right?

Given the apparent brain power, or lack of it, demonstrated by some of the corporate music industry stars, you could be forgiven thinking so.

But it’s obviously a huge generalisation and the reality is: performers, independent and corporate, male or female, are some of the smartest people around. So it’s interesting to read an Associated Press item expressing shocked surprise that Shakira is a lot more than just mover with a voice.

She, “may get high grades in singing and swiveling her hips, but what about ancient Western history?” – asks the piece, going on to say she’s been studying at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The class? Introduction to Western Civilization: Ancient Civilizations from Prehistory to Circa AD 843.

She’s been studying by herself for years as well as taking tutorials on the history and languages of countries she’s visited, her manager, Fifi Kurzman, says.

Course lecturer Robert Cleve hadn’t known she was a celebrity and, “was astonished to learn she was a pop star,” says AP, adding:

“She told me she was visiting from Colombia and that she was just doing this for her own enlightenment and enjoyment,” Cleve said. “She looked like just an ordinary student. She wasn’t flamboyant … she didn’t act like a big celebrity or anything.

“I was really impressed with how intelligent she was.”

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Also See:
Associated Press – RIAA attacks Massachusetts mother, students, September 10, 2007

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