Jennifer Lopez — Biography and Music Career
Singer, dancer and actor from the Bronx, New York
From the dance troupe of a TV sketch show to the Super Bowl halftime stage — three decades of music, film and live performance.
Born in the Bronx
Jennifer Lopez was born on 24 July 1969 in the Bronx, New York, to parents from Puerto Rico, and started out as a dancer.
On the 6, 1999
Her debut album produced If You Had My Love, which spent five consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Album and film at the top
In January 2001 she became the first woman to hold the number-one US album and film at once, with J.Lo and The Wedding Planner.
A remix first
J to tha L–O! The Remixes, released in 2002, was the first remix album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200.
Las Vegas residency
All I Have opened at the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood in January 2016 and ran for three years and 120 shows.
Super Bowl LIV
In February 2020 she co-headlined the Super Bowl LIV halftime show in Miami alongside Shakira.
From Fly Girl to Film Star
Jennifer Lopez grew up in the Bronx, the daughter of Guadalupe Rodríguez and David Lopez, who were both born in Puerto Rico. She first reached a national audience as a dancer. After moving to Los Angeles in late 1991 she joined the Fly Girls, the dance troupe of the sketch show In Living Color, and appeared in its third and fourth seasons between 1991 and 1993. Dance has stayed at the centre of her work ever since: her music videos, her tours and her residency are all built around choreography.
Acting came next. Her breakthrough was the title role in Selena (1997), the film about the Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, and her film work has continued since — in 2019 she starred in and executive-produced Hustlers, the drama about a group of New York club dancers.
Albums and Signature Songs
Her recording career began with On the 6 in 1999. The lead single, If You Had My Love, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks, and Waiting for Tonight followed it onto dance floors. In January 2001 the album J.Lo and the film The Wedding Planner were both number one in the United States at the same moment — the first time a woman had held both positions at once.
The records that followed kept moving between styles. J to tha L–O! The Remixes (2002) was the first remix album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. This Is Me... Then (2002) gave her Jenny from the Block, a portrait of the Bronx that peaked at number three. Love? (2011) brought On the Floor, the best-selling single of her career, and This Is Me... Now arrived in February 2024. Across them runs a mix of pop, R&B, dance-pop, hip-hop and Latin pop.
Jennifer Lopez as a Live Performer
On stage, Jennifer Lopez works as a dancer first. Her Las Vegas residency, All I Have, opened at the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood in January 2016 and ran for three years and 120 shows. In the summer of 2019 the It's My Party tour ran from June to August across North America, Europe, Asia and Africa, built around choreography, costume changes and a setlist drawn from every stage of her catalogue.
The biggest single stage came in February 2020, when she co-headlined the Super Bowl LIV halftime show in Miami with Shakira — a set that mixed her own hits with Latin music and dance. In 2025 she returned to touring, and the shows continue in 2026, including a date in the Gulf.
Jennifer Lopez in Abu Dhabi, 2026
In 2026 Jennifer Lopez brings her show to Abu Dhabi as part of the after-race concert programme of the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend. The concert takes place at Etihad Live on Yas Island — the open-air venue previously known as Etihad Park — and entry to the after-race concerts is reserved for Grand Prix ticket holders.
The 2026 live dates page covers the Abu Dhabi show and how it fits the race weekend, while the questions and answers page deals with delivery, refunds, getting to Yas Island and the December weather. For a short overview of the concert itself, start from the Jennifer Lopez in Abu Dhabi overview.