Singer Shakira, soccer star Gerard Pique welcome baby

Singer Shakira gave birth to her first child, a boy, on Tuesday in Barcelona, the Colombian pop star said on her website.
   
The "Hips Don't Lie" singer and her boyfriend, the Spanish soccer player Gerard Pique, named the six-pound, six-ounce (three kilograms) boy Milan.
   
"Milan (pronounced MEE-lahn) means dear, loving and gracious in Slavic; in Ancient Roman, eager and laborious, and in Sanskrit, unification," the star said in a statement posted on her website.
   
"Just like his father, baby Milan became a member of FC Barcelona at birth," the couple joked in a statement. Pique is a defender for Spanish La Liga runner-up FC Barcelona.
   
Shakira, 35, announced her pregnancy in September after bowing out of a performance in Las Vegas.
   
The couple last week asked fans to donate gifts such as mosquito nets and vaccines to help needy children in an online baby shower. Shakira is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
   
Shakira has signed on to be a judge on the upcoming season of the hit singing contest "The Voice," which is broadcast by U.S. network NBC. She and R&B singer Usher will replace judges Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green.
   
The singer fist met Pique, 25, in 2010, but only confirmed that they had been in a relationship in March 2011.

 
REUTERS