Rihanna was born in Saint Michael, Barbados, to Ronald and Monica Fenty. She has two younger brothers, Rorrey and Rajad Fenty. Her mother, a native of Guyana, is Afro-Guyanese and her father is Barbadian and Irish.

Rihanna attended Charles F. Broome Memorial School, a primary school in Barbados, and then the Combermere School, where she formed a musical trio with two of her classmates at the age of fifteen. In 2004, she won the Miss Combermere Beauty Pageant. She was an army cadet in a sub-military programme that trained with the military of Barbados and Shontelle was her drill sergeant.

In 2003, friends introduced Rihanna and her two bandmates to record producer Evan Rogers, who was vacationing in Barbados with his wife. The group auditioned for Rogers, who said that "the minute Rihanna walked into the room, it was like the other two girls didn't exist." She eventually moved to Connecticut to live with Rogers and his wife. Rogers, along with his partner, Carl Sturken, helped Rihanna record material in the U.S. to send to various recording companies. Rihanna's demo made its way to Def Jam, which invited her to audition for the label's then-president, Jay-Z, who quickly signed her.