Ariana Grande-Butera[1][2] (born June 26, 1993) is an American actress and singer who played the role of Charlotte in 13: The Musical and participated in recording the official Broadway Cast Soundtrack.
Early life[]
Grande was born and raised in Boca Raton, Florida.[3][4] She is of Italian descent, half Sicilian, half Abruzzese.[5] Her name was inspired by Princess Oriana from Felix the Cat. Grande's parents are Joan Grande and Edward Butera, a graphic designer. She has an older brother, Frankie Grande, who is a performer and producer. He also was one of Grande's backup dancers on her first tour. Grande sang as a soloist in various symphonies, such as South Florida's Philharmonic, Pops and Symphonia Orchestras. She has sang various times in NYC's Birdland and has sang the National Anthem on the first live broadcast of the Florida Panthers hockey league.[6]
Career[]
2008–12: Beginnings and acting breakthrough[]
From 2010-2013, Ariana had dyed her hair red and kept it straightened for her role as "Cat" in Victorious and Sam & Cat. Ariana has also been seen with different colored hair throughout her music career, including blonde, gray, and lighter brown. It is, however, naturally dark brown and curly!
In 2008, Ariana Grande played the role of Charlotte in the musical 13 on Broadway, for which she won a National Youth Theatre Association Award. When she joined the musical, Grande left her high school, North Broward Preparatory School, but continued to be enrolled. The school sent materials to her so she could study with tutors. In 2010, she created the original role of Miriam in the reading of the new musical, Cuba Libre, written and produced by Desmond Child. Grande played the character Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon television show Victorious, which premiered in March 2010. Grande was also featured in Dream Magazine as the cover girl for the August 2011 issue. In 2011, Ariana voiced an animated fairy, Princess Diaspro, on the Nickelodeon series Winx Club and starred as Snow White along with Charlene Tilton and Neil Patrick Harris in the Pasadena Playhouse production of A Snow White Christmas from December 13–23, 2012. In 2012, Grande sang a duet with MIKA on the single version of his track Popular Song. In the following month it was also announced that Victorious's current season (Season 3, which was split to a fourth season) will be the last. It was announced that the third soundtrack would be released on November 6, 2012 titled as Victorious 3.0. The first single was called "L.A. Boys" (which was performed by Grande and Victoria Justice) and the music video was released October 18, 2012. Victorious ended on February 2, 2013. It was announced during the network's presentation at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour on August 3, 2012 that Sam & Cat, which would pair Grande from Victorious and Jennette McCurdy from iCarly together in a traditional "buddy sitcom" setting, where they would reprise their roles as Cat Valentine and Sam Puckett. Grande tweeted stating that she wasn't hoping for Victorious to end and was looking forward to being on both shows. Sam & Cat was picked up by Nickelodeon on November 29, 2012. The pilot showed them becoming roommates who launch a babysitting business for income. how Ariana Grande really got fame,
After ending both Sam and Cat and Victorious, she made songs with way more celebrities, making herself seem like someone wanting to start a future celeb, so many rappers and singers duet with her and she became more and more famous, famous until she is more popular than the people who built her career, while Victoria Justice didn't rely on others to carry her career.
2013-2015: Music breakthrough[]
Before and during 13, Ariana and Aaron Simon Gross (who played Archie) remained best friends. They auditioned on the same day and lived close by eachother in Boca Raton, Florida.
On March 26, 2013, Ariana's first single off her debut album, "The Way" featuring Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller, was released. It became an instant sensation debuting at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and receiving a double platinum certification from the RIAA. Her album was also preceded by the singles"Baby I", "Almost Is Never Enough" featuring Nathan Sykes of The Wanted, and "Right There" featuring Big Sean.
Grande's first studio album, Yours Truly, was released in the US on September 3rd, 2013 after three years of work. The album is a throwback to the 1990's R&B feel-good music and inspired by artists like Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. Yours Truly gained critical acclaim upon its release as Grande was praised for her vocals as well as refreshing musical style. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 making her the 15th female overall to have their debut album reach #1 on the charts in its first week of release.
In December 2013, Grande released an EP named Christmas Kisses which had songs "Last Christmas", "Love is Everything", "Snow in California" and "Santa Baby" featuring Elizabeth Gillies.
In mid January of 2014, Grande confirmed that she is working on her second album, which would be called "My Everything", and would be released later that year. It's lead single "Problem" features Australian rapper Iggy Azalea and premiered at the 2014 Radio Disney Music Awards on April 27. The song debuted at number three (eventually climbing to number two) on the Billboard Hot 100, and debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Grande's first number one single in the United Kingdom. The album's second single, "Break Free", featuring German musician and producer Zedd, peaked at number four in the United States. She performed the song as the opening of the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, and won Best Pop Video for "Problem". Grande and Nicki Minaj provided guest vocals on "Bang Bang", the lead single from Jessie J's album Sweet Talker, which peaked at number one in the UK and reached number three in the US. With the singles "Problem", "Break Free", and "Bang Bang", Grande joined Adele as the only female artist with three top ten singles simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 as a lead artist.
In February 2015, Grande embarked on her first worldwide concert tour, The Honeymoon Tour, to further promote My Everything, with shows in North America, Europe, Asia and South America. Grande was featured on Cashmere Cat's song "Adore", which was released in March 2015. In the spring, she signed an exclusive publishing contract with the Universal Music Publishing Group, covering her entire music catalog. She guest-starred on several episodes of the Fox comedy-horror television series Scream Queens as Sonya Herfmann/Chanel#2 from September to November 2015. She recorded the duet "E Più Ti Penso" with Italian recording artist Andrea Bocelli, which was released in October 2015 as the lead single from Bocelli's album Cinema (2015), and covered the song "Zero to Hero", originally from the animated film Hercules (1997), for the compilation album We Love Disney (2015). Grande also released her second Christmas EP, Christmas & Chill in December 2015.
2015-2017: Dangerous Woman[]
Grande began recording songs for her third studio album, Dangerous Woman, originally titled Moonlight, in 2015. In October of that year, she released the single "Focus", initially intended as the lead single from the album; the song debuted at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. In March 2016, Grande released "Dangerous Woman" as the lead single from the retitled album of the same name. The single debuted at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first artist to have the lead single from each of her first three albums debut in the top ten.
Grande released Dangerous Woman on May 20, 2016 and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. It also debuted at number two in Japan, and at number one in several other markets, including Australia, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand and UK. Mark Savage, writing for BBC News, called the album "a mature, confident record". At the Summertime Ball at London's Wembley Stadium in June, Grande performed three songs from the album as part of her set. In August, Grande released a third single from the album, "Side to Side", featuring rapper Nicki Minaj, her eighth top ten entry on the Hot 100, which peaked at number four on that chart. Dangerous Woman was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album and the title track for Best Pop Solo Performance.
In August 2016, Grande performed a tribute to the late Whitney Houston on the season finale of the ABC television series Greatest Hits and headlined the opening night of the second annual Billboard Hot 100 Music Festival, performing a nearly hour-long set of her own songs. Aside from music, Grande filmed a commercial for T-Mobile that premiered in October 2016, and played Penny Pingleton in the NBC television broadcast Hairspray Live!, which aired in December 2016. The same month, Grande and Stevie Wonder appeared on the season finale of the US competition TV series The Voice, performing their collaboration "Faith" from the soundtrack of the 2016 animated film Sing. "Faith" was nominated for Best Original Song at the 74th Golden Globe Awards. At the end of the year, Grande participated in the Jingle Ball Tour 2016. Grande recorded the title track of the soundtrack for the 2017 live-action remake of Disney's 1991 animated film Beauty and the Beast. The recording was released as a duet with American singer John Legend in February 2017. The same month, Grande embarked on her third concert tour, the Dangerous Woman Tour, to promote the related album.
On May 22, 2017, her concert at Manchester Arena was the target of a suicide bombing—a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb detonated by an Islamic extremist as people were leaving the arena. The Manchester Arena bombing caused 23 deaths and injured hundreds more. Grande suspended the remainder of the tour and held a televised benefit concert, One Love Manchester, on June 4, helping to raise $23 million to aid the bombing's victims and affected families. The concert featured performances from Grande, as well as Liam Gallagher, Robbie Williams, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and other artists. To recognize her efforts, the Manchester City Council named Grande the first honorary citizen of Manchester. The tour resumed on June 7 in Paris and ended in September 2017. In August 2017, Grande appeared in an Apple Music Carpool Karaoke episode, singing musical theatre songs with American entertainer Seth MacFarlane. In December 2017, Billboard magazine named her "Female Artist of the Year".
2018-present: Sweetener, Thank U Next, Stuck With U, and Rain On Me[]
Grande began working on songs for her fourth studio album, Sweetener, with Pharrell Williams in 2016, but "the events in Manchester gave a hard reset to the project's expectations". Grande released "No Tears Left to Cry" as the lead single from Sweetener in April 2018, with the song debuting at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, making Grande the only artist to have debuted the first single from each of her first four albums in the top ten of the Hot 100. The second single, "God Is a Woman" peaked at number 8 on the Hot 100 and became Grande's tenth top ten single in the US. Released in August 2018, Sweetener debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and received acclaim from critics. The album also gained Grande her first Grammy Award, for Best Pop Vocal Album, at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. Grande gave four concerts to promote the album, billed as The Sweetener Sessions, in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and London between August 20 and September 4, 2018.
In November 2018, Grande released the single "Thank U, Next" and announced her fifth studio album of the same name. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Grande's first chart topping single in the United States, spending seven non-consecutive weeks atop. Since then, it has been certified five-times platinum in the United States; the song's music video broke records for most-watched music video on YouTube within 24 hours of release, and fastest Vevo video to reach 100 million views on YouTube, both of which were later surpassed by other artists. On Spotify, it became the fastest song to reach 100 million streams (11 days) and most-streamed song by a female artist in a 24-hour period, with 9.6 million streams, before being surpassed by her own song "7 Rings" (nearly 15 million streams). Later the same month, Grande released, in collaboration with YouTube, a four-part docuseries titled Ariana Grande: Dangerous Woman Diaries. It shows behind the scenes and concert footage from Grande's Dangerous Woman Tour, including moments from the One Love Manchester concert, and follows her professional life during the tour and the making of Sweetener. The series debuted on November 29, 2018.
In January 2019, it was announced that Grande would be headlining the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where she became the youngest and only the fourth female artist ever to headline the festival. It took place April 12–14 and April 19–21. According to reports, she was paid $8 million for both days of her set. Grande brought a number of guest artists to perform with her, including NSYNC, P.Diddy, Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber.
Grande's second single from Thank U, Next, "7 Rings", was released on January 18, 2019, and debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of February 2, becoming her second single in a row (and overall) to top the charts. It made Grande the third female artist with multiple number-one debuts after Mariah Carey (3) and Britney Spears (2) and fifth artist overall after Justin Bieber and Drake. The song broke several streaming and recording industry records. Spending eight non-consecutive weeks at number one, it became Grande's most successful song on the chart and one of the best selling singles worldwide. Thank U, Next was released on February 8, 2019 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 while receiving acclaim from critics. It broke the records for the largest streaming week for a pop album and for a female album in the United States with 307 million on-demand streams.
Grande became the first solo artist to occupy the top three spots on the Billboard Hot 100 with "7 Rings" at number one, her third single "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" debuting at number two, and her lead single "Thank U, Next" rose to number three, and the overall second artist to do so since the Beatles did in 1964 when they occupied the top five spots. In the United Kingdom, Grande became the second female solo artist to simultaneously hold the number one and two spots and the first musical artist to replace herself at number one, twice consecutively. On February 20, 2019, Grande won a Brit Award for International Female Solo Artist. She also embarked on her third headlining tour, the Sweetener World Tour, to promote both Sweetener and Thank U, Next, which began on March 18, 2019. Grande was nominated for 9 awards at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards, including Top Artist. She would win two awards for Billboard Chart Achievement and Top Female Artist on May 1, 2019. Grande performed at the event via a pre-recorded performance from her Sweetener World Tour.
In June 2019, Grande announced that she co-executive produced the soundtrack to the film Charlie's Angels; a collaboration with Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey, titled "Don't Call Me Angel", was released as the lead single on September 13, 2019. It was later nominated for Best Original Song, at the 24th Satellite Awards. In August 2019, she released a single titled "Boyfriend" with pop duo Social House. Grande co-wrote singer Normani's debut solo single "Motivation", which was released on August 16, 2019. Grande won three awards at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, including the Artist of the Year award. She was nominated for 12 awards in total, including Video of the Year for "Thank U, Next". Grande was featured on the remix of American singer and rapper Lizzo's song "Good as Hell", which was released on October 25, 2019. By the end of the year, Billboard magazine named Grande the most accomplished female artist to debut in the 2010s, while NME magazine named her one of the defining musical artists of this decade. She also became the most streamed female artist of the decade on music streaming service Spotify. Also, Forbes magazine ranked her amongst the highest-paid celebrities in 2019, placing at number 62nd on the list.
In January 2020, Grande received multiple nominations at the 2020 iHeartRadio Music Awards, including Female Artist of the Year. The following month, she made a guest appearance in the second season of the American television series Kidding, which stars Jim Carrey. Grande and singer Justin Bieber released a collaboration song titled "Stuck With U" on May 8, 2020; net proceeds from the sales of the song were donated to the First Responders Children's Foundation in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Grande's third chart-topping single. Alongside Bieber, both artists tied Mariah Carey and Drake for the most songs to debut at number one on the Hot 100; Grande is the first artist to have her first three number ones debut at the top, following "Thank U, Next" and "7 Rings". Grande also released a collaboration with Lady Gaga, "Rain on Me", as the second single from Gaga's sixth studio album Chromatica. The song also debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Grande's fourth number one single and helping Grande break the record for the most number one debuts on that chart. In 2020, Grande became the highest-earning woman in music on Forbes magazine's 2020 Celebrity 100 list. At the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, Grande was nominated for nine awards for both "Stuck With U" (with Justin Bieber) and "Rain on Me" (with Lady Gaga). For the latter, Grande received her third consecutive nomination for Video of the Year. She would win four awards, including Song of the Year for "Rain on Me".