“ | Thank you for loving me endlessly whether my hair is red or brown, whether my skin is normal or covered in a terrible spray tan (never happening again), whether I’m wearing a pink gown or pajamas, whether I’m starring in a Freaky Forever episode from 2009 filmed on my MacBook in Boca or in a hit Nickelodeon TV show. | ” |
–Ariana Grande thanking her fans.[1] |
Ariana Grande-Butera[2][3] (born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. She gained popularity when she played the role of Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon TV series Victorious, and afterwards portrayed the same character on the spin-off Sam & Cat. She broke out musically in 2013 with her single "The Way" from her No. 1 debut album, Yours Truly; in 2014, she released "Problem" which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, then "Break Free" (which also peaked at No. 4), and released her sophomore album, My Everything on August 25.
Early life
Ariana was born and raised in Boca Raton, Florida.[4] She is of Italian descent, half Sicilian, half Abruzzese, and later she found out she also had Greek and North African heritage.[5][6] Her name was inspired by Princess Oriana from Felix the Cat and the shortened name of an Italian Car manufacturer Ferrari. Grande's parents are Joan Grande and Edward Butera, and she has an older brother, Frankie Grande, who is a performer and producer. When she was 8 years old, she went on a cruise with her family and she sang karaoke when Gloria Estafan (a famous Latin singer) was listening her sing. She told Ariana to follow her dreams, which inspired Ariana to do singing and acting.[7] Ariana then did musicals at her local theater, her first being Annie, before taking music seriously when she was 13.
Career
2008–12: Beginnings and acting breakthrough
In 2008, 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; the musical is about two sisters that are journeying through the revolution in Cuba. Grande also played the character Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon television show Victorious, which premiered in March 2010. 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 the current season of Victorious (Season 3, which was split to a fourth season) would 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, and the pilot showed them becoming roommates who launch a babysitting business for income.
2013: Yours Truly and musical breakthrough
Grande completed her first studio album, Yours Truly, in June 2013 which took three years to complete. It was released in the US on September 3, 2013. Grande commented on the album saying: "They can expect a lot of honesty. It's like a direct... you know, it's like it used to be pages from my diary, instead of keeping diary, I would write songs about what was happening in my life. So it's really personal. It's a Motown throwback and pop at the same time, so it's '50s and '60s inspiration mixed with today." The album was inspired by artists like Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Madonna, and other like these. Grande worked with artists like Sky Blue from LMFAO, 3OH!3, Kool Kojak, and Pebe Sebert on the album. She was also working in the studio with Jonas Brothers singer Nick Jonas. On March 20, 2013, Ariana previewed her new song in its entirety at B96 in Chicago for a small group of her dedicated fans and had a pizza party with them.
On March 26, 2013, Ariana's first single off her debut album, "The Way" featuring Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller, was released. Her second single "Baby I" was released, followed by "Almost Is Never Enough" featuring Nathan Sykes of The Wanted. Her last single from the album was "Right There" featuring Big Sean.
In December 2013, Grande released an EP named Christmas Kisses featuring the songs "Last Christmas", "Love is Everything", "Snow in California" and "Santa Baby," the ladder featuring Elizabeth Gillies.
2014: My Everything and departing Nickelodeon
On April 28, 2014, Ariana released the first single from her upcoming second studio album titled, "Problem" which features Australian rapper Iggy Azalea. The song was very successful selling over 400,000 units in its first week and debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song later peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100, reached No. 1 on the UK Charts, and sold almost 3 million copies.
The second single, "Break Free"—which features German music producer Zedd—went up to No. 1 on the iTunes chart almost immediately after its release.
On July 13, 2014, Nickelodeon announced that they were cancelling Sam & Cat after 35 episodes due to a "multitude of issues." The series ended on July 17. 4 episodes were left unproduced. It was rumored that the main cause behind the cancellation was due to Grande feuding with McCurdy after a salary dispute.
"Bang Bang" by Jessie J, Ariana, and Nicki Minaj was released as the first single from Jessie's new album on July 29, 2014. The song debuted at No. 6, and has since peaked at No. 3, on the Billboard Hot 100 and is featured on the deluxe edition of My Everything.
My Everything, Ariana's second album, was released on August 25 in the United States, and seven out its fifteen songs are collaborations. It has been released in standard, deluxe, and Target edition formats.
On Thursday, September 4, 2014, Ariana performed the national anthem at the 2014 NFL season-opening game at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, WA.
Ariana announced the production of "Santa Tell Me", her 2014 Christmas single. It became available on November 24th and peaked at No. 65 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at No. 1 on the Holiday 100.
2015-present: The Honeymoon Tour and Moonlight
On January 17, 2015, it was confirmed Ariana would return to television in a recurring role on the new Ryan Murphy series Scream Queens, co-starring alongside Emma Roberts, Jamie Lee Curtis, Lea Michele, Abigail Breslin, and Keke Palmer. The series will revolve around a college campus shacked by a multitude of recent murders. Production began in April, and is expected to continue in July. The series will air on Fox in September 2015.[8]
On February 28, 2015, Ariana embarked on her first world tour, The Honeymoon Tour, in North America. She is currently on her European leg.
Ariana Grande's third studio album, Moonlight, is set to release in late 2015.
Personal life
Relationships
In 2008, Grande started dating Graham Phillips. They were in a relationship for three years before they broke up in December 2011.
In February 2012, she and her back-up dancer Jordan Viscomi started dating. A few months later, they broke up as well.
In October 2012, Grande began dating Jai Brooks, a member of the Australian YouTube group "The Janoskians" after meeting through Twitter. They had a long distance relationship until December 2012, when they met for the first time in New York City.[9] However, Ariana and Jai broke up in August 2013, due to Jai accusing Ariana of cheating on him.
The next month, after weeks of speculation, Ariana and Nathan Sykes from the British boyband "The Wanted" confirmed their relationship on Twitter. In late January 2014, Grande confirmed in a radio interview that her and Sykes had decided to end their approximately five month long relationship, but insisted that they remain close friends.[10]
Ariana and her ex-boyfriend Jai Brooks were seen kissing after her performance at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on May 1, 2014. This confirmed they were back together, but in July 2014, they broke up again after he allegedly was not supportive of Ariana during the death of her grandfather.
In August 2014, rumors began that Ariana was dating rapper Big Sean, who has been her friend for some time and who was with Ariana when her grandfather died (unlike her boyfriend at the time, Jai Brooks). The rumors started because a fan photographed them leaving a movie theater; the fan also said he saw Ariana and Big Sean kissing during the movie, but nothing was confirmed until the MTV VMA's when they were filmed holding hands after Ariana sang "Bang Bang". Recently, Ariana and Big Sean were spotted kissing in Universal Studios, on the "Mummy Returns" roller coaster.[11] On October 13, she publicly confirmed they were dating. Though in April 2015, Big Sean & Ariana broke up due to busy schedules & timings, and other rumors say Big Sean dumped Ariana for dancing and hanging out with her good friend Justin Bieber.
Then in late 2015 Ariana and Ricky Alvarez decided to become more than just friends and take their relationship to the next level. The relationship was kept private and secret until the TMZ video leaked of Ari licking a donut and making out with Ricky. After the video was leaked online, a lot of questions were asked about her making out with her backup dancer. Ariana revealed that they are now seeing each other and are very happy.
Tattoos
Religion
- She was born Roman Catholic but has since given up on Christianity since Pope Benedict said that everything she loved and believed in were sins, such as Harry Potter, Spongebob Squarepants, homosexuality and working women. She has since started following Kabbalah's teachings, believing "the basis lies in the idea that if you’re kind to others, good things will happen to you."[12]
Philanthropy
At the age of 14, Grande co-founded the youth singing group Kids Who Care in South Florida, which performed for charitable fund-raising events, raising over $500,000 for charities in 2007 alone. In the summer of 2009, as a member of the charitable organization Broadway in South Africa, Grande performed and taught music and dance to children in Gugulethu, South Africa, along with her brother Frankie. Grande also partnered with Kleenex on its "Shield Sneeze Swish" campaign.
Discography
Filmography
Gallery
“deep breaths, tight chest, life, death” To view the Ariana Grande gallery, click here.
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Official accounts
References
- ↑ Ariana's TwitLonger
- ↑ Full name confirmed
- ↑ Full name confirmed 2
- ↑ "Ariana Grande: A Back Stage Exclusive"
- ↑ Ariana's tweet about her ethnicity
- ↑ Ariana's tweet about finding out about new heritage
- ↑ Ariana was discovered on a cruise ship
- ↑ Scream Queens website
- ↑ Ariana dating Jai
- ↑ Ariana and Nathan are close friends
- ↑ IB Times confirms Big Seariana relationship
- ↑ Ariana Grande abandons Catholic beliefs
Yours Truly | |
---|---|
August 30, 2013 • 46:28 • Republic Records | |
Songs | |
Released | Almost Is Never Enough • Baby I • Better Left Unsaid • Daydreamin' • Honeymoon Avenue • Lovin' It • Piano • Popular Song • Right There • Tattooed Heart • The Way • You'll Never Know |
Unreleased | 3OH!3 Outtake 1 • 3OH!3 Outtake 2 • Boyfriend Material • Butterflies • Do You Love Me • First Time • Human • ILAB • La Vie En Rose • Nobody Does It Better • Oh, Darling • Parachute • Pink Champagne • Please Don't Let Me Go • Put Your Hearts Up • Real • Sandman • Saturday Love • 'Til We Finally Meet • Unknown Nick Jonas Duet • Unknown Nick Jonas Ballad • Unknown Sean Kingston Collaboration • Voodoo Love • Young Love • You're My Only Shawty |
Artists | |
Ariana Grande • Big Sean • Demi Lovato • Greyson Chance • J Balvin • Jade Novah • King Los • Mac Miller • MIKA • Nathan Sykes • Pebe Sebert • Sean Kingston • Taro Hakase • The Dap Kings | |
Tour | |
The Listening Sessions |
My Everything | |
---|---|
August 22, 2014 • 40:31 • Republic Records | |
Songs | |
Released | Bang Bang • Be My Baby • Best Mistake • Break Free • Break Your Heart Right Back • Cadillac Song • Hands On Me • Intro • Just A Little Bit Of Your Heart • Love Me Harder • My Everything • One Last Time • Only 1 • Problem • Too Close • Why Try • You Don't Know Me |
Unreleased | Ain't About What You Got • In The Morning • Lighter • Not Afraid of Love • Nothing Lasts Forever • Ridiculous • The Way It Is |
Artists | |
Ariana Grande • A$AP Ferg • Big Sean • Cashmere Cat • Childish Gambino • Iggy Azalea • Jessie J • Miley Cyrus • Nicki Minaj • The Weeknd • Tori Kelly • Zedd | |
Tour | |
The Honeymoon Tour |