Ariana Grande Biography

Singer, Television Actress (1993–)

Ariana Grande is a sitcom-star-turned-pop music sensation, known for

such hit songs as 'Problem,' 'Bang Bang' and 'Dangerous Woman.'

Who Is Ariana Grande?

Ariana Grande was born in Boca Raton, Florida, in 1993 and began performing onstage when
she was a child. Her involvement in a Broadway play at age 15, followed by some
small TVparts, helped her land the role of Cat on TV's Victorious. She followed that with the
spinoff Sam & Cat and then dove headfirst into a chart-topping musical career, releasing four
albums: Yours Truly (2013), My Everything (2014), Dangerous Woman (2016)
and Sweetener(2018). Her popularity has been fueled by a strong social media presence
on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Albums and Songs

'Yours Truly' & 'My Everything'
“The Way” was the first single from Grande’s debut album, Yours Truly, a
record that also featured the hits "Baby I" and "Right There." The album,
produced by super-producer Babyface, showed a maturing Grande, and
1990s soul influences from pop diva Mariah Carey. The 2014 release My
Everything sold 169,000 copies in its first week, debuting at No. 1. The single
“Problem,” featuring Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, preceded the album
release and debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100, selling more than
400,000 copies upon its release. “Break Free” with Zedd and “Love Me
Harder” with The Weeknd followed, each climbing toward the top of the
charts.

'Bang Bang,' 'One Last Time'

During the summer of 2014, Grande teamed up with Jessie J and Nicki
Minaj on the single “Bang Bang,” a track that debuted at No. 6 and peaked at
No. 3 in the United States. The album spawned another hit single “One Last
Time,” which reached number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Grande had
three hit singles from My Everything on the Billboard chart at the same time.

'Dangerous Woman'
In 2015 Grande released Christmas & Chill, a holiday album, and the single
"Focus," which debuted at number seven on the Billboard's Hot 100. In
February 2016, she released her third album Dangerous Woman, and the title
track debuted at number 10 on the Hot 100 that March. She made music
history with the track's success, becoming the first artist to have the lead
singles from her first three albums debut in the Top 10. Dangerous Woman,
which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, also features
collaborations with Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Macy Gray and Future.

'Sweetener'
Grande returned to the charts in April 2018 with "No Tears Left to Cry," the
catchy, upbeat response to the previous year's Manchester concert bombing.
She followed in June with the dance track "The Light Is Coming," featuring
Minaj, and dropped another single in mid-July, the sultry "God Is a Woman."
The three releases were included in her highly anticipated
album Sweetener, which debuted in mid-August, as was a track about her
whirlwind romance with Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson.

Grande has been nominated for two Grammy Awards, won three American
Music Awards, including Artist of the Year in 2016, and an MTV Video Music
Award.

Bombing at 'Dangerous Woman' Tour

In 2017 Grande performed the title track for the soundtrack of the live action
movie Beauty and the Beast. In February of that year, she began
her Dangerous Woman tour across North America and then Europe. On May
22, 2017, tragedy struck after Grande finished a concert in Manchester,
England and a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at the exit of the concert
hall, killing 22 people and wounding 116, including many young adults and
children. "All acts of terrorism are cowardly... but this attack stands out for its
appalling sickening cowardice, deliberately targeting innocent, defenseless
children and young people who should have been enjoying one of the most
memorable nights of their lives," British Prime Minister Theresa May said after
the attack.

The pop star responded to the horrific act on Twitter.

Less than a day after the attack, Grande suspended her Dangerous
Woman tour. She returned to Manchester 13 days after the attack to perform
a benefit concert on June 4 for the bombing victims, enlisting friends and
fellow superstars to perform including Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Justin
Bieber, Liam Gallagher, Chris Martin, and Pharrell Williams. Before the
concert, Grande visited fans who had been injured in the attack, and she also
offered 14,000 free tickets to people who had been at the May 22 concert.

Grande resumed her tour on June 7th in Paris, posting in Instagram: "First
show back tonight. Thinking of our angels every step of the way. I love you
with all my heart. Grateful for and incredibly proud of my band, dancers and
entire crew. I love you. I love you."

The following year, the singer revealed that she was still feeling the effects
of post-traumatic stress disorder from the event. "It's hard to talk about
because so many people have suffered such severe, tremendous loss," she
told British Vogue. "I don't think I'll ever know how to talk about it and not cry."

Acting & 'SNL'

The pop diva returned to television with a guest appearance on Scream
Queens in 2015, and she hit the big screen in a cameo appearance
in Zoolander 2 in 2016. She also starred as Penny Pingleton, Tracy Turnblad's
best friend, in NBC's Hairspray Live! in December 2016.

Grande has also become a popular host of Saturday Night Live, bringing her
musical and acting talents to the show, including uncanny impersonations
of fellow pop divas Britney Spears, Shakira, Rihanna, Celine Dion
and Whitney Houston in a skit spoofing the streaming service Tidal.

In addition to her musical and acting projects, Grande has launched two
fragrances "Ari by Ariana Grande" and "Frankie by Ariana Grande" with her
brother Frankie Grande.

When she is not performing, the pop superstar supports various charitable
causes including Kids Who Care, a group she co-founded that raises money
for charities in the South Florida region. She also has cultivated a massive
social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat,
and landed on Time magazine's list of "The 100 Most Influential People" in
2016.

Personal Life
Grande went public with her romance with her "The Way" collaborator Mac
Miller in August 2016. The pair split in May 2018 after almost two years of
dating. "I respect and adore him endlessly and am grateful to have him in my
life in any form, at all times regardless of how our relationship changes or
what the universe holds for each of us!" Grande posted on Instragram.

On June 11, 2018, People magazine confirmed that the singer was engaged
to SNL's Davidson, her boyfriend of several weeks. Subsequent attention
focused on their affectionate social media posts directed at one another,
though the couple found themselves in an awkward position when footage
surfaced of Davidson making a joke about the Manchester concert bombing
months earlier. The pair split in October 2018.

Early Years
Ariana Grande was born on June 26, 1993, in Boca Raton, Florida, to Edward
Butera, a graphic designer, and Joan Grande, a businesswoman. She took to
singing and acting at a young age and made her way onto the local theater
scene before she was a teenager. Her first big break came in 2008, when the
15-year-old landed the role of Charlotte in the Broadway production of 13, a
play focusing on life growing up in New York City. The early role led to
accolades, and Grande won a National Youth Theatre Association Award.

Two years later, she appeared in the musical Cuba Libre and had a small role
on a TV show called The Battery’s Down. But Grande landed her breakout
role in the Nickelodeon series Victorious.

Television Roles
Victorious was set at a performing arts high school, and Grande was cast as a
goofy aspiring singer-actress named Cat Valentine. While busy with the show,
Grande nevertheless pursued a musical career, making her first appearance
on a record with the Victorious soundtrack. And in 2011, Grande released the
single "Put Your Hearts Up," a pop song aimed at the hearts of her
young Victorious audience. The show's devoted fan base
voted VictoriousFavorite TV Show at the 2012 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice
Awards.

When Victorious went off the air in 2012, Grande's character Cat Valentine
survived. She went to star in the Nick spin-off Sam & Cat, co-
starring iCarly’s Jennette McCurdy. Sam & Catwasn’t on long when rumors
began to swirl that Grande wasn’t particularly enjoying the experience, and
the show came to an abrupt end after 35 episodes (2013-14). Meanwhile,
Grande’s 2013 single “The Way” made it into the top 10 in the United States
and went triple platinum.