Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande-Butera[2][3] (born June 26, 1993),[4][5] known professionally as Ariana Grande, is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. Ariana grew up in Boca Raton, Florida where she attended North Broward Preparatory School. Grande made her acting debut in 2008 in the role of Charlotte in 13 on Broadway. From 2010 until 2013, she played Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon sitcom Victorious, iCarly (2011) and is reprising the role on the spinoff Sam & Cat.[6]
In March 2013, Grande reached mainstream success after her single "The Way" from her debut studio album Yours Truly (2013) became a top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100.[7][8] The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
Grande was born and raised in Boca Raton, Florida; the daughter of Joan Grande and Edward Butera. She has an older brother, Frankie, who is also an actor.[9][10] She is of Italian descent.[11] Growing up, she took part in children's and community theater and attended North Broward Preparatory School.[12][13]
==Career==
===2008–12: Beginnings and acting===
Grande performing with the Victorious Cast.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.[12][13] In 2010, she created the original role of Miriam in the reading of the new musical, Cuba Libre, written and produced by Desmond Child.[12] Grande played the character Cat Valentine, who is sweet, naive, bubbly and almost always happy. She has a very short attention span, and has bright red hair dyed to resemble her favorite snack, a red velvet cupcake. Despite her ditziness, she is very intelligent and empathetic in the Nickelodeon television show Victorious, which premiered in March 2010!
1It ended on February 2, 2013. Grande was also featured in Dream Magazine as the cover girl for the August 2011 issue.[14] 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 Playhouseproduction of A Snow White Christmas from December 13–23, 2012.[15]
Grande in July 2011In 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.[16] Grande tweeted stating that she wasn't hoping for it to end and was looking forward to being on both shows. It was announced during the network's presentation at theTelevision 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.[17] Sam & Cat was picked up by Nickelodeon on November 29, 2012.[18] On July 11, 2013, Nickelodeon doubled Sam & Cat's season one twenty episode order, leading to season one having forty episodes.[19]
Grande sang as a soloist in various symphonies, such as South Florida’s Philharmonic, Pops and Symphonic Orchestras.[4] She has sung various times in NYC's Birdland.[4] Grande rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the first-ever broadcast of the national anthem for the Florida Panthers.[4][12] Grande has performed covers of songs such as Mariah Carey's "Emotions" and "All I Want For Christmas Is You",[20][21] and Whitney Houston's "I Believe in You and Me".[22] The third soundtrack for Victorious was released on November 6, 2012, titled as Victorious 3.0. The first single was called "LA Boyz" (which was performed by Grande and Justice) and the music video was released October 18, 2012. In 2012, Grande also sang a duet with MIKA on the single version of his track Popular Song.[23]
===2013: Debut studio album Yours Truly===
"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."
— Ariana Grande, on the album.
[24]Grande completed her first studio album, Yours Truly, in June 2013.[25] It was released on September 2, 2013 in the UK,[citation needed] and a day later in the US.[26] The album was inspired by artists like Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey,Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Madonna, Sky Blue from LMFAO, 3OH!3, Kool Kojak, and Pebe Sebert.[27][28][29] On March 26, 2013, Ariana's first single from her debut album, "The Way" featuring Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller, was released.[30][31][32] It became a Top 40 hit[7][8] and also received certifications of Platinum in US (RIAA)[33] and Gold in Australia (ARIA).[34] The album's second single, "Baby I", was released on July 22, 2013.[35] The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 selling 138,000 copies in its first week.[36] Grande is the first female artist to debut at number one on the chart with her first album since Ke$ha’s Animal (2010) and the fifteenth female artist in the charts history to do so.[37][38]
Grande played Amanda Benson "The Mountain Climber" in Swindle, an adaptation of the novel of the same name, by Gordon Korman, along with Sam & Cat co-star Jennette McCurdy.[39][40] On August 25, 2013, Ariana made her MTV Video Music Awards debut performing her singles "Baby I" and "The Way."
==Artistry==
===Musical style and voice===
Vocally, Grande is a soprano, with a four octave range and semitone Eb3-E7, and also has a whistle register.[41] Grande is considered an agile singer with a light voice that is resonant and well supported throughout her vocal range.[41] With great technique Grande is capable of singing all the way down to an Eb3 with ease, exhibiting a smoky vocal texture. Her full range is easily accessed, being able to seamlessly blend into her head voice for her upper register.[41] Her voice has been compared to that of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.[42][43] Her music is generallypop and contemporary R&B, and has features of funk, dance, and hip hop.[1][44]
"I love Mariah Carey. She is literally my favorite human being on the planet. And of course Whitney [Houston] as well. As far as vocal influences go, Whitney and Mariah pretty much cover it. I love Fergie as well. She’s just so fun and passionate. I love that she raps as well. Like, she has a fantastic voice and she can belt Gs and As and she doesn’t have to do it all the time. She just has swag and I think that’s really cool.
— Ariana Grande, on her musical influences.[45]===Influences===
Grande is mainly influenced by Mariah Carey, India.Arie and Whitney Houston.[12][45][46] She is also influenced by English singer, composer and songwriter Imogen Heap.[46] Grande is a big fan of Fergie describing her as "fun and passionate".[45][46] She grew up mainly listening to urban pop and 90s music.[44][46] Grande also describes Big Sean as her favorite rapper, with whom she is good friends.[44]
==Personal life==
From August 2012 to July 2013, Grande dated Jai Brooks, a member of the Australian YouTube group the Janoskians.[47][48][49]
In September 2013, after much speculation, Grande confirmed on twitter that she was in a relationship The Wanted's Nathan Sykes. Sykes also tweeted out the news to his fans and thanked everyone for being so lovely about it.[50]
===Philanthropy===
At the age of 10, 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.[12] 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.[5][9][51] Grande is also partnering with Kleenex on its "Shield Sneeze Swish" campaign.[24]
==Filmography==
Film and television
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
2009 	The Battery's Down	Bat Mitzvah Riffer	Episode: "Bad Bad News" (season 2)
2010–13	Victorious 	Cat Valentine 	Main role
2011 	iCarly 	Cat Valentine 	Episode: "iParty with Victorious" (season 4)
2011 	Winx Club 	Princess Diaspro 	Voice; 4 episodes
2013–
present	Sam & Cat 	Cat Valentine 	Co-lead role
2013 	Swindle 	Amanda Benson 	Main role
==Stage==
Year	Show 	Role
2008	13 	Charlotte / u/s Patrice
2012	Cuba Libre[12] 	Miriam
2012	A Snow White Christmas[52]	Snow White
==Discography==
Main article: Ariana Grande discography*Yours Truly (2013)
==Tours==
*Promotional
**The Listening Sessions (2013)
*Opening act
**Justin Bieber – Believe Tour (2013)
==Awards and nominations==
Year	Award 	Category 	Work 	Result
2008	National Youth Theatre Association Awards	Best Actress 	13 	Won[53]
2010	Hollywood Teen TV Awards 	Teen Pick Actress: Comedy 	Victorious	Nominated[54]
2012	Hollywood Teen TV Awards 	Favorite Television Actress	Victorious	Won[55]
2013	Billboard Mid-Year Music Awards 	Best Newcomer 	— 	Won[56]
2013	Teen Choice Awards 	Best Love Song 	The Way 	Nominated
2013	Teen Choice Awards 	Best Breakout Artist 	— 	Nominated
2013	Teen Choice Awards 	Candies' Style Icon 	— 	Nominated
===Userboxes related to Ariana Grande===
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