Demi Lovato

* Pop
* pop rock
* R&B
* Singer
* songwriter
* actress
* author
* philanthropist
* Vocals
* guitar
* piano
* drums
* Walt Disney
* Hollywood
* Island
* Safehouse
* Republic
* Roc Nation Records

**Demetria Devonne Lovato** (born August 20, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. After appearing on the children's television series *Barney & Friends* as a child, she received her breakthrough role as Mitchie Torres in the Disney Channel television film *Camp Rock* (2008) and its sequel *Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam* (2010).

Since signing with Hollywood Records, Lovato released her first studio album *Don't Forget* (2008) and was followed by five more albums: *Here We Go Again* (2009), *Unbroken* (2011), *Demi* (2013), *Confident* (2015) and *Tell Me You Love Me* (2017). Lovato earned seven top-twenty entries on the US *Billboard* Hot 100: "This Is Me", "Here We Go Again", "Skyscraper", "Give Your Heart a Break", "Heart Attack", "Cool for the Summer", and "Sorry Not Sorry". Of her television credits, Lovato starred as the titular character on *Sonny with a Chance* from 2009 to 2011; was featured as a judge and mentor on the American version of *The X Factor* in 2012 and 2013; and appeared as a recurring character on *Glee*. Her struggles with bipolar disorder, addiction, an eating disorder, and self-harm received significant media attention in the 2010s, in response to which she released the book *Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year* (2013) and a YouTube documentary about her life and career, titled *Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated* (2017).

Musically, Lovato is considered a pop, pop rock, and R&B artist. Lovato has received a number of accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award, 13 Teen Choice Awards, five People's Choice Awards, an ALMA Award, and a Latin American Music Award. Outside the entertainment industry, Lovato has been involved with several social and environmental causes since the launch of her career. In May 2013, she was cited for her dedication as a mentor to teens and young adults with mental health challenges at a National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day in Washington, D.C.. She has also become an advocate for the LGBT community. In 2014, she became the face for the Human Rights Campaign's Americans for Marriage Equality Campaign. In April 2016, Lovato was honored with the GLAAD Vanguard Award for her activism.

## Early Life

Lovato was born on August 20, 1992 in Albuquerque, New Mexico to former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Dianna De La Garza (*nee*) Dianna Lee Smith) and engineer and musician Patrick Martin Lovato. She has an older sister named Dallas; a younger maternal half-sister, actress Madison De La Garza; and an older paternal half-sister named Amber, to whom she first spoke when she was 20.

Lovato's parents divorced in mid-1994, shortly after her second birthday. Lovato's father was of Mexican descent, with mostly Spanish and Native American ancestors, and came from a family that has been living in New Mexico for generations; he also had distant Portuguese and Jewish ancestry. Her mother has English and Irish ancestry. Through her father, Lovato is a descendant of Civil War Union veteran Francisco Perea (1830–1913) and Santa Fe de Nuevo México governor Francisco Xavier Chávez. Through DNA testing Lovato discovered that she is also 16 percent of Scandinavian descent and one percent of African descent.

Lovato was raised in Dallas, Texas. In 2002, she began her acting career on the children's television series *Barney & Friends* as Angela. She began playing piano at age seven and guitar at ten, when she also began dancing and acting classes. Lovato told Ellen DeGeneres that she was bullied so badly that she asked for homeschooling, and she received her high-school diploma through homeschooling in April 2009. She later became a spokesperson for the anti-bullying organization PACER and appeared on *America's Next Top Model* to speak out against bullying. In 2006, Lovato appeared on *Prison Break*, and on *Just Jordan* the following year.