Ariana Grande

***Ariana Grande-Butera*** (/ˌɑːriˈɑːnə ˈɡrændiː/; June 26, 1993, Boca Raton, Florida, USA) is an American singer and actress. She has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including two Grammy Awards, one Brit Award, two Billboard Music Awards, three American Music Awards, nine MTV Video Music Awards, and 22 Guinness World Records.

Born in Boca Raton, Florida, Grande began her career at age 15 in the 2008 Broadway musical 13. She rose to fame for her role as Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon television series Victorious (2010–2013) and Sam & Cat (2013–2014). She subsequently signed with Republic Records in 2011 after the label's executives discovered YouTube videos of her covering songs. Her 1950s doo-wop-influenced pop and R&B debut album, Yours Truly (2013), topped the US Billboard 200 chart, while its lead single, "The Way", charted in the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100. Upon release, critics compared Grande to Mariah Carey for her wide vocal range and whistle register.

Grande maintained her pop and R&B sound on her second and third studio albums, My Everything (2014), and Dangerous Woman (2016), with the former exploring EDM and producing the UK number-one singles "Problem", and "Bang Bang", and the latter becoming her first of four consecutive number-one albums in the UK Albums Chart. Her personal struggles influenced her trap-infused fourth and fifth studio albums, Sweetener (2018) and Thank U, Next (2019), which were both critical and commercial successes. The former won Grande a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album, while the latter broke the record for the largest streaming week for a pop album, and was nominated for the Album of the Year. The singles "Thank U, Next", "7 Rings", and "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" made Grande the first solo artist to hold the top three spots on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, and the first woman to succeed herself at the top of the UK. In 2020, her collaborations "Stuck with U" with Justin Bieber and "Rain on Me" with Lady Gaga helped her break the record for most number-one debuts on the Hot 100, while the latter won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Grande's R&B-influenced sixth studio album, Positions (2020), and its title track, debuted at number-one in the UK and US. In 2021, Grande was featured on the remix of The Weeknd's "Save Your Tears", which became her sixth number-one in the US.

Grande was certified for over 85 million units (studio albums, singles, and collaborations) in the United States and all of her first six full-length albums have been certified platinum or multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She holds several Billboard Hot 100 chart records; among the above, she is also the only artist to have five number-one debuts, to have their first five number one singles debut at the top spot, to have three number one-debuts in one calendar year, and to have all lead singles from each of her first six studio albums debut in the top ten. Having amassed 90 billions of consumed streams thus far, Grande is the most streamed female artist ever. She is also the most streamed female artist on Spotify and Apple Music, while being currently the most followed solo female artist on the former and YouTube. She has been included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world (2016 and 2019) and on Forbes Celebrity 100 (2019 and 2020), while Billboard has honored her as Woman of the Year (2018), the greatest pop star of 2019, and the most accomplished female artist to debut in the 2010s. Aside from music, Grande has used her platform to advocate for gender, racial, and LGBT equality. She has been the most followed woman on Instagram since 2019.

Ariana Grande-Butera was born on June 26, 1993, in Boca Raton, Florida. She is the daughter of Joan Grande, the Brooklyn-born CEO of Hose-McCann Communications, a manufacturer of communications and safety equipment, and Edward Butera, a graphic design firm owner in Boca Raton. Grande is of Italian descent, and has described herself as being an Italian American with Sicilian and Abruzzese roots. She has an older half-brother, Frankie Grande, who is an entertainer and producer, and she has a close relationship with her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Grande. Grande's family had moved from New York to Florida before her birth, and her parents separated when she was approximately nine or ten years old.

As a young child, Grande performed with the Fort Lauderdale Children's Theater, playing her first role as the title character in their version of the musical Annie. She also performed in their musicals The Wizard of Oz and Beauty and the Beast. At the age of eight, she performed at a karaoke lounge on a cruise ship and with various orchestras such as South Florida's Philharmonic, Florida Sunshine Pops and Symphonic Orchestras, and she made her first national television appearance singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the Florida Panthers. During this time she attended Florida's Pine Crest School and later North Broward Preparatory School.

By age 13, she became serious about pursuing a music career, although she still concentrated on theater. When she first arrived in Los Angeles, California to meet with her managers, she expressed a desire to record an R&B album: "I was like, 'I want to make an R&B album,' They were like 'Um, that's a helluva goal! Who is going to buy a 14-year-old's R&B album?!'" In 2008, Grande was cast in the supporting role of cheerleader Charlotte in the musical 13 on Broadway. When she joined the musical, Grande left North Broward Preparatory School, but continued to be enrolled; the school sent materials to her so she could study with tutors. She also sang various times at the New York City jazz club Birdland.

Grande was cast in the Nickelodeon television show Victorious along with 13 co-star Elizabeth Gillies in 2009. In the sitcom, set at a performing arts high school, Grande played the "adorably dimwitted" Cat Valentine. She had to dye her hair red every other week for the role, which severely damaged her hair. The show premiered in March 2010 to the second-largest audience for a live-action series in Nickelodeon, with 5.7 million viewers. The role helped propel Grande to teen idol status, but she was more interested in a music career, stating that acting is "fun, but music has always been first and foremost with me." Her character was compared to "Brittany Murphy's performance as the hapless Tai in Clueless" and described as being "very impressionable and easily swayed" but "generally sweet". She also played the role of Miriam in the musical Cuba Libre, written and produced by American songwriter Desmond Child.

After the first season of Victorious wrapped, Grande wanted to focus on her music career and began working on her debut album in August 2010. To strengthen her vocal range, she began working with vocal coach Eric Vetro. The second season premiered in April 2011 to 6.2 million viewers, becoming the highest rated episode of Victorious. In May 2011, she appeared in Greyson Chance's music video for the song "Unfriend You" from his album Hold On 'til the Night (2011), portraying Chance's ex-girlfriend. Grande made her first musical appearance on the track "Give It Up" from the Victorious soundtrack in August 2011. While filming Victorious, Grande made several recordings of herself singing covers of songs by Adele, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, and uploaded them to YouTube. A friend of Monte Lipman, chief executive officer (CEO) of Republic Records, came across one of Grande's videos. Impressed by her vocals, he sent the links to Lipman, who signed her to a recording contract. Grande voiced the title role in the English dub of the Spanish-language animated film Snowflake, the White Gorilla in November 2011. From 2011 to 2013, Grande voiced the fairy Princess Diaspro in the Nickelodeon revival of Winx Club.

Grande released her first single, "Put Your Hearts Up", in December 2011, which was recorded for a potential teen-oriented pop album that was never issued. She later disowned the track for its bubblegum pop sound, saying that she had no interest in recording music of that genre. The song was later certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). On a second soundtrack, Victorious 2.0, released on June 5, 2012 as an extended play, Grande supplied vocals as part of the show's cast for the song "5 Fingaz to the Face". The third and final soundtrack, Victorious 3.0, was released on November 6, 2012, featuring Grande duetting with Victoria Justice in the song "L.A. Boyz". A music video of the song followed. In December 2012, Grande collaborated on the single version of "Popular Song", a duet with British singer and songwriter Mika.

After four seasons, Victorious was not renewed, with the finale airing in February 2013. She also starred as Snow White in a pantomime-style musical theatre production called A Snow White Christmas, together with Charlene Tilton and Neil Patrick Harris at the Pasadena Playhouse. Grande played Amanda Benson in Swindle, a 2013 Nickelodeon film adaptation of the children's book of the same name. Meanwhile, Nickelodeon created Sam & Cat, an iCarly and Victorious spin-off starring Jennette McCurdy and Grande. Grande and McCurdy reprised their respective roles as Cat Valentine and Sam Puckett on the buddy sitcom, which paired the characters as roommates who form an after-school babysitting business. The pilot aired on June 8, 2013, and the show was immediately picked up by the network. The following month, Nickelodeon doubled Sam & Cat's original 20-episode order for season one, making it a 40-episode season. Despite its success in the ratings, the series was canceled after 35 episodes. The final episode aired on July 17, 2014.

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. Grande brought a number of guest artists to perform with her, including NSYNC, P. Diddy, Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber. Her set has received critical acclaim.