Childhood & Early Life
Ariana Grande-Butera was born to Joan Grande and Edward Butera on 26 June 1993 in Florida, United States. While her father owned a graphic design firm, her mother was the CEO of ‘Horse-McCann Communications’.
Ariana’s parents had relocated to Florida from New York when her mother Joan was pregnant with her. She pursued her primary education at ‘Pine Crest School’ and ‘North Broward Preparatory School’.
Since a very young age, Ariana Grande was very fond of acting and had even worked on two plays, namely ‘Beauty And The Beast’ and ‘The Wizard Of Oz’. She was seen on national television at a young age singing ‘The Star Spangled Banner’.
To pursue her dreams, Ariana Grande travelled to Los Angeles at the age of 13 with a desire to record an R&B album. However, the managers of record labels didn’t take her too seriously and thought she’s too young.
She also bagged a supporting role in the musical ‘13’, which was staged at the famous Broadway theatre. She discontinued her studies for a brief period to work on ‘13’.
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Career
Ariana Grande’s big break came in 2009, when she was chosen to play the role of Cat Valentine in the sitcom ‘Victorious’, which was aired by ‘Nickelodeon’. Renowned actress Elizabeth Gillies was also a part of this sitcom’s impressive star cast.
The next year, she was seen in the musical ‘Cuba Libre’, produced by well-known American musician Desmond Child.
In 2010, Ariana Grande decided to take a break from her acting assignments and focused on polishing her singing skills. A year later, her song ‘Give it Up’ from the soundtrack of ‘Victorious’ was released. Her voice got the attention of Monte Lipman, a top executive of the label ‘Republic Records’, who was moved by her singing prowess.
Soon, Ariana Grande signed a contract with the record label and in late 2011 and her first single ‘Put your hearts up’ was released.
The same year she dubbed for the character Princess Diaspro from the animated series ‘Winx Club’, for a total of 13 episodes. She was also the voice of the lead character from ‘Snowflake, The White Gorrilla’, an animated film which was dubbed in English.
The soundtracks ‘Victorious 2.0’ and ‘Victorious 3.0’ were released in 2012, for which Ariana Grande lent her voice in two songs. These tracks were ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ and ‘L.A Boyz’.
She next played Snow White in the theatrical adaptation of the famous literary work ‘A Snow White Christmas’. Veterans like Neil Patrick Harris and Charlene Tilton were also a part of this performance, which was staged at the famous venue ‘Pasadena Playhouse’.
Ariana Grande was chosen to play the character of Sam Puckett in the popular American sitcom ‘Sam & Cat’, which was aired on Nickelodeon during 2013-14. However, the series wasn’t revived after the end of first season, despite its popularity.
She released her debut album ‘Yours Truly’ in August 2013 and within a month the album secured the top spot in the US ‘Billboard 200’ countdown.
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The track ‘The Way’ from this album received a lot of acclaim and secured the 10th spot on the ‘Billboard Hot 100’ and remained on the chart for a few months.
In 2013, Ariana Grande’s EP ‘Christmas Kisses’ released and around the same time her television film ‘Swindle’ was aired on ‘Nickelodeon’.
Her second album, ‘My Everything’, which released in mid-2014, garnered immense critical and commercial acclaim. In a matter of just 1 week, a whopping 169,000 copies of the album were sold and the album bagged a top spot in the ‘Billboard 200’.
Two of the singles from the album, titled ‘Problem’ and ‘Break Free’ were big hits with music lovers. Both the songs bagged the no.3 and no.4 spots respectively on the ‘Billboard Hot 100’. The track ‘Problem’ also featured renowned Australian rapper Iggy Azelea.
She also sang the track ‘Bang Bang’ from English singer Jessie J’s album ‘Sweet Talker’, which released in 2014.
Ariana Grande returned to acting in 2015 through the comedy-horror series ‘Scream Queens’, which was aired on the ‘Fox’ channel. The same year, she also released her third album, titled ‘Dangerous Woman’.
In 2016, she was seen in the Ben Stiller starrer comedy flick ‘Zoolander 2’ in a cameo role. The same year, she collaborated with the legendary singer Stevie Wonder for the song ‘Faith’, from the 2016 film ‘Sing’.
Her critically and commercially acclaimed album ‘Dangerous Woman’ was released in March 2016. The title track and the single ‘Be Alright’, from this album went on to become chartbusters.
In 2018, Ariana Grande released her fourth studio album, Sweetener. It won 'Best Pop Vocal Album' at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
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In 2019, she released her fifth studio album, Thank U, Next. The album was certified double Platinum by RIAA and was nominated for 'Album of the Year' and 'Best Pop Vocal Album' at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards
In 2020, Ariana released her sixth studio album, Positions. It debuted at number one on Billboard 200. In the same year, she became the highest-earning woman in music on Forbes' 2020 Celebrity 100 list
In 2021, Ariana Grande collaborated with Canadian artist The Weeknd on a remix of one of his singles titled "Save Your Tears". It was released on April 23, 2021 and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
2017 Manchester Arena Explosion Incident
On 22 May 2017, an explosion occurred just outside the Manchester Arena in Manchester, United Kingdom, where Ariana Grande had just performed at a concert, which was a part of her 'Dangerous Woman Tour'. The explosion resulted into 19 deaths and about 59 people were reported to be injured. The explosion took place at the end of the Ariana Grande's concert, but Grande was not hurt during the incident.
Major Works
’Yours Truly’ is undoubtedly one of the best works of Ariana Grande and brought her a lot of fame. More than 500,000 copies of this album were sold worldwide. The album also helped her earn the reputation of being the 15th female artiste of all time to rule the music charts with her debut album.
Awards & Achievements
Arianna Grande’s hit single ‘Dangerous Woman’ has earned her a nomination for the ‘2017 Grammy Awards’. She has been nominated for the prestigious award four times so far.
In 2014 alone, she had won the ‘Young Influencer Award’ at the ‘IHeart Radio Music Awards’ ceremony. The same year she was felicitated with a ‘Bambi Award’ for ‘Best Newcomer’.
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The ‘Time’ magazine had included her in their list of ‘100 Most Influential People In The World’.
Personal Life & Legacy
Ariana Grande is the half-sister of actor Frankie Grande, who has been making waves for his great acting and dancing skills.
Although Ariana Grande has been a follower of Christianity since her younger days, she is a staunch follower of Judaism too.
The media has spoken about Ariana Grande’s life quite often. Apparently, she has dated actor Graham Phillips and comedian Jai Brooks in the past. She was also in a relationship with rapper Big Sean, who collaborated with her on several musical endeavours.
In 2018, Ariana Grande got engaged to comedian Pete Davidson in June 2018, but the couple separated four months after the engagement.
In January 2020, she began dating Dalton Gomez, a real estate agent. They got engaged in December 2020.
Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez got married on 17 May 2021 in an intimate ceremony at the couple's home in Montecito, California
Trivia
It is believed that her name has been derived from the character Princess Oriana from the animated film ‘Felix The Cat’.
