Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande-Butera (born June 26, 1993), known professionally as Ariana Grande  is an American singer and actress. She began her career in the Broadway musical 13, before landing the role of Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon television series Victorious in 2009. The show ended after four seasons, and Grande starred on the spinoff, Sam & Cat, which ended in 2014. She has also appeared in other theatre, television and film roles, and has lent her voice to animated television and films.

Grande's music career began with the soundtrack Music from Victorious (2011). She signed a recording contract with Republic Records and released her debut studio album, Yours Truly in 2013, which debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200. The album's lead single, "The Way", debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, with critics comparing her wide vocal range to Mariah Carey's range.

Grande's second studio album, My Everything (2014), debuted at No. 1 in the US and charted in the top 10 in various other countries. With the singles "Problem", "Break Free", "Bang Bang" and "Love Me Harder" from that album, she spent 34 continuous weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and had the most top 10 singles of any artist in 2014. In 2015, Grande promoted My Everything with her first world tour, The Honeymoon Tour, and guest-starred in the Foxcomedy horror television series, Scream Queens. She also released the single "Focus", which debuted at No. 7 in the US, and a holiday EP album, Christmas & Chill, and she was heard on several collaborative projects. In 2016, she released her third studio album, Dangerous Woman, as well as several songs from the album. The title track debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Grande the first person in the history of that chart to have the lead single from each of her first three albums debut in the top 10.The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. As of October 2016, Grande's music videos had been viewed a total of more than 6 billion times online.

Grande's accolades include three American Music Awards, the Music Business Association's Breakthrough Artist of the Year, an MTV Video Music Award, three MTV Europe Music Awards and four Grammy Award nominations. All three of her albums have been certified platinum or better by the RIAA. In 2016, Time named Grande one of the 100 most influential people in the world on the annual Time 100 list. Grande has a large following on social media, including the 4th most followed Instagram account.

Life and career

1993–2008: Early life and career beginnings

Ariana Grande-Butera was born in Boca Raton, Florida, the daughter of Joan Grande, the chief executive officer of Hose-McCann Communications, a telephone and alarm system company, and Edward Butera, a graphic design firm owner in Boca Raton. Her name was originally inspired by Princess Oriana from Felix the Cat (1959). Grande is of Italian descent. She has an older half-brother, Frankie Grande, who is an actor, dancer and producer, and she is close with her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Grande. Grande's family moved from New York to Florida when her mother was pregnant with Grande, and her parents separated when she was around 8 or 9 years old.

As a child, Grande performed with the Fort Lauderdale Children's Theater, playing her first role as Annie, as well as performing in the musicals, The Wizard of Ozand Beauty and the Beast. At the age of 8, 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 national television debut singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the Florida Panthers. She attended Pine Crest School and North Broward Preparatory School.

By age 13, she became serious about pursuing a music career, though she still concentrated on theater. When she first arrived in Los Angeles to meet with her managers, she expressed a desire to record an R&B album when she was 14: "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,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. She also sang various times at the New York City jazz club, Birdland.

2009–2012: Breakthrough with Victorious

Grande auditioned for the Nickelodeon television show Victorious in New York along with 13 co-star Elizabeth Gillies in 2009. In this sitcom set in a performing arts high school, Grande was cast as Cat Valentine. Grande had to dye her hair red every other week for the role because the executive producer, Dan Schneider, did not want all cast members to be brunettes, and the red hair was also a feature that the network felt would fit the personality of Cat. The show premiered in March 2010 to the second largest audience for a live-action series in Nickelodeon history 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" (1995) and described as being "very impressionable and easily swayed" but "generally sweet." Season two premiered in April 2011 to 6.2 million viewers, becoming the highest rated episode of Victorious. In 2010, she played the role of Miriam in the musical Cuba Libre, which was written and produced by songwriter Desmond Child.