Ariana Grande-Butera - known professionally as Ariana Grande - is an American actress, singer and songwriter born in Boca Raton, Florida on June 26, 1993.
She is a daughter of Joan Grande and Edward Butera; and sister of Frankie James Great.
Ariana (who has Italian and Greek / North African descent) was born and raised in the same city where she was born, and from early on she demonstrated her talent for the arts, with emphasis on performance, dance and especially music.
The Grand family has always had a strong connection with the arts, especially with the theater. Ariana's brother, like her, showed an early interest in acting and singing.
She debutant her acting career at the age of eight, playing the lead character in an adaptation of Harold Gray's musical "Annie." The presentations were held at the Little Palm Family Theater, a small community theater in Boca.
Her mother, Joan, also participated in the cast to encourage her daughter. The following year, the artist performed on classic one "The Wizard of Oz". Joan was once again in the cast with her daughter, supporting her.
After years working in amateur musicals, school plays and having contact with the world of music and acting in her hometown, Ariana moved to New York to try to enter her luck as professional artist. She then played the role of Charlotte in the musical "13", presented on Broadway. Her performance in the project earned her the first prize of her career: The "National Youth Award in Theater".
Aiming for growth in her career, Ariana auditioned for the series and was selected to play one of the characters in the main cast, the sweet and adorable Cat Valentine. From there, the career of the actress and singer would take a totally new direction.
On March 27, 2010, Nickelodeon's "Victorious" premiered with Victoria Justice, Leon Thomas III, Avan Jogia, Elizabeth Gillies, Daniella Monet, Matt Bennett and of course Ariana Grande. The series was a worldwide success, reaching great ratings for the channel and becoming one of the biggest products launched by Nickelodeon since "iCarly".
"Victorious" opened her door for new opptunity. She then decided to start posting covers of great hits on her personal channel on Youtube, Osnapitzari. The singer's voice and talent caught the attention of Republic Records, with which she signed her first music career deal in 2011. From there, she began working on what would be her first studio album, initially titled "Daydreamin '".
In December of that same year, Ariana released the first single, "Put Your Hearts Up". The failure in sales in the musical charts made the song from 1st single to promotional single from Daydreamin. The project underwent several changes and had several songs shelved. From an initially Pop / Soul direction, the album was inspired by Pop / R & B / Urban / Hip-Hop music. Only a few tracks written for the first version were retained.
In 2012, Ariana continued composing and recording new songs. She also participated in her first film (Swindle) and was invited to star in a new series alongside Jennette McCurdy. The project would be a spin-off of "Victorious" and "iCarly," two of Nickelodeon's greatest hits. Before the end of the year, the singer launched a partnership with the Lebanese Mika, called "Popular Song". In early 2013, "Victorious" was canceled and gave way to "Sam & Cat".
After the cancellation of "Victorious", Ariana began the recordings of "Sam & Cat". In parallel, she also continued to follow the design of her first album. Early in 2013, the singer recorded "The Way," a song that would become the first single from her debut album and lead her to the top of the charts.
"The Way" - partnering with rapper Mac Miller - was released on March 25, 2013, and quickly reached the top of iTunes in the United States. The song achieved great success within the country and was the subject of numerous accolades from the critics who soon compared it to artists such as Mariah Carey.
After the grand opening of "The Way", Ariana signed a contract with a new entrepreneur: Scooter Braun (responsible for managing stars such as Justin Bieber). In the following months, she continued recording her debut album and in June, "Sam & Cat" was finally released. The series earned high ratings in its first few weeks, making it the most prominent show on the Nickelodeon chart.
The following month, Ariana released the second single from the album, "Baby I". Soon after, the singer revealed the official title of her first album: "Yours Truly". She also went on tour with Canadian star Justin Bieber and began her own solo tour, "The Listening Sessions", which would be responsible for presenting the new songs that would be in "Yours Truly" to the public. Both tours had good numbers in
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On September 3, 2013, "Yours Truly" was released, which in its debut week reached # 1 on the Billboard 200. The same month, Ariana released what would be the third and final single from the CD, "Right There", partnering with Big Sean. The song, as well as "Baby I", performed below the expected performance.
Still in the middle of promoting "Right There", Ariana began a project to launch Christmas songs in weekly format, all part of the EP "Christmas Kisses". It was also this month that she performed a remarkable performance and won the 2013 Breakthrough Artist Award at the American Music Awards (AMA).
To close the year, Ariana held a small "tour" next to the "Jingle Ball" festival, entitled to 6 performances. With the end of 2013, the singer also featured on special lists organized by the critics who highlighted her debut album as one of the best releases of the year.
She is vegetarian, she likes dogs very much; enjoy sharing images on social networks.
FYI: Ariana still making Music.
Controversies
In July 2015, the recording of a video by the security cameras of a donut store in Lake Elsinore, California, circulated on the Internet and captured Grande, accompanied by a friend, licking donuts that were on the counter. The problem was further aggravated when Grande said in the same video to hate the United States and the Americans, complaining about Americans' attitude toward fast food.
Days later, Grande wrote an extensive message on his Twitter account, clarifying that she does not hate the United States, "I am proud to be American and I love my country." She also apologized for what happened and for her "poor behavior" when licking a donut.
In her message, she regretted not expressing herself with the right words when she said she hates the United States, and that the press and other people have taken the phrase out of context, because Grande said she said it in another sense related to food and obesity, to her frustration at the fact that "the United States is one of the countries with the highest obesity in children."
Shortly after her first written apology, he again apologized in a video recording, where she expresses once again her regret for her acts in the donut shop, and you want to be a good influence for your followers. On the recording, she said she felt disappointed in herself, and that she was "human, I made mistakes, and so I'm going to learn from them."
After complaining about Grande's attitude, Joe Marin, the owner of the store, did not file charges against the singer. The controversy had a positive side for the business of Joe Marin, as in a few days sales grew exponentially, and hundreds of new customers approached his bakery to be in the same place where the incident happened that the artist went through.
