Ariana Grande
Born in Boca Raton, Florida, in June 1993, Nickelodeon star turned pop idol Ariana Grande started her career onstage in the Broadway musical 13, before landing her first role as Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon show Victorious. After the show ended in 2013, Grande was asked to do a spinoff series, Sam & Cat, which ended in 2014.
In 2013, the pop star released her debut album, Yours Truly, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. In 2014, Grande released her second album, My Everything, which not only reached No. 1 in the United States but also won her New Artist of the Year at the 2013 American Music Awards and Best Pop Video at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Along with those two wins, the album earned Grande a nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2015 Grammys.
The young talent’s vocal range has been compared to Mariah Carey’s and her unique style has won her collaborations with big names in the industry like Nicki Minaj and Jessie J, her partners on the global smash “Bang Bang,” as well as Iggy Azalea, with whom she recorded another No. 1, “Problem.”
Grande has since released three more albums: Dangerous Woman (2016), Sweetener (2018) and Thank U, Next (2019). The lead single from her fifth studio album, titled “Thank U, Next,” gave the singer her first No. 1 hit in November 2018 and the album of the same name later became the first record to go platinum in 2019.
She earned her first Grammy win after six nominations in February 2019 in the competitive Best Pop Vocal category for Sweetener.
In a career filled with highs, Grande has also experience crushing lows. Tragedy struck in Manchester, England, in May 2017 when a bomb exploded at her concert, killing 22 and injuring more than 100 others. Grande postponed the rest of her tour and hosted the televised One Love Manchester concert in honor of the victims. She also implemented a clear bag rule for her subsequent tours — the Sweetener Sessions (2018) and the Sweetener world tour (2019) — to help prevent further incidents.
While Grande’s music has dominated the charts over the years, the singer’s high-profile relationships have also made headlines. She dated actor Graham Phillips from 2008 to 2011, Janoskians singer Jai Brooks on and off from 2012 to 2014, The Wanted’s Nathan Sykes briefly in 2013, Big Sean from 2014 to 2015 and her backup dancer Ricky Alvarez from 2015 to 2016.
She dated rapper Mac Miller from 2016 until May 2018 and was devastated when he died in September 2018 at 26, roughly four months after their split. The “No Tears Left to Cry” singer got engaged to Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson in June 2018, just weeks after she started dating him, but they split four months later.