Ariana Grande: Her epic rise from Disney star to honorary Mancunian
Following the One Love Manchester charity concert, Ariana Grande is to get honorary citizenship of the city of Manchester after her involvement in the charity concert which raised over £2 million. Plans to have her as an honorary Mancunian will go before the council on 12 July.
With this is mind, how much do you really know about the 23-year-old? We reveal her epic rise...
Instagram/Ariana GrandeAriana Grande-Butera was born in 1993 in Florida to mum Joan, CEO of a telephone company, and graphic designer Edward. She is close to her older half-brother, Frankie Grande, who shares her talent for performance and is an American theatre actor and YouTube personality.
GettyThis girl was always going to be a star: by the tender age of eight, Ariana had already performed as Annie in the Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theatre and sang in the karaoke lounge of a cruise ship.
GettyAt 13, Ariana was already performing on Broadway. Yes, you read that right 13! She won a National Youth Theatre Association Award for her performance in the appropriately named 13. No wonder she had the balls to head to LA and tell music bosses that she wanted to make an R&B album.
But Ariana’s big breakthrough came with the Nickelodeon show, Victorious, where she was cast as Cat Valentine. It’s a little-known fact that Ariana had to have her hair dyed red every other week for the role as producers didn’t want all the cast to be brunettes.
The success of Victorious meant a spin-off was always on the cards. Sam & Cat saw Ariana reprise her role and form an after-school babysitting business. At the same time, Ariana worked on her music career, she uploaded covers of her singing Adele, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey to YouTube and got herself a record contract as a result.
It took three years for Ariana to record her debut album, Yours Truly but it was worth it: the album debuted at No1 in the Billboard albums charts and sold 138,000 copies. The singer worked with some of the best music producers in the industry but she also wrote several of the tracks herself.
GettySoon after, Ariana dueted with Nathan Sykes of The Wanted on Almost Is Never Enough, and the pair briefly dated.
GettyIt was only a matter of time before the accolades came flying in: one of the first was the American Music Award for Best New Artist which Ariana Grande won in 2013.
Ariana wasn’t about to slow down and bask in her glory though; she had a second album to make. My Everything was described by Rolling Stone as “where the 21-year-old Nickelodeon starlet grows up. It's a confident, intelligent, brazen pop statement”. Unsurprisingly, it sold 169,000 copies in its first week and Ariana was top of the Billboard charts. Again.
GettyAriana sang with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj on their hit song, Bang Bang, which went straight to No1 in the UK charts.
GettyWith so much going on in her career, it’s amazing that Ariana had time for romance – but she did. The songstress dated rapper Big Sean for eight months until April 2015. She later ranted on Twitter about the media’s double standards when it comes to women and sex. "I am tired of living in a world where women are mostly referred to as a man's past, present, or future PROPERTY/POSSESSION," she wrote. "If a man has sex ... HE'S. A. STUD. A BOSSSS. A KING. If a women even TALKS about sex openly ... she is shamed!" Ariana goes on to say. "Clearly not been having the boy questions in my interviews lately because I have come to the realization that I have SO. MUCH. MORE. to talk about." Go, Ariana!
SplashAriana has some pretty powerful fans: in 2014, she was asked to sing at the White House concert and was invited back a month later by Barack and Michelle Obama to perform at the White House Easter Egg Roll.
RexThe Honeymoon Tour was Ariana’s next endeavour and saw her visiting America, Europe and Asia. The shows quickly sold out, so 40 extra dates were added, and so far it’s earned $14m in its first 25 performances. Not too shabby!
Rex FeaturesMoving swiftly on to Doughnut Gate, which happened in the summer of 2015. Ariana made headlines when she was caught on camera in a doughnut shop saying she hated Americans, and then caught having a little lick of the frosted doughnut on display.
In a video leaked by TMZ, the petite singer was seen kissing her backup dancer, Ricky Alvarez, before being presented with a tray of doughnuts by an employee, to which she responds "What the fuck is that? I hate Americans. I hate America." She then appeared to lick some doughnuts.
She tweeted during the furore: "need to clean up this mouth of mine & set a better example for my babes. i apologize and i love you. always learning."
Getty ImagesDid you know that Ariana is AMAZING at doing impressions? When she went on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon she did impersonations of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Celine Dion. They were all epic. You can watch them here.
GettyDon't ask Ariana Grande a sexist question. When she sat down for an interview with the Los Angeles radio station Power 106, she wasn't a fan of their inane questions.
The radio DJs, Eric D-Lux and Justin Credible, began asking her about whether she'd prefer to keep her makeup or her phone, she asked: "Is this what you think girls have trouble choosing between?"
The tension continued when the male hosts insisted that no heterosexual man would ever use a unicorn emoji.
She tells the hosts: "I changed my mind, I don't want to hang out at Power 106 anymore."
Ariana Grande launched her debut fashion collection with high street brand Lipsy back in 2016. There were three key themes - Riviera chic, so striped full skirts and Bardot tops; prom wardrobe, with plenty of classic feminine shapes in pink, blue and silver; and party girl - think off-the-shoulder bodycon dresses, biker jackets and lace crop tops.
Getty ImagesAriana was invited to join Madonna on stage to help her perform Unapologetic Bitch. Pretty epic, no?
Rex FeaturesShe's found love again! Ariana confirmed she's dating rapper Mac Miller on The Ellen Showin September 2016 but the pair go way back, collaborating on her track 'The Way', in 2013.
DisneyWho didn't loveBeauty and The Beast? The movie, starring Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, & Luke Evans? Well, the soundtrack blew us away as well. Ariana Grande joined forces with John Legend to record the title song in the movie. Watch the gorgeous video here.
Getty ImagesTragedy struck on 22 May 2017 during Ariana's Dangerous Woman tour in Manchester UK. At around 10.35pm, after Grande performed her final song One Last Time, a suicide bomber detonated a bomb, killing 22. Following the attack, Ariana Grande - who left the venue unharmed - took to Twitter to express her heartbreak, saying "broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don't have words."
TwitterShe returned to the city of Manchester to pay a special visit to the victims in hospital. The star sat at the bedside of children who are still recovering from the suicide bombing and made them all smile.
Getty ImagesMillions of viewers around the world tuned in to the One Love Manchester benefit concert at Emirates Old Trafford headed up by Ariana Grande and friends in honour of victims and families who were tragically affected by the Manchester attack. The concert, which sold out within minutes, was attended by 50,000 people who saw the biggest music acts on the planet rally together in less than one week to put together a spectacular live show.
The British Red Cross confirmed that over £10 million have been raised for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund so far – £2 million alone was raised in the first three hours of the benefit concert through text and online donations.
To donate in the United Kingdom, you can text ‘LOVE’ to 70507 to give £5.
Getty ImagesIs Ariana engaged? Rumours are circulating after she was spotted wearing an engagement ring during the One Love Manchester Benefit concert.
Getty ImagesThe city of Manchester has an awesome surprise in store for Ari. The star of the concert that rose over £2 million for the victims of the Manchester terror attack, will be named an honorary Mancunian. And people are pretty excited about it - especially Mancunians, who took to Twitter to share and celebrate the news.
