06-11-2016, 07:11 AM
Christina Victoria Grimmie
(March 12, 1994 – June 11, 2016)[1] was an American singer and songwriter, best known for participating in The Voice and for her covers of hit songs by contemporary pop musicians. In June 2011, she released her debut EP, Find Me. In June 2012, she told a reporter that she wanted to stop doing covers and start writing only original music.[2]
In 2014, Grimmie participated in Season 6 of NBC's singing competition The Voice and finished in third place. Adam Levine, her coach on the show, announced in the finale that regardless of the results, he would sign her to his label, 222 Records. Justin Bieber and Lil Wayne also supported her on the show and Lil Wayne offered to sign her to his label, Young Money Entertainment.[3] She signed to Island Records for a short time before being dropped.[4][5]
On June 11, 2016, Grimmie was shot and killed in Orlando, Florida.[6]
Early life
Grimmie grew up in Marlton, New Jersey where she attended Baptist Regional Elementary School and Cherokee High School.[7][8] She was of Italian and Romanian descent.[9] Her father noticed her talent for singing when she was six years old [10] and she started playing the piano at age ten.[11] Despite having received piano lessons, she said she played by ear.[10] In a number of her videos and interviews, Grimmie identified herself as a Christian.[12] Grimmie was homeschooled for her junior year in 2010.[13]
Career
2009–10: YouTube recognition and discovery
Grimmie began posting videos to her YouTube channel in 2009, at age 15. The first video she uploaded was a cover of Hannah Montana's, "Don't Wanna Be Torn."[8] She first reached YouTube stardom early on with her cover of Miley Cyrus's "Party in the U.S.A." in August 2009.[14] She became known for her cover with fellow YouTuber Sam Tsui of Nelly's "Just a Dream", which has had more than 128 million views between the three official versions of the video as of February 9, 2016.[15][16] Since uploading her videos, she has had over 375 million views and over 2 million subscribers on her channel as of April 28, 2013, which has made her the 4th most subscribed musician on YouTube.[17] She also placed at number 2 at the top 5 of the MyYouTube competition, behind Selena Gomez, and in front of Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, and Justin Bieber.[18] As her popularity grew on YouTube, Grimmie was discovered by Gomez's stepfather, Brian Teefey, who met with her in May 2010 and became her manager.[19][20]
2011: Find Me
Grimmie performed in the UNICEF charity concert,[21][22] and also performed backup vocals for Selena Gomez & the Scene, and was on the first ever DigiTour in 2011, specially designed for YouTube artists. Gomez became her mentor. She appeared on the Billboard Social 50.[23] She also opened for Selena Gomez & the Scene, Allstar Weekend and the Jonas Brothers during the Concert of Hope. She toured for six weeks with Selena Gomez & the Scene opening for them in the We Own the Night Tour.[20]
She released an EP entitled Find Me, on June 14, 2011.[20] Her debut single 'Advice' was released to Radio Disney on June 11,[24] with the music video, directed by Sean Babas, being released on July 19 on her YouTube channel. She appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show performing with fellow YouTuber, Tyler Ward, a cover to Lil Wayne's "How to Love" that aired on October 10, 2011.[25] On November 20, 2011, Grimmie performed at the 39th American Music Awards of 2011 Pre-show alongside Taio Cruz to a special rendition of "Higher". She also performed her song 'Not Fragile' at the American Music Awards of 2011 Coca-Cola Red Carpet Show along with Selena Gomez & the Scene. Grimmie was the special musical guest performing her hit song 'Advice' on Disney Channel's So Random! which premiered on December 11, 2011.[26]
2012–13: With Love
In January 2012, Grimmie moved to Los Angeles to pursue her singing career. Grimmie was signed to Creative Artists Agency who have signed the likes of Chris Brown and Christina Aguilera in early April 2012 after moving to LA. On Disney.com, she starred in the web show 'Power Up: with Christina Grimmie, which ran from March 29, 2012 until June 5, 2012. She also revealed that she would be working with a new feature band, to be named Rising Tide, a teen group originally from her hometown area in New Jersey.[27] She then opened for Gomez on her North American dates of her Stars Dance Tour,[28] performing songs from her second album With Love, which was released on August 6, 2013. On October 3, 2013, her music video for "Tell My Mama" had its Exclusive Video Premiere on Billboard.com. The video is "about a guy that I start liking in school, and he's sort of a dangerous kid, and I am the type of girl that tells my mom about everything," said Grimmie.
2014: The Voice
Grimmie auditioned for Season 6 of NBC's singing competition, The Voice, as revealed on her Facebook page.[29] During the Blind Auditions, she performed Miley Cyrus' hit song "Wrecking Ball". All four coaches, Adam Levine, Usher, Shakira, and Blake Shelton, turned their chairs for her, and she opted for Adam Levine.[30] She finished in 3rd place, behind winner Josh Kaufman and runner-up Jake Worthington.
2014–16: Post-The Voice; major label debut
During the competition, Grimmie's coach Adam expressed intentions to sign her to his record deal, 222 Records, with Lil Wayne also showing interest in signing her to his record deal, Young Money Entertainment. She ultimately chose to sign with Island Records.[4] She toured with the previous contestants of The Voice including season 5 winner Tessanne Chin, runner-up Jacquie Lee, Will Champlin, season 1 runner-up Dia Frampton and fellow season 6 finalists Kristen Merlin and Jake Barker. The Voice Summer tour started on June 21, 2014 in San Antonio, Texas. She is currently writing and recording music for her sophomore album, her third major release, and first release being signed to a label. The lead single was expected to be released in July 2014, with the album following later in the year.[31] Grimmie announced via Facebook that filming for the lyric video for the single started on July 6, 2014.[32] On July 11 she announced that her new single would be called "Must Be Love."[33] On July 15, 2014 she announced via a live stream that the song would be released on July 31, 2014.[34] "Must Be Love" was produced by Elof Loelv and recorded at ZAC Recording in Atlanta, Georgia.[35]
On March 4, 2015, Grimmie announced that she had been dropped from Island Records and that she is working on a new album which is set to be released late 2015.[36] The new single from her upcoming album, "Cliché," was released on March 16, 2015. On April 27, 2015 Christina released her second single, "Stay With Me" a collaboration with Diamond Eyes, which climbed to #5 on the iTunes Electronic Charts.[37] The song also made it on to 2015 UFK Dubstep, an album showcasing the top dubstep songs of the year.[38] She was also a contestant in the iHeartRadio/Macy's Rising Star Contest. On May 27, 2015, Grimmie was revealed as the winner of the Rising Star Contest, securing her spot to open the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Festival in September.[39] On July 2, 2015, she released her third single, "Shrug".
On February 21, 2016, Grimmie released her second EP, titled "Side A", which consisted of four songs. Grimmie stated that the simple title "Side A" would mean that a "Side B" is likely to follow. In February and March 2016, she also opened for Rachel Platten on her Wildfire Tour, where Grimmie performed many of the songs from her new EP live for the first time.[citation needed]
Influences
Grimmie grew up listening to contemporary Christian artist Stacie Orrico: "She has a really awesome voice and I was so drawn to it. I think the reason I do have a soul voice is because I grew up listening to her and she was my huge, huge influence. I wanted to sound just like her, I wrote songs that kinda sounded like something she would do."[40] Grimmie cited Christina Aguilera as her main influence vocally.[40] She also said she admired Beyoncé for her vocals.[40] She said she liked dubstep and DJ music, as well as rock 'n roll and heavy metal, listening to Metallica, Pantera, Iron Maiden, and Tool.[41]
Death
On June 10, 2016, Grimmie was shot three times while signing autographs after a performance at The Plaza Live in Orlando, Florida. The unidentified gunman then fatally shot himself after being tackled by her brother. Grimmie was taken to a hospital in critical condition; her death was confirmed on June 11.[6]
Responding to the news on Twitter, The Voice wrote, "There are no words. We lost a beautiful soul with an amazing voice."[42] Her coach, Adam Levine, wrote on Instagram, "I'm sad, shocked and confused [by the shooting]. We love you so much Grimmie."[43]
(March 12, 1994 – June 11, 2016)[1] was an American singer and songwriter, best known for participating in The Voice and for her covers of hit songs by contemporary pop musicians. In June 2011, she released her debut EP, Find Me. In June 2012, she told a reporter that she wanted to stop doing covers and start writing only original music.[2]
In 2014, Grimmie participated in Season 6 of NBC's singing competition The Voice and finished in third place. Adam Levine, her coach on the show, announced in the finale that regardless of the results, he would sign her to his label, 222 Records. Justin Bieber and Lil Wayne also supported her on the show and Lil Wayne offered to sign her to his label, Young Money Entertainment.[3] She signed to Island Records for a short time before being dropped.[4][5]
On June 11, 2016, Grimmie was shot and killed in Orlando, Florida.[6]
Early life
Grimmie grew up in Marlton, New Jersey where she attended Baptist Regional Elementary School and Cherokee High School.[7][8] She was of Italian and Romanian descent.[9] Her father noticed her talent for singing when she was six years old [10] and she started playing the piano at age ten.[11] Despite having received piano lessons, she said she played by ear.[10] In a number of her videos and interviews, Grimmie identified herself as a Christian.[12] Grimmie was homeschooled for her junior year in 2010.[13]
Career
2009–10: YouTube recognition and discovery
Grimmie began posting videos to her YouTube channel in 2009, at age 15. The first video she uploaded was a cover of Hannah Montana's, "Don't Wanna Be Torn."[8] She first reached YouTube stardom early on with her cover of Miley Cyrus's "Party in the U.S.A." in August 2009.[14] She became known for her cover with fellow YouTuber Sam Tsui of Nelly's "Just a Dream", which has had more than 128 million views between the three official versions of the video as of February 9, 2016.[15][16] Since uploading her videos, she has had over 375 million views and over 2 million subscribers on her channel as of April 28, 2013, which has made her the 4th most subscribed musician on YouTube.[17] She also placed at number 2 at the top 5 of the MyYouTube competition, behind Selena Gomez, and in front of Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, and Justin Bieber.[18] As her popularity grew on YouTube, Grimmie was discovered by Gomez's stepfather, Brian Teefey, who met with her in May 2010 and became her manager.[19][20]
2011: Find Me
Grimmie performed in the UNICEF charity concert,[21][22] and also performed backup vocals for Selena Gomez & the Scene, and was on the first ever DigiTour in 2011, specially designed for YouTube artists. Gomez became her mentor. She appeared on the Billboard Social 50.[23] She also opened for Selena Gomez & the Scene, Allstar Weekend and the Jonas Brothers during the Concert of Hope. She toured for six weeks with Selena Gomez & the Scene opening for them in the We Own the Night Tour.[20]
She released an EP entitled Find Me, on June 14, 2011.[20] Her debut single 'Advice' was released to Radio Disney on June 11,[24] with the music video, directed by Sean Babas, being released on July 19 on her YouTube channel. She appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show performing with fellow YouTuber, Tyler Ward, a cover to Lil Wayne's "How to Love" that aired on October 10, 2011.[25] On November 20, 2011, Grimmie performed at the 39th American Music Awards of 2011 Pre-show alongside Taio Cruz to a special rendition of "Higher". She also performed her song 'Not Fragile' at the American Music Awards of 2011 Coca-Cola Red Carpet Show along with Selena Gomez & the Scene. Grimmie was the special musical guest performing her hit song 'Advice' on Disney Channel's So Random! which premiered on December 11, 2011.[26]
2012–13: With Love
In January 2012, Grimmie moved to Los Angeles to pursue her singing career. Grimmie was signed to Creative Artists Agency who have signed the likes of Chris Brown and Christina Aguilera in early April 2012 after moving to LA. On Disney.com, she starred in the web show 'Power Up: with Christina Grimmie, which ran from March 29, 2012 until June 5, 2012. She also revealed that she would be working with a new feature band, to be named Rising Tide, a teen group originally from her hometown area in New Jersey.[27] She then opened for Gomez on her North American dates of her Stars Dance Tour,[28] performing songs from her second album With Love, which was released on August 6, 2013. On October 3, 2013, her music video for "Tell My Mama" had its Exclusive Video Premiere on Billboard.com. The video is "about a guy that I start liking in school, and he's sort of a dangerous kid, and I am the type of girl that tells my mom about everything," said Grimmie.
2014: The Voice
Grimmie auditioned for Season 6 of NBC's singing competition, The Voice, as revealed on her Facebook page.[29] During the Blind Auditions, she performed Miley Cyrus' hit song "Wrecking Ball". All four coaches, Adam Levine, Usher, Shakira, and Blake Shelton, turned their chairs for her, and she opted for Adam Levine.[30] She finished in 3rd place, behind winner Josh Kaufman and runner-up Jake Worthington.
2014–16: Post-The Voice; major label debut
During the competition, Grimmie's coach Adam expressed intentions to sign her to his record deal, 222 Records, with Lil Wayne also showing interest in signing her to his record deal, Young Money Entertainment. She ultimately chose to sign with Island Records.[4] She toured with the previous contestants of The Voice including season 5 winner Tessanne Chin, runner-up Jacquie Lee, Will Champlin, season 1 runner-up Dia Frampton and fellow season 6 finalists Kristen Merlin and Jake Barker. The Voice Summer tour started on June 21, 2014 in San Antonio, Texas. She is currently writing and recording music for her sophomore album, her third major release, and first release being signed to a label. The lead single was expected to be released in July 2014, with the album following later in the year.[31] Grimmie announced via Facebook that filming for the lyric video for the single started on July 6, 2014.[32] On July 11 she announced that her new single would be called "Must Be Love."[33] On July 15, 2014 she announced via a live stream that the song would be released on July 31, 2014.[34] "Must Be Love" was produced by Elof Loelv and recorded at ZAC Recording in Atlanta, Georgia.[35]
On March 4, 2015, Grimmie announced that she had been dropped from Island Records and that she is working on a new album which is set to be released late 2015.[36] The new single from her upcoming album, "Cliché," was released on March 16, 2015. On April 27, 2015 Christina released her second single, "Stay With Me" a collaboration with Diamond Eyes, which climbed to #5 on the iTunes Electronic Charts.[37] The song also made it on to 2015 UFK Dubstep, an album showcasing the top dubstep songs of the year.[38] She was also a contestant in the iHeartRadio/Macy's Rising Star Contest. On May 27, 2015, Grimmie was revealed as the winner of the Rising Star Contest, securing her spot to open the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Festival in September.[39] On July 2, 2015, she released her third single, "Shrug".
On February 21, 2016, Grimmie released her second EP, titled "Side A", which consisted of four songs. Grimmie stated that the simple title "Side A" would mean that a "Side B" is likely to follow. In February and March 2016, she also opened for Rachel Platten on her Wildfire Tour, where Grimmie performed many of the songs from her new EP live for the first time.[citation needed]
Influences
Grimmie grew up listening to contemporary Christian artist Stacie Orrico: "She has a really awesome voice and I was so drawn to it. I think the reason I do have a soul voice is because I grew up listening to her and she was my huge, huge influence. I wanted to sound just like her, I wrote songs that kinda sounded like something she would do."[40] Grimmie cited Christina Aguilera as her main influence vocally.[40] She also said she admired Beyoncé for her vocals.[40] She said she liked dubstep and DJ music, as well as rock 'n roll and heavy metal, listening to Metallica, Pantera, Iron Maiden, and Tool.[41]
Death
On June 10, 2016, Grimmie was shot three times while signing autographs after a performance at The Plaza Live in Orlando, Florida. The unidentified gunman then fatally shot himself after being tackled by her brother. Grimmie was taken to a hospital in critical condition; her death was confirmed on June 11.[6]
Responding to the news on Twitter, The Voice wrote, "There are no words. We lost a beautiful soul with an amazing voice."[42] Her coach, Adam Levine, wrote on Instagram, "I'm sad, shocked and confused [by the shooting]. We love you so much Grimmie."[43]
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.