Kehlani

Kehlani

Kehlani performing in 2016
Background information
Birth name Kehlani Parrish
Born (1995-04-24) April 24, 1995
Origin Oakland, California, United States
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
Instruments Vocals
Years active 2009–present
Labels Atlantic
Associated acts
Website www.kehlanimusic.com

Kehlani Parrish[1] (born April 24, 1995),[2] known professionally as Kehlani, is an American singer and songwriter who is currently signed to Atlantic Records.[3][4] Kehlani is originally from Oakland, California where she achieved initial fame as a member of the teen pop group, Poplyfe, which was a finalist on America's Got Talent.[5] She released her first mixtape, Cloud 19, in 2014.[6] The album was listed among Complex's "50 Best Albums of 2014."[7] Kehlani's second mixtape, You Should Be Here, debuted at number 5 on the national R&B/Hip-Hop chart in 2015 and preceded her sold-out North American promotional tour.[8] In 2016, she was nominated for the Best Urban Contemporary Album Grammy Award. Kehlani's debut album SweetSexySavage will be released on January 27, 2017.

Early life

Kehlani grew up in Oakland, California. She has described her ethnicity as a mix of "black, white, Native American, and Hispanic".[9] She was raised by her aunt because her father died when she was young and her mother was in and out of prison. She attended the Oakland School for the Arts initially with a focus on dance.[3]

Early in her life, Kehlani aspired to train as a dancer at the Juilliard School, but she suffered a knee injury in junior high and turned her attention toward singing. Her aunt listened almost exclusively to R&B and neo soul artists, and Kehlani counts Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, and Jill Scott among her early influences.[10] When she was 14, Kehlani was recruited to join a local pop cover band, PopLyfe.[3]

Career

2009–13: Career beginnings with PopLyfe

Kehlani's singing career effectively began, when she started out as a member and as the lead vocalist from the group called PopLyfe. The band's music was produced by former Tony! Toni! Toné! member, D'Wayne Wiggins.[10][11] Within two years, the group would do shows through the Bay Area and other cities. In 2011, they would auditioned for the sixth season of America's Got Talent, and they would eventually be finished in fourth place in the finals. During their final appearance, judge Piers Morgan told Kehlani, "You've got real talent, but I don't think you need the group."[3][5][12]

After the end of America's Got Talent, Kehlani left PopLyfe, because of several managerial and contractual disputes. Over six months, she avoided doing anything music related for fear of being sued by the group's management.[11] In 2012 and 2013, Kehlani was effectively homeless, moving from house to house and often sleeping on couches.[10] During her senior year of high school, she moved to Los Angeles, California with no legal guardian before returning to Oakland. To help with money and food, she decided to begin stealing items from grocery stores for a short time.[3] In 2013, Nick Cannon, who had been the host of America's Got Talent during PopLyfe's run, called Kehlani to ask her about being in a rap group. She agreed at first and went to Los Angeles, but, ultimately, she didn't like the direction of the group and moved back to Oakland once again. In over few months later, Kehlani released her first solo track on SoundCloud, called "ANTISUMMERLUV". Cannon called her back after hearing the song and he set her up with the LA apartment, along with a studio time.[3][10][11]

2014–present: Cloud 19, You Should Be Here, and SweetSexySavage

In 2014, the studio time would culminated for the release of her first mixtape, called Cloud 19. The mixtape features guest appearances from Kyle Dion. Cannon also sent her to New York City to working with record producer Jahaan Sweet.[3] The album ranked at twenty-eighth on Complex's list of the "50 Best Albums of 2014,"[7] and was also listed among Pitchfork's "Overlooked Mixtapes 2014."[13] Her song from her mixtape, "Till the Morning" was placed by Billboard as one of the "Emerging Picks of the Week" on November 7, 2014.[14] In 2015, Kehlani opened for American rapper G-Eazy on the second leg of his From the Bay to the Universe tour.[15] In April 2015, she released her second mixtape, called You Should Be Here. Billboard called it the "year's first great R&B album",[16] when it debuted at number 5 on the US Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.[17] The project features guest appearances from fellow American rapper Chance the Rapper, and American singer-songwriter BJ the Chicago Kid.[18] In a week after the release of her second mixtape, she announced that she has signed a deal to Atlantic Records.[4] In support of her album, she went on the You Should Be Here tour, which sold out every North American date and select European dates.[8] Throughout 2015, she also received individual plaudits: Complex called her one of the "15 Artists to Watch Out for in 2015"[19] and Rolling Stone named her one of the "10 New Artists You Need to Know."[20] She was also nominated for a 2016 Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album.[21] Kehlani collaborated with fellow singer-songwriter Zayn on the track, "Wrong" from his debut album Mind of Mine, which was released on March 25, 2016.[22] On November 26, 2016, she revealed the title of her first album which was called SweetSexySavage.[23]

Personal life

In January 2016, it was confirmed in Instagram posts (which have since been deleted) that Kehlani was in a relationship with NBA point guard Kyrie Irving.[24] In March 2016, there were allegations by Canadian musician PartyNextDoor that Kehlani was cheating, posting a photo of her in his bed on Instagram (which has also since been deleted). This caused a media controversy across Twitter, in which both Kehlani and Kyrie's name was trending in hundreds of thousands of posts. Kyrie made a tweet saying they'd been broken up but people seemed to ignore this. The negative media attention caused Kehlani to attempt suicide.[25][26] Kehlani took to Social Media to explain that she had not cheated on Irving.

Kehlani is bisexual.[27]

Discography

Main article: Kehlani discography

Tours

• You Should Be Here Tour (2015)

Awards and nominations

Year Association Category Result
2016 Grammy Award Best Urban Contemporary Album[28] Nominated

References

  1. ↑ Ritchie, Kevin (July 8, 2015). "Kehlani - The fast-rising singer/songwriter reveals (almost) all". Now. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  2. ↑ Josephs, Brian (April 24, 2015). "Happy Birthday, Kehlani!". The Boombox. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Zeichner, Naomi (August 4, 2015). "Kehlani Earned This". The Fader. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Frydenlund, Zach (May 6, 2015). "Kehlani Signs With Atlantic Records". Complex. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Golden, Zara (March 11, 2015). "Meet Kehlani, A Soft-Hearted R&B Star Who Looks Like A Badass". The Fader. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  6. ↑ Krastz, Roger (April 17, 2015). "Kehlani on Going From Homelessness to Music Success". XXL. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Davis, Justin (December 19, 2014). "The 50 Best Albums of 2014 - 28. Kehlani, Cloud 19". Complex. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  8. 1 2 Henry, Keryce Chelsi (October 6, 2015). "Catching Up With Kehlani". Nylon. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  9. ↑ Peter Rosenberg (interviewer), Kehlani (guest) (March 30, 2015). Kehlani Talks to Rosenberg about Her Rough Upbringing, The Bay, and her Tattoos!. WQHT. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Drake, David (December 3, 2014). "Kehlani Talks About the Making of "Cloud 19," the Tutelage of Lauryn Hill, and Getting a Hand From Nick Cannon". Complex. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 Ahmed, Insanul (March 25, 2015). "Who Is Kehlani? The Oakland Singer Talks About Being On "America's Got Talent" & How Nick Cannon Saved Her Life". Complex. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  12. ↑ Freeman, Macy (July 9, 2015). "With second mix tape, Kehlani is a rising star". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Overlooked Mixtapes 2014". Pitchfork Media. December 22, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  14. ↑ Anderson, Trevor (November 7, 2014). "Emerging Picks of the Week: Nathaniel, Kehlani & Angel Olson". Billboard. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  15. ↑ Lyons, Patrick (November 19, 2014). "G-Eazy Announces Second Leg Of "From The Bay To The Universe" Tour". Hot New Hip Hop. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  16. ↑ Leight, Elias (April 29, 2015). "Kehlani Releases the Year's First Great R&B Album With 'You Should Be Here'". Billboard. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Kehlani - Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  18. ↑ Robinson, Will (April 28, 2015). "Kehlani releases delightful mixtape You Should Be Here". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  19. ↑ Servantes, Ian; Davis, Justin (January 12, 2015). "15 Artists to Watch Out for in 2015". Complex. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  20. ↑ "10 New Artists You Need to Know: April 2015". Rolling Stone. April 16, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  21. ↑ Cliff, Aimee (December 8, 2015). "Kehlani: "I Honestly Didn't Expect A Grammy Nomination This Early"". The Fader. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  22. ↑ "13 Truth Bombs Zayn Malik Just Dropped In His First Solo Broadcast Interview". MTV News. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  23. ↑ Espinoza, Joshua (29 November 2016). "Kehlani names her debut album". Complex. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  24. ↑ "Kehlani And Kyrie Irving Publicize Their Love On Instagram". Vibe. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  25. ↑ Aimee Cliff. "Kehlani Shares Photo From Hospital After Apparent Suicide Attempt". The FADER. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  26. ↑ "Kehlani Hospitalized After Apparent Suicide Attempt". MTV News. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  27. ↑ Pinto, Adriana (November 15, 2016). "Kehlani "Distraction" Official Lyrics & Meaning | Verified". youtube. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
  28. ↑ "Nominees in top categories for the Grammy Awards". Business Insider. December 7, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2015.

External links

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