June 26: Singer and actress, Ariana Grande, is 18 years-old today.

Grande was born and raised in Boca Raton, Florida. Her older brother is actor-producer Frankie Grande. She studies voice with Eric Vetro.

As a child, Grande began performing at Boca Raton’s former Little Palm Theatre for Young People. A few years later, she started to perform in Fort Lauderdale Children's Theater (FLCT). When she was 10, Ariana co-founded the youth singing group, Kids Who Care, in South Florida, which performed for charitable fund-raising events, raising over $500,000 for charities in 2007 alone.

In 2008, Grande played the role of Charlotte in the musical 13 on Broadway, for which she won a National Youth Theatre Association Award. When she joined the musical, Grande took a leave of absence left her high school, North Broward Preparatory School, which sent materials to her for study with tutors.

Grande played the role of Miriam in the first reading of the forthcoming musical Cuba Libre composed by Desmond Child. In the Summer of 2009, as a member of the charitable organization, Broadway in South Africa, Ariana performed and taught music and dance to children in Gugulethu, South Africa.


In 2009, she was cast as Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon television series Victorious. Then she dyed her hair in the words of Ariana "red velvet cupcake" or Magenta. In 2009 and 2010, Grande performed at Birdland jazz club in New York City with Miranda Sings.

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Grande is currently working on her solo music career while filming Victorious. She has worked with pop music’s Grammy Award-winning composers such as Diane Warren, Desmond Child, Billy Steinberg, and Matthew Gerrard. She has also collaborated with Grammy Award-winning producer Ken Lewis, and most recently Rock Mafia on original songs they co-wrote together.

She has covered many popular songs such as "Love The Way You Lie," "Born This Way/Express Yourself,""Grenade," Katy Perry's Teenage Dream, and "Vienna" (originally by Billy Joel). She sang an original song called "Suitcase" live and has also recorded a song called "Stick Around" with Graham Phillips, written by Peter Stengaard and Leslie Satcher.

Grande has been a soloist with a number of symphonies including South Florida’s Philharmonic, Pops and Symphonia Orchestras, and has had repeated appearances singing at NYC’s own Birdland. Ariana performed the National Anthem for the first LIVE ESPN broadcast of the Anthem for the Florida Panther’s hockey league.

Her favorite cereal is Cocoa Puffs.

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