Kehlani

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

Kehlani Ashley Parrish (born April 24, 1995), recording mononymously as Kehlani,[4][5] is an American singer, songwriter and dancer, signed to Atlantic Records.[6][7] Kehlani is originally from Oakland, California, where she achieved initial fame as a member of the teen group Poplyfe.

In 2014, she released her first commercial mixtape, Cloud 19.[8] The mixtape was listed as one of the Complex's "50 Best Albums of 2014."[9] In 2015, Kehlani released her second commercial mixtape, You Should Be Here. The mixtape debuted at number 5 on the national R&B/Hip-Hop chart, preceded from her sold-out North American promotional tour.[10] In 2016, she was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album for You Should Be Here. Kehlani released her first major-label debut album, SweetSexySavage on January 27, 2017.[11]

Early life

Kehlani Ashley Parrish was born on April 24, 1995, in Oakland, California.[12] She has described her ethnicity as a mix of "black, white, Native American, Filipino, and Spanish."[13] Her father was African-American and her mother has been described as "mostly white, Spanish and Native American." She was adopted and raised by her aunt when her mother, who had a drug addiction, served time in prison.[14] Kehlani's father, who also had a drug addiction, died when she was an infant.[14] During her teenage years, she attended the Oakland School for the Arts, where she initially practiced dance, particularly ballet and modern dance.[6][15][16]

Early in her life, Kehlani aspired to train as a dancer at the Juilliard School, but she had a knee injury in junior high, which led her to turn her attention towards singing.[17] While living with her aunt, Kehlani was exposed almost exclusively to R&B and neo soul artists, such as Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu and Jill Scott, whom today she describes as some of her early musical influences.[17] When she was 14, Kehlani was recruited to join a local pop cover band, PopLyfe.[6]

Career

2009–2013: Career beginnings with PopLyfe

Kehlani's singing career effectively began when she started out as a member and lead vocalist for the group called PopLyfe. The band's music was produced by former Tony! Toni! Toné! member, D'Wayne Wiggins.[17][18] Within two years, the group performed throughout the Bay Area and other cities. In 2011, they auditioned for the sixth season of America's Got Talent, and eventually finished in fourth place. During their final appearance, judge Piers Morgan told Kehlani, "You've got real talent, but I don't think you need the group."[6][19][20]

After the end of America's Got Talent, Kehlani left PopLyfe, because of several managerial and contractual disputes.[21] Over six months, she avoided doing anything music related for fear of being sued by the group's management.[18] In 2012 and 2013, Kehlani was effectively homeless, moving from house to house and often sleeping on couches.[17] During her senior year of high school, she moved to Los Angeles, California with no legal guardian. 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 didn't like the direction of the group and moved back to Oakland. To help with money and food, she decided to begin stealing items from grocery stores for a short time.[6] 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 an apartment in LA, along with studio time.[6][17][18]

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

Kehlani performing in 2015 in Toronto.

In 2014, the studio time culminated in 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 work with record producer Jahaan Sweet.[6] The mixtape ranked at twenty-eighth on Complex's list of the "50 Best Albums of 2014,"[9] and was also listed among Pitchfork's "Overlooked Mixtapes 2014."[22] A song she released in late 2014, "Till the Morning" was placed by Billboard as one of the "Emerging Picks of the Week" on November 7, 2014.[23] In 2015, Kehlani opened for American rapper G-Eazy on the second leg of his From the Bay to the Universe tour.[24] On April 28, 2015, she released her second mixtape You Should Be Here. Billboard called it the "year's first great R&B album",[25] when it debuted at number 5 on the US Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.[26] The project features guest appearances from fellow American rapper Chance the Rapper, and American singer-songwriter BJ the Chicago Kid.[27] A week after the release, she announced that she had signed a deal to Atlantic Records.[7] In support of the Mixtape, she went on the You Should Be Here tour, which sold out every North American date and select European dates.[10] Throughout 2015, she also received individual plaudits: Complex called her one of the "15 Artists to Watch Out for in 2015"[28] and Rolling Stone named her one of the "10 New Artists You Need to Know."[29] She was also nominated for a 2016 Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album.[30] 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.[31] Her song "Gangsta" was featured on the soundtrack for the hit movie Suicide Squad, which gave her and her music some beneficial recognition, as it reached number 41 on the Hot 100.[32] On November 26, 2016, she revealed the title of her debut album SweetSexySavage,[33] which was released on Atlantic Records on January 27, 2017.[11][34] On December 5, 2017, Hip-hop artist Eminem revealed that Kehlani would be collaborating on the song "Nowhere Fast" for his ninth studio album Revival.[35] Kehlani's third annual Tsunami Christmas tour concluded in Santa Ana, California on December 18, 2017.[36]

Kehlani served as an opening act on Demi Lovato's Tell Me You Love Me World Tour in North America, which started on February 26, 2018 and concluded on April 2, 2018. She then opened on Halsey's Hopeless Fountain Kingdom World Tour in Oceania, which started on April 19, 2018. She was also featured on the Cardi B album track "Ring", which entered at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her first top 40 entry on the chart.[37]

Personal life

In January 2016, it was confirmed that Kehlani was in a relationship with NBA star point guard for then the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kyrie Irving.[38] In March 2016, Canadian musician PartyNextDoor posted a picture of Kehlani's hand on Instagram insinuating that they were together. This caused a media controversy across Twitter, in which abuse was tweeted against Kehlani in hundreds of thousands of posts. Irving tweeted that they had broken up before the incident, but this seemed to go unnoticed.[39] The negative media attention caused Kehlani to attempt suicide.[40][41] Kehlani took to social media to explain that she did not cheat on Irving.[42]

Kehlani has publicly identified as queer and pansexual. In 2018, she clarified her sexuality on Twitter, stating, "I'm queer. Not bi, not straight. I'm attracted to women, men, REALLY attracted to queer men, non-binary people, intersex people, trans people. lil poly pansexual papa hello good morning. Does that answer your questions?"[43]

Her younger cousin is singer Marteen.

In an interview with Power 106, Kehlani discusses her attempted suicide was due to the negative media response as well as her first major heartbreak. She states that her album was therapeutic through her difficult time. During her recovery, she got a tattoo that says "perdida y encontrada" which in English translates to "lost and found".

After she recuperated, in 2017, she had multiple posts about love for everyone regardless of gender identity, and was motivating fans to accept people's differences and beliefs. While on the SweetSexySavage World Tour, she posted pictures of her girlfriend, New Jersey artist Shaina Negron.[44] In April 2018, Kehlani posted on Twitter stated that she identified with the term queer over gay because gay "always insisted there was still a line drawn as to which 'label' of human i was attracted."[45]

Kehlani announced that she is pregnant with her first child, a girl, on Instagram on October 12, 2018. [46] The father is Javaughn Young-White, brother of comedian Jaboukie Young-White. [47]

Tattoos

On January 5, 2018, Kehlani posted a photo to Instagram showing that her "Woke" hand tattoo had been now covered up with a lotus flower; she stated that she felt that her "hand would speak for [her] before [she] even got a chance to open [her] mouth".[48]

Her other tattoos include Coraline,[49] Regina "Reggie" Rocket,[50] Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega dancing,[51] Lauryn Hill,[52] Frida Kahlo,[53] a paper plane (which she plans to get removed), four dots under her eyes, a queen of hearts symbol, Espíritu Libre (which means "free spirit"), a longboard, a spider with a rose being piercing by a dagger, a succulent, waves, "today is the best day ever",[54] a sleeve of roses and wings, Betty Boop, La Dreamer, "tsunami", a tigress, various symbols on her knuckles (which she plans to get removed), "have hope", a sunflower, a broken skateboard, a seashell, "forgive yourself" in Arabic, a treble clef, an om symbol, "fluid", and brass knuckles.[55]

Discography

Tours

Headlining
Supporting

Awards and nominations

Year Association Category Nominated Work Result
2016 Grammy Award Best Urban Contemporary Album You Should Be Here Nominated
2017 BET Awards Best Female R&B/Pop Artist Herself Nominated
Centric Award "Distraction" Nominated
American Music Awards Best Female Soul/R&B Artist Herself Nominated
2018 Grammy Award Best R&B Performance "Distraction" Nominated
BET Awards Best Female R&B/Pop Artist Herself Nominated

References

  1. ↑ D'Zurilla, Christie (March 29, 2016). "R&B singer Kehlani attempts suicide amid rumours she cheated on NBA ex-boyfriend". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  2. ↑ Krastz, Roger (April 15, 2015). "Kehlani on Going From Homeless to Music Success". XXL. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  3. ↑ Zastko, Natasha (December 30, 2015). "WHAT ACTUALLY IS NEO-SOUL?". Treehouse Vibes. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  4. ↑ Ritchie, Kevin (July 8, 2015). "Kehlani – The fast-rising singer/songwriter reveals (almost) all". Now. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  5. ↑ Josephs, Brian (April 24, 2015). "Happy Birthday, Kehlani!". The Boombox. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Zeichner, Naomi (August 4, 2015). "Kehlani Earned This". The Fader. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Frydenlund, Zach (May 6, 2015). "Kehlani Signs With Atlantic Records". Complex. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  8. ↑ Krastz, Roger (April 17, 2015). "Kehlani on Going From Homelessness to Music Success". XXL. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  9. 1 2 Davis, Justin (December 19, 2014). "The 50 Best Albums of 2014 – 28. Kehlani, Cloud 19". Complex. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  10. 1 2 Henry, Keryce Chelsi (October 6, 2015). "Catching Up With Kehlani". Nylon. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  11. 1 2 Kennedy, Gerrick D. "Kehlani just wants to be happy after grappling with darkness. New album 'SweetSexySavage' leads the way". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  12. ↑ "About". Kehlani. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. 1 2 "Who Is Kehlani? The Oakland Singer Talks About Being On "America's Got Talent" & How Nick Cannon Saved Her Life". Complex. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  15. ↑ "About". Kehlani. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  16. ↑ "Kehlani – Biography | Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 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.
  18. 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.
  19. ↑ Golden, Zara (March 11, 2015). "Meet Kehlani, A Soft-Hearted R&B Star Who Looks Like A Badass". The Fader. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  20. ↑ Freeman, Macy (July 9, 2015). "With second mix tape, Kehlani is a rising star". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Kehlani Discusses Shady Managers, Her Bisexuality, and Her Many Tattoos". Complex. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  22. ↑ "Overlooked Mixtapes 2014". December 22, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  23. ↑ Anderson, Trevor (November 7, 2014). "Emerging Picks of the Week: Nathaniel, Kehlani & Angel Olson". Billboard. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  24. ↑ 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.
  25. ↑ 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.
  26. ↑ "Kehlani – Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  27. ↑ Robinson, Will (April 28, 2015). "Kehlani releases delightful mixtape You Should Be Here". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  28. ↑ Servantes, Ian; Davis, Justin (January 12, 2015). "15 Artists to Watch Out for in 2015". Complex. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  29. ↑ "10 New Artists You Need to Know: April 2015". Rolling Stone. April 16, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  30. ↑ Cliff, Aimee (December 8, 2015). "Kehlani: "I Honestly Didn't Expect A Grammy Nomination This Early"". The Fader. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  31. ↑ "13 Truth Bombs Zayn Malik Just Dropped in His First Solo Broadcast Interview". MTV News. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  32. ↑ "10 Hip-Hop and R&B Artists to Watch in 2017". Billboard. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  33. ↑ Espinoza, Joshua (November 29, 2016). "Kehlani names her debut album". Complex. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  34. ↑ "Kehlani: How she turned difficult times into a stunning debut album – NME". NME. January 26, 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  35. ↑ Eminem 12/05/17 at 12:57 am. "10 12/15". Twiter. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
  36. ↑ "Tsunami Christmas". Kehlani. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  37. ↑ "Kehlani Chart History".
  38. ↑ "Kehlani And Kyrie Irving Publicize Their Love on Instagram". Vibe. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  39. ↑ "Kyrie Irving Addresses Kehlani Situation in Now Deleted Tweets".
  40. ↑ Aimee Cliff. "Kehlani Shares Photo From Hospital After Apparent Suicide Attempt". The FADER. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  41. ↑ "Kehlani Hospitalized After Apparent Suicide Attempt". MTV News. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  42. ↑ Pinto, Adriana (November 15, 2016). "Kehlani "Distraction" Official Lyrics & Meaning | Verified". Retrieved November 15, 2016 – via YouTube.
  43. ↑ "Kehlani Clarifies Her Sexuality Once and for All: I'm Queer". E!. April 23, 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  44. ↑ "Shaina Negrón (@toushai) • Instagram photos and videos". instagram.com.
  45. ↑ "Kehlani Answers Questions About Her Sexuality on Twitter: 'I'm Queer'". Billboard. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  46. ↑ https://people.com/parents/kehlani-pregnant-expecting-daughter/amp/
  47. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo2_Oh2HJC6/?hl=en&taken-by=jaboukie
  48. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdk8Tm8ncNJ/?taken-by=kehlani
  49. ↑ Petrarca, Emilia. "Kehlani Wants Her Concerts to Be Safe Spaces For Her Fans During Dark Times".
  50. ↑ andPOP (August 6, 2015). "Kehlani Talks Smoking Blunts and Her Favourite Reggie Rocket Tattoo" – via YouTube.
  51. ↑ https://www.refinery29.com/2018/05/196803/kehlani-tattoo-guide
  52. ↑ "Jenga with Kehlani: 25 Things You Should Know". Vibe. April 2, 2015.
  53. ↑ "LATINA". latina.com.
  54. ↑ "ARTIVIST 333 on Instagram: "... and everyday is today ✨🏆💫 #ItllBeAlright ♥️✨ #mentalhealthawarenessday #everyoneneedsremindersevenME"". Instagram.
  55. ↑ "Kehlani Has Mink Eyelashes And More Tattoos Than She Can Count".
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