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19th July, 2016
Tori Kelly - A Profile

Tori Kelly is the new kid on the block all set to put her name on the world map. She may not be a well known face on your playlist, but she is surely in the spotlight and waiting in the wings for the big break to come her way. Her tryst with YouTube is what catapulted her to her present status.

Let’s take a look at this new artist who was nominated at this year’s Grammy awards but lost out in the Best New Artist category.

Victoria Loren "Tori" Kelly was born on 14th December, 1992 to a Puerto Rican – Jamaican father and an Irish – German mother in Wildomar, California, USA. With a cocktail of cultures, one thing that stood out in her life was her love for music, which was encouraged by her parents who listened to a variety of music. Her father sang and played bass, while her mother was proficient on keyboards and saxophone. She grew up listening to gospel and was influenced by pop and R&B acts such as Jeff Buckley, Lauryn Hill and Jill Scott. At the age of 10, Kelly appeared on Star Search show on TV, but never won a prize. Kelly always dreamt of being a professional musician since she was very young and even since pursued it.

In 2004 Kelly participated on America’s Most Talented Kids contest, singing Christina Aguilera’s Keep on Singin' my Song and won, beating country singer Hunter Hayes. She made a second appearance on the show in the Tournament of Champions, but lost to Antonio Pontarelli a rock musician. At the age of twelve, she was offered a record deal with Geffen Records, which was a turning point for her. But sadly it was not long lasting, she and the label parted ways before she could release any material.

In 2007, when she was about 15 years of age, she began posting videos to YouTube. The first video she uploaded was a cover Go tell it on the Mountain. Later, she duetted on the song with a fellow YouTuber on Frank Ocean’s Thinkin’ about you. This gave her a bit of more recognition.

Kelly tried her hand at taking a dig at the famous reality show American Idol, and reached just short of the top 24. During this time, she also took lessons in learning how to play the guitar, piano, drums and keyboard and also found time to compose original songs and have them recorded through her own personal computer.

Within a short span of time, her music had reached a wide audience, she also began sharing her performances through YouTube and due to her musically talented self, her page came across 700,000 subscribers.

In 2010, Kelly once again auditioned for Season 9 of American Idol. Not to be outdone this time, she gave her best performance and made it through to Hollywood week, but did not reach to the "Top 24" of the artist’s lineup once again. Totally devastated, she tried everything she could to make her music well know, but it just did not take off. Kelly’s song Confetti got a few likes for its high lyrical value, which expressed the dream not being big because you may forget the person you once were. The one bonus point she had was that she proved there were paying customers in her new fan base when she digitally released an album, ‘Handmade Songs by Tori Kelly’, in May 2012, which she recorded herself and featured her playing most of the instruments; the album sold well enough to hit number nine on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and number six on Soundscan's New Artist tally. The album contained six songs on her own label Toraay Records. Kelly wrote, produced, engineered, and recorded the EP by herself in her bedroom. When it was released on iTunes it made it to the Top 10 Pop Albums. She called the EP a "warm up" to a full-length album that was to come in the future. The EP has sold more than 14,000 copies.

Kelly also concentrated on writing songs and lucky for her she was offered a chance to take part in a youth version of the 1985 charity song We are the World, titled "We Are the World: The Next Generation". This was another feather in her cap to move on to her dream.

In February 2013, Kelly released a single called Fill a Heart, which she wrote for the "Child Hunger Ends Here" campaign organized by ConAgra Foods and Feeding America. The song was later performed by British boy band The Wanted on a show ‘Dancing With the Stars’. A month later she embarked on US tour of eight different venues across continental U.S. for her "Fill a Heart" tour, while also helping out at the cities' food banks during the day. She performed in venues all over including places such as the Troubador and the Roxy in Los Angeles, the Gramercy Theater in New York and Bush Hall in London. She has also been featured in magazines such as Teen Vogue, Elle and Glamour.

Mid-2013, Scooter Braum who is famous for managing pop teen stars Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen and Ariana Grande and many others, became her manager after seeing her videos on YouTube and introduced her to Capitol Records with whom she signed a record deal in September. Initially Kelly was skeptical about signing on the dotted line, her past experiences ringing out loud what she had gone through. But when she realized that the executives were infact her new fans, she signed on without a thought.

Kelly's second EP Foreword came out in October 2013 as her first major label release.

Towards the end of 2013 she was the sole supporting act to Brit singing sensation Ed Sheeran at Madison Square Garden and about a year later supported Sam Smith on his In the Lonely Hour UK tour in October 2014.

Prior to this, she wrote and recorded a song called Silent for The Giver: Music Collection, supporting the film adaptation ‘The Giver’ of the novel ‘The Giver’, which was released on iTunes in August 2014. The same month Kelly posted a live acoustic version of the song on her YouTube channel; which has over 2.6 million views and counting. Kelly was featured on Lullaby by British rapper Professor Green, which was released in the United Kingdom in September. The song peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart, thus providing the California lass with her first British top ten hit.

Kelly was also featured on the medley Winter Wonderland / Don’t Worry Be Happy on Pentanoix’s album ‘That’s Christmas to Me’ that was released in October 2014. The year ended on a great note when it was announced that Tori Kelly was one of MTV's Artist To Watch. She privately performed two songs for MTV: Funny and Dear No One; both can be found on her Artist To Watch page.

Throughout 2014 Kelly also worked with Braun on her debut album in which had contributions from Toby Grad, Max Martin and Ed Sheeran. The lead single from the album, Nobody Love was released on 8th February, 2015 and was written by Rickard Goransson, Max Martin (Kelly Clarkson, P!nk, Ellie Goulding) and Kelly herself. The brassy Max Martin-produced track had all the makings of a pop smash hit which got the curly-haired cutie fame before she hit it big later in the year.

On 23rd June, 2015, Kelly's debut album, ‘Unbreakable Smile’ was finally released. The album lead single, Nobody Love went to become her first US Billboard Hot 100. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. Kelly also took the stage at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards performing Should've Been Us.

Today Kelly is seen by the music world in a different light. In October 2015, Kelly became the brand-ambassador of William Rast the clothing line co-founded by singer Justin Timberlake. Besides being nominated for Best New Artist at the 58th Grammy awards, she also performed at the ceremony with English singer James Bay.

Kelly is a perfect example of a would-be child star that grew into a woman who learned how to follow her own muse and bring her music to her fans through the Internet. This multi – instrumentalist and talented singer – songwriter is an artist to watch out for in the future.

By Verus Ferreira


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