Arab Americans

Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande-Butera^[1] (born June 26, 1993),^[2] known professionally as Ariana Grande, is an American singer and actress.

In 2014, Ariana posted on Facebook that she had “just found out my grandparents are heavily Greek and part North African…. I thought I was Italian… who am I?” It seems that she took a genetic test and, like many people of Sicilian ancestry, she has some genetic heritage from Algeria or Morocco.

She began her career in the Broadway musical 13, before landing the role of Cat Valentine on theNickelodeon television series Victorious in 2009. After four seasons, the show ended, and Grande starred on the spinoff, Sam & Cat, which ended in 2014. She has also appeared in other theatre, television and film roles and lent her voice to animated television and films. Grande has been featured on the cover of numerous teen and music magazines.

Grande’s music career began with the soundtrack Music from Victorious (2011). She signed a recording contract with Republic Records and released her debut studio album, Yours Truly in 2013, which debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. The album’s lead single, “The Way“, became a top ten hit on theBillboard Hot 100, with critics comparing her wide vocal range to Mariah Carey.

Grande’s second studio album, My Everything (2014), reached No. 1 in the US and charted well in various other countries. With the singles “Problem“, “Break Free“, “Bang Bang” and “Love Me Harder” from that album, she spent 34 continuous weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and had the most top 10 singles of any artist in 2014. In 2015, Grande promoted My Everything with her first world tour,The Honeymoon Tour, and guest-starred in the Fox comedy horror television series, Scream Queens. She also released the single “Focus” and a holiday EP album, Christmas & Chill, and she was heard on several collaborative projects. In 2016, she released her third studio album, Dangerous Woman, as well as several songs from the album. The title track debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Grande the first person in the history of that chart to have the lead single from each of her first three albums debut in the top 10.^[1] The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Grande’s accolades include two American Music Awards, the Music Business Association‘s Breakthrough Artist of the Year, an MTV Video Music Award, two MTV Europe Music Awards and twoGrammy Award nominations. In 2016, Time named Grande one of the 100 most influential people in the world on the annual Time 100 list.^[2] Grande has a large following on social media, including the 4th most followed Instagram account.^[3]