Tori Kelly is a popular American female singer and an actress who started out as a contestor in “American Idol” but had no bigger success in the show. Despite that she continued with her career and managed to become very popular on her own.
Early years
She was born as Victoria Loren Kelly on December 14, 1992 in Wildomar in California, United States. She has a very mixed descent: her father named Allwyn is part Jamaican, Trinidadian and Puerto Rican and her mother named Laura has roots in Europe (Ireland and Germany). This plays a part in her natural beauty.
She has spent her childhood with her younger brother Noah, surrounded by understanding and loving parents.
Her parents love music and they always listened to it at home. The liked variety so she was no stranger to all kind of music and genres.
This left a big impact on her and therefore she decided to proceed trying to become famous as a music artist.
Allwyn and Laura (her parents) were also very talented musicians. They both played various instruments: the father played bass and was known for his beautiful voice and her mother was great at keyboards and also knew how to play the saxophone. She inherited the musical genes.
“Star Search” is a TV show and a music competition where Tori tried to show her talent. She didn’t win this contest but it was very valuable experience to her. She says that she grew more with each experience.
She became more known to wider public after she posted a video on her YouTube channel with the cover of a song by Frank Ocean.
This video reached to a lot of people and she gained over 20 million views on it. Frank Ocean is very popular so it was no wonder people wanted to see how she covered the song.
Tori became a role model to a lot of aspiring teen musicians after they found that she knows how to play drumms, the piano and guitar.
It was much more easier for her to learn those instruments because her oarents were great at it.
Career development
She won “America’s Most Talented Kids” show in 2004. by singing one of Christina Aguilera’s songs. She was only twelve when she signed her first contract with a record label “Geffen Records”. This was a big step no one saw coming.
The collaboration soon ended due to often creative conflicts between her and the label house. She decided that she would open her YouTube channel thinking it was a good platform to reach wide audience. She was right.
This was in 2007, and her first video was a cover of John Wesley’s work for which she gained good critics.
She entered the “American Idol” contest but didn’t reach to Top 20. It was in 2010 and it was a little disappointing for her.
Tori decided to focus on herself, she took more guitar lessons, learned composing and writing pieces and at the end she even recorded them herself.
Simon Cowell didn’t like her voice and it depressed her a lot, but she carried on to reach her goal. She decided to prove him wrong and become famous one day. He stated that her voice is annoying but she has proved him wrong.
In 2012, she released an EP through her own record label, “Toraay Records”. This single named “Handmade Songs by Tori Kelly” made it in Top 10 on iTunes in Popo genre. She was very proud of her skills and she knew the time she gave into them payed off.
Scooter Braun is a highly respected manager who became world famous after he launched Justin Bieber’s career. He founf her interesting and decided to help her out.
The EP gained success and gave her selfconfidence to continue her musical career. In 2013, she was hired to make a song for “Child Hunger Ends Here” campaign so “Fill a Heart” son was made.
Due to this campaign, she performed at numerous venues which brought attention to her. She gave interviews and got to the covers of Vogue and Elle magazines.
In 2013 she changed her manager and turned to Scooter Braun who eventually brought her a contract with Capital Records which was a major American label. This was major for her too.
She performed live on NBC “Today Show” and announced the release of her new EP “Foreword” at the end of 2013. This EP came to No.16 on Billboard 200 Chart.
Her dreams came true after she was invited to be an opening act on concerts by Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith. This gave her much more recognition because a lot of people learned about her. The two named musicians and singers are both big influencers today so they gave her career a push.
Sam Smith especially supported her and she was very proud when he told her that he likes her song “Paper Hearts” the best.
Her song “Silent” was written for a sci-fi film “The Giver” in 2014. It was a film with Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep.
She was a guest appearance on Professor Green’s single “Lullaby” the same year. The song was a huge hit and went into Top 5 of UK Charts. At the end of the same year, she became MTV’s Artist To Watch.
Her first album “Unbreakable Smile” was released in 2015 and went to No. 2 on Charts. She says that it was the thing she worked the hardest for.
She was invited to perform at 2015 MTV Video Music Awards and 2015 Billboard Music Awards. This was a huge honor for her, esoecially because of her youth.
The biggest hit from the album was named “Nobody Love”.
She was one of the artists featured on “We Love Disney” album in 2015, with her cover of “Colors of the Wind”. It is a beautiful song from the famous Pocahontas.
Tori began her collaboration with Justin Timberlake by becoming a brand-ambassador for his clothing line.
She was nominated as the Best New Artist on 2015 Grammy Awards. She even performed at the ceremony later that night.
She slso received Billboard Women in Music Award in the category of “Breakthrough Artist”.
She gave her voice to an animated character, Meena the elephant, in the Illumination Entertainment computer-animated musical film in 2016.
She honored her friend Christina Grimmie, who was killed in the summer 2016 while signing autographs in Orlando. She devoted her a song “Blink of an Eye”. It hurt her very much when this happened and she realized how short life is.
She appeared in the Beale Street Festival in Memphis in 2017. She rarely declines invitations to festivals and events because she thinks it gets her closer to her fans.
In the summer of 2017, she collaborated with Lecrae on the single called “I’ll find You” which reached No.1. On the Hot Christian Songs Chart.
She released “Take Back Home Hirl” single which was made in collaboration with a country singer Chris Lane. Tori loves country music too and often listens to it at home.
As for her wishes in the future she points out that her dream will come true if one day she could song a duo with Lenny Kravitz or Justin Timberlake.
Personal life
In 2017 she became engaged to Andre Murillo, a basketball player who originates from South California and played basketball for Hamburg Towers in Germany and Rostoc Seawolves in US.
Andre is a great support to her and follows her on her journeys and concerts whenever he can. Her mother also visits her on her shows. Nobody knew about their relationship until she posted their photos on her Instagram account.
She is a big fan of animals and she has two pet dogs she adores and spends a lot of time with them: Rico and Roxy.
She is a believer and her religion is Christianity. She often wears a logo of a feather on her clothes or albums which is connected to the Bible she reads as often as she can.
Her golden curls are her signature sign. She is natural dark brown but she had always dyed her hair in a lighter shade. Her beautiful hair is often mentioned when people describe her.
Tori always finds time to be with her family and friends, and is very close to her brother Noah.
Quick summary
Full name: Victoria Loren Kelly
Date of birth: December 14, 1992
Birthplace: Wildomar in California, United States
Age: 26
Profession: singer, guitarist,
Height: 1, 63 m
Weight: 55 kg
Net Worth: $2 million
