Contoh Teks Biografi "Ariana Grande" dalam Bahasa Inggris

BIOGRAPHY TEXTS

A.   Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande was born in Boca Raton, Florida, in 1993, to a graphic-designer father and CEO mother. She took to singing and acting at a young age and made her way onto the local theater scene before she was a teenager. Her first big break came in 2008, when the 15-year-old landed the role of Charlotte in the Broadway production of 13, a play focusing on life growing up in New York City. The early role led to accolades, and Grande won a National Youth Theatre Association Award.

Two years later, she appeared in the musical Cuba Libre and had a small role on a TV show called The Battery’s Down. But that was all it took for Grande to land a meaty role on the new Nickelodeon series Victorious.

Victorious was set at a performing arts high school, and Grande was cast as a goofy aspiring singer-actress named Cat Valentine. While busy with the show, Grande making her first appearance on a record with the Victorious soundtrack. And in 2011, Grande released the single "Put Your Hearts Up," one that voted Victorious Favorite TV Show at the 2012 Kids' Choice Awards.

When Victorious went off the air in 2012, she went on to form half of the core of a new Nick show called Sam & Cat.

Meanwhile, Grande’s 2013 single “The Way” made it into the top 10 in the United States and went triple platinum, showing that music might represent her future path.

“The Way” was the first single from Grande’s debut album, Yours Truly, a record that also featured the hits "Baby I" and "Right There." The album, produced by super-producer Babyface, showed a maturing Grande, and 1990s soul influences such as Mariah Carey were evident.

The 2014 release My Everything sold 169,000 copies in its first week, debuting at No. 1. The album was preceded by the single “Problem,” featuring Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, which debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100, selling more than 400,000 copies upon its release. “Break Free” and “Love Me Harder” followed, each climbing toward the top of the charts.

During the summer of 2014, Grande teamed up with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj on the single “Bang Bang,” a track that debuted at No. 6 and peaked at No. 3 in the United States.

B.  Emma Watson

 

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born on April 15, 1990, in Paris. Her parents, both British lawyers, are Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson. Her brother, Alex, was born three years later. Her parents divorced when Watson was 5, and she moved back to Oxfordshire in England with her mother and brother.

Watson attended the Stagecoach Theatre Arts school at Oxford. She studied singing, acting and dancing, and performed in school plays. Her natural instinct for acting first came out when she won a poetry competition for reciting James Reeves' "The Sea" at age 7. Watson had never acted professionally when her theater teachers suggested her to agents looking to cast an upcoming movie based on the first novel of the best-selling Harry Potter series.

A 9-year-old Watson auditioned eight times for the role that would make her an international star. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who was deeply involved in the film process to make sure it stayed true to the book, wanted Watson for the role of Hermione from her first screen test.

Watson's 11-year-old film debut was an enormous success. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, and seven BAFTA Awards. Watson's performance received critical praise, and her status as an up-and-coming young film star was made.

For the next decade Watson stayed busy filming the Potter series in 2002 until 2011.

In 2007 Emma Watson starred in another film based on a children's novel, Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield.

In 2008, Watson branched out into animated work, voicing the character of Princess Pea in The Tale of Despereaux.

Though they spent their adolescence on film sets, Watson and costars Radcliffe and Grint kept up with their lessons, with five hours of tutoring each day.  She took high school equivalency exams, and made high scores in every subject. Watson took a year off from school to film the final two Potter movies, but maintained that she was committed to furthering her education.

Watson has tried hard to shed her child star image, one that's so closely tied to the Potter franchise. “I have lived in a complete bubble. They found me and picked me for the part. And now I’m desperately trying to find my way through it,” she said in an interview with Vogue.

C.  Taylor Swift

 

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Swift spent her early years on her family's Christmas tree farm. Her grandmother had been a professional opera singer, and Swift soon followed in her footsteps. By the age of 10, Swift was singing at a variety of local events, including fairs and contests. She sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Philadelphia 76ers game at the age of 11, and began writing her own songs and learning guitar at 12 years old.

To pursue her music career, Swift often visited Nashville, Tennessee, the country music capital. There she co-wrote songs, and tried to land a recording contract. Noting her dedication, Swift and her family moved to nearby Hendersonville, Tennessee, in an attempt to further Swift's career.

A stellar performance at The Bluebird Café in Nashville helped Swift get a contract with Scott Borchetta's Big Machine Records. She released her first single, "Tim McGraw," in 2006, and the song became a Top 10 hit on the country charts. It also appeared on her self-titled debut album in October of that same year, selling more than 2.5 million copies. More popular singles soon followed, including "Our Song," a No. 1 country music hit. "Teardrops on My Guitar," "Picture to Burn" and "Should've Said No" were also successful tracks.

In addition to commercial success, Swift received a lot of critical praise for her debut effort. She won the Horizon Award from the Country Music Association (CMA) and the Academy of Country Music Award for Top New Female Vocalist in 2007. Swift next released Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in 2007. Her renditions of "Silent Night" and "Santa Baby" were modest hits on the country charts.

In 2008, Swift was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category, and won the Academy of Country Music's "Female Vocalist of the Year" Award, the American Music Awards "Favorite Female Country Artist" award, and the American Music Association's "Horizon" award. Around this same time, Swift released her next album, Fearless (2008), which hit the top of both the country and pop charts and stayed there for 11 weeks. By the end of the year, Swift had become the highest-selling country artist of 2008.

In 2009, Swift netted several awards for her work on Fearless, including "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year" for "Love Story" at the CMT Music Awards. Swift also won the MTV Video Music Award for "Best Female Video," making her the first country music star to win an MTV Video Music Award.

The attention from the award show made Swift an even hotter commodity. Her concert tickets began selling out in less than two minutes, and she also made her second appearance on comedy show Saturday Night Live, this time as both the host and musical guest. Additionally, she became the youngest artist to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2010 for Fearless.

In 2010, she released the album Speak Now, which featured the hit songs "Mean," "Ours" and "Sparks Fly." The album was a success, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling more than one million copies in its first week. She followed that album with Red (2012), featuring the hit single "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and also selling more than one million copies in its first week. With her fifth album 1989, Swift became the first woman in history to release three albums that sold more than one million copies in their opening week.

D.  Harry Styles

 

Harry Edward Styles was born on February 1, 1994, in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. His parents, Des and Anne, divorced when he was 7 years old. He and his sister Gemma were brought up by their mother in the town of Holmes Chapel in Cheshire. His mother was later remarried, to Robin Twist.

Styles attended Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School, where he and three of his friends formed a band called White Eskimo. Styles was White Eskimo's lead singer, and the band was popular enough to win a band competition at their school. After school and on weekends, Styles worked at the W. Mandeville bakery in Holmes Chapel.

In 2010, when he was 16 years old, Harry competed in the seventh season of the television show The X Factor, singing Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" as his audition song and Oasis' "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" in a later round. He was cut before the finals, but in a surprise move, judges Nicole Scherzinger and Simon Cowell put him together with fellow competitors Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik to form a new group act for the remainder of the competition.

Performing as One Direction (a name reportedly suggested by Styles), the five boys became one of the most popular contenders in the X Factor finals that season. Although they finished the competition in third place, they were immediately signed to Cowell's Syco music label.

Styles is the youngest member of One Direction, and his curly hair, wide smile and sweet-yet-naughty demeanor have made him a fan favorite. He sang some of the lead vocals on the band's first single, "What Makes You Beautiful," which was released in September 2011 in the United Kingdom. One Direction's debut album, Up All Night, was a best seller in both the United Kingdom and the United States the following year. In another highlight of 2012, Styles and the rest of One Direction performed at the Olympics closing ceremony in London.

Styles is known as "the flirt" of One Direction, and his romantic relationships have been followed obsessively by the press and his fans. In 2011, he began dating television presenter Caroline Flack, whom he met when he was competing on The X Factor and she was hosting its companion show, The Xtra Factor. The difference in their ages—Styles was 17 at the time, and Flack was 32—was the subject of much discussion among Styles' fan base.

Since his breakup with Flack in January 2012, Styles has been romantically linked with photographer Sarah-Louise Colivet, models Emma Ostilly and Cara Delevingne, and singers Lily Halpern and Rita Ora. His most-publicized relationship of 2012 was a two-month liaison with pop star Taylor Swift. The two were frequently photographed together, and Swift reportedly referred to Styles in song lyrics and performances after they stopped dating.

E.  Liam Payne

Liam James Payne was born on August 29, 1993, in Wolverhampton, a town located in England's West Midlands. His father, Geoff, works for the aerospace manufacturing corporation Goodrich; his mother, Karen, has worked as a nurse and a receptionist. Payne has two older sisters, Nicole and Ruth.

Payne attended St. Peter's Collegiate School in Wolverhampton. As a pre-teen, he was interested in both music and athletics. He was a member of the Wolverhampton & Bilston Athletics Club and trained as a runner. He also began acting and singing with a local theater performance group called Pink Productions at the age of 12. Following his graduation from St. Peter's, he enrolled in the City of Wolverhampton College to study music technology.

Payne auditioned for the television talent competition The X Factor in 2008 and performed well enough to become one of the final 24 competitors before he was eliminated. For the next two years, he continued to train as a vocalist. He auditioned for The X Factor again in 2010 and moved further up in the competition, winning praise for his renditions of songs like "Cry Me a River" and Oasis's "Stop Crying Your Heart Out."

Although Payne was eliminated as a solo artist before the show's final round, he became part of a newly formed group act when judges Nicole Scherzinger and Simon Cowell combined him with his fellow competitors Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik. Performing as One Direction, Payne and his new band-mates finished the competition in third place and received a contract with Cowell's music label.

Payne has become very successful as a part of One Direction. Their first single, "What Makes You Beautiful," was released in September 2011 in the United Kingdom and became a No. 1 hit before achieving worldwide popularity. Their debut album, Up All Night (2011), was a chart-topping success, as was their second album, Take Me Home (2012).

Payne is known for being the most sensible and grounded member of One Direction. He dated dancer Danielle Peazer, whom he met on the set of The X Factor, on and off from 2010 to 2013. He has also been romantically linked with British singer Leona Lewis.

F.  Kate Middleton

 

Kate Middleton was born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton on January 9, 1982, in Reading, Berkshire, England, to pilot Michael and flight attendant Carole Middleton. Middleton has a younger sister, Philippa ("Pippa") and a younger brother, James.

Kate attended exclusive boarding schools, including St. Andrew's Prep School, Down House, and Marlborough College. But her time in boarding school did not come without its conflicts. Kate left the exclusive Down House all-girls boarding school at the age of 13, due to bullying and taunts from other students there. And on her first day at co-ed Marlborough, some particularly mean-spirited boys began rating incoming students based on attractiveness and personality. They gave Kate a two out of 10. Despite the initial setbacks, however, Kate did well in her studies, passing 11 GCSEs and three A-level exams.

In 2001, Middleton became a student at the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. While in her first year at the university, Middleton was placed in the dormitory St. Salvators Hall—the same building as Prince William of Wales. Middleton and Prince William shared several classes in their course schedule as well, and soon became friends. But the two were not interested in each other romantically at first. Middleton was dating senior Rupert Finch and William was busy dealing with the press and struggling with his feelings about his new school.

By the end of 2002, Middleton's boyfriend had graduated. The couple soon parted ways over issues of distance. Newly single and entering her junior year, Middleton and several friends were invited to share a flat with Prince William. In 2003, Middleton and the prince fell into a natural romance, and began dating.

On November 16, 2010, Middleton and Prince William announced their engagement. The prince proposed during a vacation to Kenya, and he presented Kate with his mother's engagement ring.

On April 29, 2011, the couple married at Westminster Abbey in London. Kate wore a dress designed by Sarah Burton. Shortly before the wedding, Queen Elizabeth conferred Kate with the title of Catherine, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge.

On December 3, 2012, after almost a year of baby rumors and much speculation, St. James Palace officially announced that Kate Middleton was pregnant. On the same day of the announcement, Middleton, with Prince William by her side, was hospitalized at King Edward VII hospital in London with acute morning sickness.

In September 2014, it was announced that Kate Middleton was pregnant with the couple's second child. Prince George's younger sibling is due in April 2015.