Kehlani

American singer and songwriter Kehlani was born Kehlani Ashley Parrish in Oakland, California. They were adopted and raised by their aunt and attended the Oakland School for the Arts. Kehlani initially wanted to be a professional dancer until an injury had them considering a career in singing. They were recruited to be the lead singer of the pop cover band Poplyfe when they were 14 years old. The group achieved fourth place on America's Got Talent and Kehlani made an important connection with the host, Nick Cannon. When Kehlani was living homeless in 2013 and released their first song on SoundCloud, Nick Cannon bought them an apartment and arranged studio time. Kehlani's first two mixtapes, "Cloud 19" (2014) and "You Should Be Here" (2015), had critics buzzing about the emerging R&B artist. Their debut studio album, "SweetSexySavage" (2017) garnered further attention. Kehlani spent much of 2017 and 2018 touring and collaborating with various artists. Notably, Kehlani's collaboration with Cardi B on the song "Ring" reached No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. Continuing their upward trajectory, Kehlani's third mixtape "While We Wait" (2019) debuted at No.9 on the US Billboard 200 and the sophomore studio album "It Was Good Until It Wasn't" (2020) debuted at No.2. In 2022 Kehlani released their third studio album "Blue Water Road" featuring additional artists Thundercat, Syd, Justin Bieber, Blxst, Jessie Reyez and Ambré.