Normani Kordei Hamilton was born on May 31, 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia. She has two older half sisters. Raised in New Orleans, she and her family relocated to Houston, Texas, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.[12][13] From the age of 3, Normani had competed in dance, gymnastics and beauty pageants.[12][14] She performed gospel music, and recorded her first song at age 13.[12] Normani identifies as Christian.[15]
Normani auditioned for the second season of The X Factor USA in 2012 with "Chain of Fools" by Aretha Franklin.[16] She advanced to the next round after getting approval from all four of the judges. It was during the second round of boot camp that led to her elimination.[17] That marked the end of Normani's X Factor participation as a solo artist. However, she was brought back to the show and put into a group with four other girls, Ally Brooke, Lauren Jauregui, Dinah Jane, and Camila Cabello, who would later become Fifth Harmony.[18] At the end of the show's season, the group managed to make it to the finale and finished in third place.[19]
In October 2013, Fifth Harmony released their first EP, Better Together. Subsequently, the group released their debut album, Reflection (2015), and their second album, 7/27 (2016), The latter two spawned the hit singles "Worth It" and "Work from Home", respectively.[18] On August 25, 2017, Fifth Harmony released their self-titled album, their first as a quartet.[20] On March 19, 2018 the group announced their decision to take an indefinite hiatus to pursue solo careers.[21]
2015–present: Solo projects and upcoming debut album
In early August 2017, Normani was featured as a cameo in R&B singer Khalid's music video for "Young Dumb & Broke".[26] Later that month, Normani confirmed that she and Khalid were working on "new song ideas".[27] In October 2017, it was announced that Normani had signed to management company S10 Entertainment as a solo artist.[28][29] Normani was reported to have signed a publishing deal to Stellar Songs in early February 2018.[30]
On February 14, 2018, Normani and Khalid released the song "Love Lies" for the soundtrack of the romanticteencomedy-drama film, Love, Simon.[31][32] The single debuted at number 43 on the US Billboard Hot 100, scoring the highest first-week position for a single by a girl group member.[33] It was a sleeper hit,[34] reaching the number nine position after charting for 28 weeks.[35]
In April 2018, it was announced that Normani had signed to Keep Cool/RCA Records for her solo debut studio album.[36][37] Normani confirmed she was working on an upcoming music collaboration with Missy Elliott.[38] In May 2018, it was announced that she signed to a modeling contract with Wilhelmina.[39] Over the next few months, Billboard confirmed Normani was collaborating with Calvin Harris[40] and Kehlani.[41] In August 2018, Normani was featured on Jessie Reyez's remix of her song "Body Count" alongside Kehlani.[42] She then featured with Davido on the song "Swing" from Quavo's album Quavo Huncho (2018).[43]
On October 22, 2018, Normani and Harris released two songs titled "Checklist" and "Slow Down" as part of the two-track EP Normani x Calvin Harris.[44][45] The following day, Normani performed "Checklist" and "Slow Down" at the Tidal XBrooklyn concert, along with a new song, "Waves" featuring 6lack.[46][47] In early November, Normani was announced as one of two supporting acts for Ariana Grande's North American leg of her Sweetener World Tour.[48] "Waves" premiered on Beats 1 and was released as a single on November 15, 2018.[49] In her interview with Beats 1, Normani said that her debut album is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2019, and its title is a number.[49] Normani said in December 2018 that she is working with Pharrell Williams on music for her album.[50] On January 11, 2019, Normani's song with Sam Smith, "Dancing with a Stranger", was released, peaking at number three in the UK and number seven in the US.[51] Normani released the single "Motivation", co-written by Ariana Grande, on August 16, 2019, making it the first solo single from her without a featured artist.[52] In September 2019, Normani announced that her fourteen-track album will be released in 2020 as it is "a little more than halfway" complete.[53]
Along with Fifth Harmony, Normani has been involved with many charities like Girl Scouts of the US and the Ryan Seacrest Foundation.[60][61] In September 2016, Normani was named the Diversity Ambassador for The Cybersmile Foundation, an international non-profit organization providing support for victims of cyber bullying and online hate campaigns, after being racially abused online.[62] On January 26, 2017, Normani was named as the first official celebrity ambassador for the annual Stars & Strikes Celebrity Bowling Event & Tournament hosted by the non-profit organization A Place Called Home.[63] On February 24, 2017, it was announced that Normani partnered with American Cancer Society as a global ambassador to help increase awareness about the importance of breast cancer screening and HPV vaccination.[64][65]
One year into her solo career, Normani became the fastest solo artist (without an album) to surpass one billion combined streams on Spotify.[66] "Love Lies" charted the Mainstream Top 40 charts for forty five weeks, tying the record for longest charting song on the chart with Dua Lipa's "New Rules".[67] "Love Lies" also stayed in the Top 10 of the chart for twenty six weeks, making it the first song by a female or black artist (along with Khalid) to do so.[68]MTV referred to her as the "New Princess of Pop",[2] while Rolling Stone described her as an "R&B Princess".[1]
Normani has won 45 awards and has been nominated for an additional 82. These awards including nominations for the duets "Love Lies" and "Dancing with a Stranger", as well as artist awards.
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