Christina Grimmie
Christina Grimmie (born Christina Victoria Grimmie on March 12, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, YouTuber, and actress from Marlton, New Jersey.
Before she released her debut EP in 2011, Grimmie entertained fans via the Internet, where she became one of the highest-viewed musicians on YouTube thanks to her scaled-down performances of contemporary pop hits. She launched her YouTube page in 2009 and began covering songs by Adele, Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez, accompanying herself on piano and earning a large digital audience in the process. One of her viewers was Selena Gomez’s stepfather, Brian Teefey, who eventually became her manager. With his help, Grimmie released an independent EP in 2011 titled Find Me and hit the road that summer with Gomez, whose music at the time shared a similar dance-pop sound. Her official debut LP, the upbeat pop/rock With Love, was released in 2013. The following year, she auditioned for season six of The Voice and placed third. With her guitar and mentoring from Adam Levine, she made it to the finale with covers of OneRepublic, Drake, and Katy Perry. After the show, she experienced a few changes in labels and resumed work on her sophomore LP. In 2015, she released a trio of singles. “Stay with Me,” a dubstep track with Diamond Eyes, broke the iTunes Electronic Top Five. Her second EP, Side A, was released in 2016 as Grimmie embarked on a tour with Rachel Platten.
On June 10, 2016, Grimmie was shot 3 times and was killed, while signing autographs after her show at The Plaza Live in Orlando, FL with Before You Exit on the All The Lights Tour. She lived to be 22 years old.
After her tragic death, unreleased music by Grimmie was released posthumously, such as her final full-length album, All Is Vanity, in 2017. In April of 2017, Grimmie’s family started the Christina Grimmie Foundation to support families who have lost a loved one to gun violence and families impacted by a breast cancer diagnosis.