Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara, is a Canadian singer and songwriter.
She began posting covers of songs on YouTube at age 13.
Alessia Cara was born on July 11, 1996, in Mississauga, Ontario, and grew up in Brampton, where she attended Cardinal Ambrozic Catholic Secondary School.
Her family is from Calabria, Italy; her father was born in Canada to Italian parents, and her mother is an Italian immigrant.
Cara is the second of four children.
She can speak Italian fluently.
As a child, she wrote poetry and performed in theatre.
She began playing guitar at the age of 10 and taught herself how to play various songs.
At the age of 13, she began her own YouTube channel where she posted covers of songs that she performed.
She saw Justin Bieber as a career model at the time.
2014
After uploading acoustic covers of songs such as "Love Yourself" and "Sweater Weather" online, she signed with EP Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings in 2014 and released her debut single, "Here", the following year.
It peaked at number 19 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart and was a sleeper hit in the US, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
In July 2014, Cara, accompanied by her father, went to New York, where she signed a management deal with EP Entertainment, and began work on her debut studio album later that same year.
She briefly took the professional name simply of Alessia before adding a clipping of her surname to become known as Alessia Cara.
2015
Cara's debut studio album, Know-It-All (2015), peaked at number 8 on the Canadian Albums Chart and at number 9 on the Billboard 200.
In April 2015, Cara released her official debut single through Def Jam.
Titled "Here", it was described by MTV as "a song for everyone who secretly hates parties."
Produced by Pop & Oak and Sebastian Kole, the song is about her personal experience with going to a party and being uncomfortable at it.
On May 5, 2015, the song was chosen as the "can't-miss" track by Spin, as well as being listed as a "must hear song" by Cosmopolitan.
The song was also named one of the best Canadian songs of April by Complex and included on Billboard's "20 Pop Songs You Need For Your Summer Playlist" in June 2015.
Rolling Stone later ranked "Here" at number 21 on its year-end list of the 50 best songs of 2015.
On July 29, 2015, Cara made her television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
"Here" then received a nomination for "Original Song" at the Streamy Awards.
She released the EP Four Pink Walls, containing five songs, including her debut single.
Her debut album, Know-It-All, was released on November 13, 2015.
2016
The album's third single, "Scars to Your Beautiful", peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016.
From January to April 2016, Cara embarked on her first headlining tour, the "Know-It-All Tour", performing in various US and Canadian cities.
She was short-listed for the BBC Music Sound of... award for 2016 and finished as the runner-up.
Cara was awarded as Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2016 Juno Awards.
On March 7, 2016, Cara released a music video for "Wild Things".
In April 2016, Cara was announced to be one of the supporting acts of British alternative rock band Coldplay in the European and North American legs of their A Head Full of Dreams Tour, alongside British singer songwriter and Grammy winner Foxes.
On June 23, 2016, Cara was featured in a re-released version of the song "Wild" by Troye Sivan.
The music video was released on July 22, 2016.
She played Glastonbury Festival on June 24, 2016, in the John Peel tent.
2017
In 2017, Cara collaborated with DJ and producer Zedd on the single "Stay", which is certified seven-times platinum in Canada, and featured alongside Khalid on rapper Logic's song "1-800-273-8255".
2018
Cara has received nominations for four Grammy Awards, winning the Best New Artist in 2018.
Her second studio album, The Pains of Growing (2018), saw the moderate commercial success of the singles "Growing Pains" and "Trust My Lonely".
The album won Juno Award for Album of the Year and Juno Award for Pop Album of the Year while she went on to win Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year.
Her third album, In the Meantime (2021), was met with generally positive reviews from critics, and she is currently working on her fourth studio album.
2019
She was nominated for Song of the Year and Record of the Year at the 2019 Latin Grammys for her collaboration with Juanes on "Querer Mejor".
