Bebe Rexha

Bleta "Bebe" Rexha (born August 30, 1989), is an American singer and songwriter.

Bleta Rexha was born on August 30, 1989, in Brooklyn, New York City into an ethnic Albanian family from North Macedonia.

Her father, Flamur Rexha, was born in Debar, North Macedonia, when it was part of Yugoslavia and emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 21.

Her mother, Bukurije, was born in the United States to an Albanian family with roots in Gostivar, North Macedonia.

In the Albanian language, bletë means "bee"; and she explained "My parents are Albanian, and people started calling me 'Bebe' for short."

She and her family moved to nearby Staten Island when she was six.

Rexha has a brother named Florent.

Rexha took lessons and learned to play trumpet and subsequently taught herself to play guitar and piano.

She attended Tottenville High School on Staten Island, where she sang in the choir and took part in a variety of musicals.

While in high school choir, she discovered that she was a coloratura soprano.

Rexha cites Coldplay, the Cranberries, Lauryn Hill, Alanis Morissette, and Kanye West as musical influences.

As a teenager, Rexha submitted a song to be performed at the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences' annual "Grammy Career Day" event.

Rexha earned the "Best Teen Songwriter" award, beating around 700 other entrants.

As a result, she signed a contract with talent scout Samantha Cox, who encouraged Rexha to enroll in songwriting classes in Manhattan.

In 2010, Rexha met Fall Out Boy's bassist Pete Wentz and began working with him at a recording studio in New York City.

She became a member and a lead vocalist of Wentz's new experimental project called Black Cards.

The band played a variety of live shows and released several singles and remixes.

The song went on to top the charts for the US Billboard Hot 100 and the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony.

That same year, Rexha also wrote and was featured on Cash Cash's single "Take Me Home", which peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia and the United Kingdom.

However, in January 2012, Wentz announced that Rexha had left the band to pursue other endeavors.

Bebe Rexha was awarded the Abe Olman Scholarship for her contributions as a songwriter later that year.

After signing with Warner Records in 2013, Rexha first achieved success as a songwriter, with credits on Eminem's single "The Monster" (which later received the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance) as well as other songs for Shinee, Selena Gomez, and Nick Jonas, among others.

In 2013, Rexha signed with Warner Bros. Records as a solo artist.

Rexha had begun writing several songs, including Selena Gomez's "Like a Champion" and Nikki Williams's "Glowing".

Her most prominent songwriting effort of 2013 was Eminem's and Rihanna's "The Monster", which was released as the fourth single from Eminem's album The Marshall Mathers LP 2.

On March 21, 2014, Rexha released her debut single, "I Can't Stop Drinking About You".

The song peaked at number 22 on the US Top Heatseekers chart.

The music video was released on August 12, 2014.

The video was inspired by imagery from films such as Girl, Interrupted and Melancholia.

In November 2014, Rexha was featured on rapper Pitbull's song "This Is Not a Drill".

and in September 2014, she was picked as Elvis Duran's Artist of the Month and was featured on NBC's Today show hosted by Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, where she performed live her single "I Can't Stop Drinking About You".

In December 2014, Rexha released two more singles, "I'm Gonna Show You Crazy" and "Gone".

Rexha released her debut extended play in 2015, I Don't Wanna Grow Up, which saw moderate commercial success with its singles "I Can't Stop Drinking About You" and "I'm Gonna Show You Crazy".

On May 12, 2015, she released her debut EP, I Don't Wanna Grow Up, through Warner Bros. Records.

She also co-wrote and was featured on David Guetta's single "Hey Mama", alongside Nicki Minaj and Afrojack.

Rexha released two additional extended plays in 2017, All Your Fault: Pt. 1 and All Your Fault: Pt. 2, which again saw the moderate success of the singles "I Got You" and "The Way I Are (Dance with Somebody)" (featuring Lil Wayne).

Rexha has also seen success with several collaborations including "Hey Mama" (with David Guetta, Nicki Minaj and Afrojack), "Me, Myself & I" (with G-Eazy), "In the Name of Love" (with Martin Garrix), and "Meant to Be" (featuring Florida Georgia Line), the latter of which had wide success as a country crossover single, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.

Rexha's debut studio album, Expectations (2018), reached number 13 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States and saw the success of its lead single, "I'm a Mess", and brought Rexha two nominations for Best New Artist and Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 61st Grammy Awards.

Rexha released her second studio album, Better Mistakes, in 2021.

In 2023, Rexha's self-titled third album spawned her biggest single to date, "I'm Good (Blue)" (with David Guetta), which peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in 22 countries.