Jessica Anne Newham (born 5 October 1991), known by her stage name Betty Who, is an Australian-American musician, singer and songwriter.
2007
Trained since the age of four as a cellist, she moved to the United States in 2007 to attend Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan.
Newham is also self-taught on piano and guitar, wrote her first songs at age 14, and began performing as a singer-songwriter two years later.
Her stage name comes from the title of a song she composed at age 16 about unrequited love.
After school at Ascham in Sydney and Frensham in the Southern Highlands, NSW, Newham attended Berklee College of Music in Boston.
During her first semester, she met producer Peter Thomas who was also attending Berklee.
Thomas suggested pairing Newham's songwriting with a more dreamy, anthemic production style.
The two began writing new material together and developed Newham's sound over the next two years.
2012
After independently releasing her debut single, "Somebody Loves You" (2012), and her debut extended play, The Movement (2013), she signed with RCA Records and later released her debut studio album, Take Me When You Go (2014).
As Betty Who, Newham's debut single "Somebody Loves You" was initially released independently as a free download, and was premiered by pop music blogger and at-the-time official Grammy blogger Arjan Writes on 30 November 2012.
Co-written by Newham and Thomas, and produced by Thomas, the song garnered immediate praise, spreading quickly online and being featured by other well-known outlets including Socialite Life, Pop on And On, and Popservations.
2013
A music video, directed by Evan Savitt, was released on 22 January 2013, and an official remix by acclaimed indie pop producer FM Attack was released on 11 March 2013.
Newham's debut EP, The Movement, was released on 17 April 2013.
An independent, free-download release initially, the EP's huge success online helped lead to a large amount of major label interest, before she ultimately signed with RCA Records.
It premiered on Billboard on 9 April 2013, one week prior to its official release date.
On 11 September 2013, Spencer Stout uploaded a YouTube video of him proposing to his boyfriend Dustin in a flash mob dance routine at a Salt Lake City, Utah Home Depot.
The video, which featured "Somebody Loves You" became a viral hit online.
The attention of the video coupled with the track's official iTunes release, led to the song debuting at number 44 on the overall iTunes Charts, as well as debuting as the number 4 most viral song on Spotify.
Who signed to RCA Records on 15 September 2013.
2014
On 8 March 2014, "Somebody Loves You" reached number one on Billboard's Dance/Club Play Songs chart.
In April 2014, Who released her second EP, Slow Dancing, which made it to number one on the iTunes pop music charts.
The first single from that EP, titled "Heartbreak Dream", was released on iTunes and Google Play on 18 February 2014.
She told Variance Magazine in 2014 that they "make pop that's generational. They're making the pop music of our generation that's going to stick around. People are going to look back and be like, 'Oh my God, it's Robyn's Body Talk album. That's one of the best pop albums of the last 10 years.'" Who supported Katy Perry and Kylie Minogue on part of the Australia leg of The Prismatic World Tour and Kiss Me Once Tour respectively.
In 2014, Who made her American television debut when she performed "Somebody Loves You" on Watch What Happens: Live.
In late August 2014, Who made the announcement that her full-length debut album, Take Me When You Go, would be released on 7 October 2014.
She also released the track list with the announcement.
Thirteen songs, four of them being taken from her previous EPs, appeared on the album.
2015
The song is used over the end credits of the 2015 film Pitch Perfect 2.
Who has praised Katy Perry, Robyn and Miley Cyrus as influences.
From the album, the track "All of You" was her second number one on the US Dance chart, peaking at number one on 21 February 2015.
2016
On 3 June 2016, Who released a cover of Donna Lewis' "I Love You Always Forever".
It became her third number one on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, and proved to be her breakthrough hit in Australia, reaching number 6 on the ARIA Singles Chart.
2017
Her second studio album, The Valley (2017), saw the commercial success of her cover of "I Love You Always Forever", which peaked inside the top ten in Australia and reached the top of the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart in the United States.
Who made her Broadway debut in Hadestown at the Walter Kerr Theater on September 5, 2023.
She played the role of Persephone until February 4, 2024.
Jessica Anne Newham was born in Sydney, Australia, where she lived until her mid-teens.
On 24 March 2017, Who's second album, The Valley was released.
2018
On 19 January 2018, Who released "Ignore Me", which is Who's first single as an independent artist, after parting in 2017 with RCA Records.
On 16 February 2018, the singer released a cover of Kylie Minogue's "Come Into My World" for Made in Australia compilation by Amazon Music.
In 2018, Who released a remixed version of Widelife's "All Things (Just Keep Getting Better)" to be used as the theme song for season two of the Netflix reboot Queer Eye.
