Demi Lovato

Demetria Devonne "Demi" Lovato (born August 20, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress.

Demetria Devonne Lovato was born on August 20, 1992, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Dianna De La Garza (née Lee Smith) and engineer and musician Patrick Martin Lovato.

Lovato has an older full sister named Dallas, a younger maternal half-sister, actress Madison De La Garza, and an older paternal half-sister, Amber, whom Lovato first spoke to at age 20.

In mid-1994, shortly after Lovato's second birthday, her parents divorced.

Her father was of Nuevomexicano descent, with mostly Spanish and Native American ancestors, and came from a family that had been living in New Mexico for generations; he also had distant Portuguese and Jewish ancestry.

He was a descendant of Civil War Union veteran Francisco Perea and Santa Fe de Nuevo México governor Francisco Xavier Chávez.

Lovato had no interest in forging a relationship with Patrick after her parents divorced.

Her mother is of Irish descent.

After appearing on the children's television series Barney & Friends (2002–2004), she rose to prominence for playing Mitchie Torres in the musical television film Camp Rock (2008) and its sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010).

The former film's soundtrack contained "This Is Me", her debut single and duet, which peaked at number nine on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

In 2002, Lovato began her acting career on the children's television series Barney & Friends, portraying the role of Angela.

She appeared on Prison Break in 2006 and on Just Jordan the following year.

Due to her acting career, Lovato was bullied and consequently requested homeschooling, through which she eventually received her high-school diploma.

From 2007 to 2008, Lovato played Charlotte Adams on the Disney Channel short series As the Bell Rings.

Lovato auditioned for the channel's television film Camp Rock and series Sonny with a Chance during 2007 and got both roles.

Lovato played the lead character, aspiring singer Mitchie Torres, in Camp Rock.

After signing with Hollywood Records, Lovato released her pop rock debut album, Don't Forget (2008), which debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200.

The film premiered on June 20, 2008, to 8.9 million viewers.

Gillian Flynn of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Lovato's acting skills were underwhelming and that she has "the knee-jerk smile of someone who is often told she has a great smile".

The film's soundtrack was released three days earlier; however, the music was considered less current than that of High School Musical.

It debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, with 188,000 units sold in its first week of release.

Lovato sang four songs on the soundtrack, including "We Rock" and "This Is Me".

The latter, Lovato's debut single, debuted at number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and later peaked at number nine, marking her first entry on the chart.

That summer, Lovato signed with Hollywood Records and began her Demi Live!

Warm Up Tour before the release of her debut studio album, and appeared on the Jonas Brothers' Burnin' Up Tour.

Lovato's debut studio album, Don't Forget, released on September 23, 2008, was met with generally positive reviews from critics.

Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly said, "Demi Lovato might satisfy her 'tween fans but she won't be winning any rockers over with Don't Forget".

Its follow-up, Here We Go Again (2009), debuted at number one in the U.S., while its title track reached number 15 on the Hot 100.

On television, Lovato has starred as the titular character on the sitcom Sonny with a Chance (2009–2011), served as a judge on the music competition series The X Factor USA for its second and third seasons, and appeared as a recurring character on the musical comedy Glee (2013–2014) and the sitcom Will & Grace (2020).

She also starred in the television drama film Princess Protection Program (2009), the animated comedy film Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017), and the musical comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020).

Her third studio album, Unbroken (2011), experimented with pop and R&B and spawned the U.S. platinum-certified single "Skyscraper".

She released her self titled fourth album in 2013, which debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, and contained the top-ten international song "Heart Attack".

An activist for various social causes, Lovato's struggles with an eating disorder and substance abuse have received considerable media attention, in response to which she published the self-help memoir Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year (2013) and released the documentaries Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated (2017) and Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil (2021).

She has been vocal about her strained relationship with her father, calling him abusive and once stated, "He was mean, but he wanted to be a good person. And he wanted to have his family, and when my mom married my stepdad, he still had this huge heart where he said, 'I'm so glad that [he's] taking care of you and doing the job that I wish I could do.'" After Patrick died of cancer on June 22, 2013, Lovato said that he had been mentally ill, and she created the Lovato Treatment Scholarship Program in his honor.

Lovato was brought up in Dallas, Texas.

She began playing the piano at age seven and guitar at ten, when she began dancing and acting classes.

Lovato's fifth and sixth albums, Confident (2015) and Tell Me You Love Me (2017), infused soul and mature themes.

She earned a Grammy Award nomination for Confident, while "Sorry Not Sorry", the lead single from Tell Me You Love Me, became her highest-charting single in the U.S., reaching number six.

After a hiatus, she released her seventh and eighth albums Dancing with the Devil... the Art of Starting Over (2021) and Holy Fvck (2022), which reached number two and number seven in the U.S., respectively.

Lovato has sold over 24 million records in the United States and has also received numerous accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award, 14 Teen Choice Awards, five People's Choice Awards, two Latin American Music Awards, a Guinness World Record, and was included on the Time 100 annual list in 2017.