Halsey

Halsey, whose real name is Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, was born on September 29, 1994 in Clark, New Jersey. Growing up, she enjoyed playing various musical instruments like violin, cello and acoustic guitar. Around the age of 16 or 17, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She faced financial problems when she was 18 and found music as the only way to pay her rent.

She started performing acoustic shows in different cities under various stage names. She then decided to use Halsey as her stage name because it was an anagram of her real name Ashley and the name of a street in Brooklyn where she spent her time mostly as a teenager. She initially planned to major in fine arts in college, but chose creative writing instead because of money issue.

Halsey kicked off her solo career by posting cover songs on YouTube. In 2014, she recorded a song called "Ghost" and uploaded it on SoundCloud. The song led her to be noticed by Astralwerks record label, which she eventually signed a record deal with. Halsey released her debut EP "Room 93" in October 2014.

In 2015, Halsey became the most talked about performer at South by Southwest (SXSW) festival on Twitter. Thanks to her rising fame, she was enlisted to be a supporting act on Imagine Dragons' North American leg of their "Smoke + Mirrors Tour" between June and August 2015.

Halsey released her debut studio album "Badlands" on August 28, 2015 and described it as "angry female record." The LP debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold more than 97,000 copies in its first week. The set was preceded by two singles titled "Ghost" and "New Americana". The third single, "Colors", was released in February. "Castle", the fourth single, was then released to promote "The Huntsman: Winter’s War". Other tracks included "Roman Holiday" that was featured in the second season of TV series "Younger" and "I Walk the Line", which was featured in the teaser trailer of "Power Rangers".

In 2016, Halsey assisted EDM duo The Chainsmokers on the group's single titled "Closer" which topped Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the following year, she announced that her second studio album, "Hopeless Fountain Kingdom", would hit the shelves on June 2. She released the album's lead single "Now or Never" along with its accompanying music video on April 4, 2017. The second single, "Eyes Closed", was released on May 4. Meanwhile, the third song, "Strangers" featuring Lauren Jauregui, was released on May 25.

The set will feature sixteen tracks, including three collaborative songs. Besides "Strangers", the other two collaborations are "Lie" featuring Quavo and "Hopeless" featuring Cashmere Cat. Even before the release, Halsey is ready to take her latest effort to the road by announcing a tour which would be supported by Charli XCX and PARTYNEXTDOOR. The trek would kick off in Uncasville, Connecticut on September 29 and run through November 22 in Cleveland, Ohio.

She was listed as one of the performers at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards and took the stage to perform "Now or Never". She also took the stage to receive three awards for her collaboration with The Chainsmokers, "Closer". Thanks to the chart-topping track, they nabbed Top Collaboration Award, Top Hot 100 Award and Top Dance/EDM Song Award.