Khalid (Khalid) was born on February 11, 1998 in Fort Stewart (Georgia). He was raised in a military family. He spent his childhood in different places.
He lived in Germany and upstate New York before settling in El Paso, Texas while in high school.
Khalid was first inspired to make music by his mother, who was a singer in the US Army. And she loved 1990s R&B artists like Brandy and TLC.
He started making music in 2015, citing stars such as Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, Father John Misty and Chance the Rapper. Producer SkySense eventually drew attention to him.
He produced and worked on the single Location. The song was released in 2016. It also entered the top 10 on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart in January 2017.
The story of Khalid, about which he speaks a little
When Khalid was about 7 years old, his life turned into a tragedy. His parents separated. When he was in the 2nd grade, his father passed away: "He was hit by a car, the drunk driver did not stop."
Khalid lived in Germany with his mother Linda, who had recently retired as a Sergeant First Class in the US Army. “I was very depressed, insane, and I couldn’t even control myself 100%,” he says.
“That’s probably why I matured so much faster than many people my age, because by this time I had lost a very close person.” In addition, he felt the tension of the hectic life of "a military child, where you are constantly moving and you have no stability."
Khalid's mother performed with the US military band and choir. At school, he performed in musicals: “I was Cornelius in Hello, Dolly; Seaweed in hairspray.
“I’m sort of self-taught. I had the opportunity to observe other singers, focus on how they portray their emotions, movements, and so on.”
His list of favorite musicians includes: Fleetwood Mac, Adele, Bill Withers, Aaliyah and Father John Misty. “I don’t think about genre when I create,” he says. "I just want to make a hype that sounds good in my car."
Artist Career Khalid
Some of the early songs that Khalid posted online include Saved and Stuck On You. In an effort to release another song, he managed to contact producer SkySense and get an invitation to work with him in a studio in Atlanta.
He first worked on the song in Atlanta and then returned to El Paso and released the Location album. As a result, it became a "breakthrough" single and gained multiple platinum certification from the RIAA. The song peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart in 2016. It also entered the top 10 on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart on January 21, 2017.
He took part in the single Electric by Alina Baraz, which was released in January 2016. In December of that year, he collaborated with duo Brasstracks on the track Whirlwind (from the Yours Truly series). As well as Adidas Originals Songs (from the Scratch series), which has been played over 700 times on SoundCloud.
In January and February 2017, he embarked on his debut Location-Location tour. It included 21 cities in the US, as well as Canada and Europe. All seats were sold out (25 shows), including 1500 Tricky Falls in El Paso.
Following the tour's conclusion, Khalid released his debut studio album American Teen on March 3, 2017. Supported by the singles Location, Young Dumb & Broke, the album debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200. It also peaked at No. 4 in August, topping the R&B Albums chart.
In Kendrick Lamar's promo song The Heart Part 4 (2017), he used uncredited vocals. The following month, he recorded the single "1-800-273-8255" (Logic) with Alessia Cara. It became his highest charting single, peaking at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
First TV appearance
He made his first television appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2017. The artist performed the song Location with the support of The Roots. One of Angela's songs is featured in the episode "Don't Stop Me Now" in ABC's Grey's Anatomy (2017).
On July 12, 2017, he began his second American Teen Tour headlining tour. In September of that year, he joined Lorde. She greatly influenced him to act as the opening act for her UK tour.
One of his latest singles is Love Lies. He recorded it with Fifth Harmony's Normani Cordei for the soundtrack to the film Love, Simon (2018).
The main works of the singer Khalid
The debut album American Teen received critical acclaim. It was also certified platinum by the RIAA in 2017 for selling over 1 million copies. The song Location from the album was certified platinum and sold over 4 million copies.
In the first week of work, they took 9th position on the Billboard 200 chart with 37 equivalent album units. Khalid is one of only two teenage solo artists to achieve the highest rankings in the last 12 months (after Shawn Mendes Illuminate, who debuted at No. 1 in October 2016).
Awards and achievements
In July 2016, Khalid reached number 2 on the Billboard Twitter Emerging Artists chart. And also entered the top 10 best new artists. They fell into several categories in 2017, including Billboard, Yahoo, and Rolling Stone.
In 2017, he was named "Best New Artist" at the MTV Video Music Awards. He also won the Woodie To Watch award at the Woodie Awards. Then the artist was nominated for awards: BET Awards, Teen Choice Awards, American Music Awards and Soul Train Music Awards.
Khalid was nominated for a number of awards at the 2018 Grammy Awards. He was also nominated for Best New Artist. His debut album was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album. And the single Location was nominated for Best R&B Song.
When Khalid first conceptualized the song Location. His goal was to post the song on SoundCloud in time to "win the prom king", which he did. When he was celebrating his high school graduation, Kylie Jenner (TV personality, model) played the single "Location" on Snapchat to over 30 million followers, greatly increasing his effectiveness.
The artist is a big fan of Elton John. He met him at one of his shows in his hometown of El Paso. There, the legendary singer dedicated a song to him. However, he missed the opportunity to witness the moment as he had to leave the show early because of a friend.
