H.E.R.

Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson (born June 27, 1997), better known professionally as H.E.R. (pronounced "her", an acronym for Having Everything Revealed), is an American singer and songwriter. After initial music appearances and singles under her real name, Wilson re-emerged in 2016 as H.E.R., releasing her debut EP "H.E.R. Volume 1" under RCA, followed by four subsequent EPs. Her first compilation album "H.E.R." (2017), consisting of tracks from her first two EPs plus six additional songs, was nominated for five Grammy Awards, winning Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Album.
Her second compilation album, "I Used to Know Her", was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year for "Hard Place". In 2021, she was awarded the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "I Can't Breathe", and the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Fight for You" from the film "Judas and the Black Messiah" (2021). 
Musical career.
Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson was born in Vallejo, California to a Filipina mother and an African American father. Raised in California's San Francisco Bay Area, performing as Gabi Wilson, she was introduced to the public as an artist as a young child, covering Alicia Keys on piano on the "Today Show". She appeared at the famed Apollo Theatre in NYC on September 23rd, 2007, covering Aretha Franklin's "Freeway Of Love." She made her acting debut at the age of nine, starring in the Nickelodeon TV film "School Gyrls". She also performed on "Maury" in 2007, "Good Morning America", and "The View" in 2008. At this time she was managed by Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment. She performed at the 2010 BET Awards covering Keys' "Fallin'", sung a tribute to Keys at the ASCAP Awards, and competed on Radio Disney's The Next BIG Thing at age 12, with her song "My Music" featured on Radio Disney.
In 2011, Wilson signed a record deal with Sony’s RCA Records via MBK Entertainment at the age of 14, later releasing her debut single titled "Something to Prove" under her real name.
Re-emerging in late 2016 with a new persona, Wilson released her debut EP, "H.E.R. Vol. 1" on September 9, 2016, produced by songwriter David "Swagg R'Celious" Harris. She received support from Usher, Tyrese, Pusha T, and Wyclef Jean; labelmates Alicia Keys and Bryson Tiller helped get the word out through Twitter co-signs, shoutouts, and re-posts. In April 2017, Rihanna posted an Instagram clip with H.E.R.'s track "Focus" playing in the background. The clip has been viewed over 5 million times. Additional public support came from Issa Rae of HBO's "Insecure", Taraji P. Henson of "Empire", Kylie Jenner, and Kendall Jenner.
NPR listed "H.E.R. Vol. 1" as the first selection in its "5 Essential R&B Albums You Slept On". Calling the music "Slow-burning R&B that zooms in on emotional highs and lows," "Rolling Stone" included H.E.R. in its March 2017 "10 Artists You Need To Know" roundup. "Forbes" named her one of "5 Alternative R&B Artists to Look Out for in 2017", reporting: "In the same vein as The Weeknd's enigmatic introduction to the world, H.E.R.'s image remains a mystery. The irony, though, is that her moniker is an acronym for Having Everything Revealed."
Wilson's follow-up EP, "H.E.R. Vol. 2" (2017) also produced by Harris, was released on June 16, 2017 and includes the single "Say It Again". Also in 2017, she was on tour with Bryson Tiller for the Set It Off tour, and concluded her first headlining tour, the Lights On Tour, in support of her most recent effort "H.E.R. Vol. 2". She released "H.E.R. Vol. 2, The B Sides" (2017), also produced by Swagg R'Celious on October 20, 2017 along with the single titled "2", released on October 13, 2017. The compilation album "H.E.R." was released on October 20, 2017, comprising the songs from each of the three EP's in this series. The album won Best R&B Album and received four other nominations at the 61st Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best New Artist for H.E.R.
Wilson announced on September 12, 2018, she will be embarking on the "I Used to Know H.E.R. Tour" in support of her EP series ' and '. Her second compilation album "I Used to Know Her" was released on August 30, 2019. She performed as one of the headliners of the 2019 Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, New York on September 28. On October 5, she participated in the 2019 edition of the Rock in Rio festival located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Among the headliners were Drake, Foo Fighters, Bon Jovi, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Iron Maiden, Pink and Muse.
She sang "America, the Beautiful" at Super Bowl LV.
On September 20, 2020, she sang Prince's song "Nothing Compares 2 U" for the In Memoriam segment of the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards. In February 2021, during the pre-game festivities for Super Bowl LV, she performed "America the Beautiful", singing and playing guitar. She appeared as herself in the movie "Yes Day" (2021).
Musical style.
Consisting mostly of contemporary R&B ballads, H.E.R's songs have been described as "downcast post-breakup material that sounded vulnerable and assured at once".
Addressing the secrecy over her identity, she has said: "The mystery is a metaphor for who I am, or who I was at the time of creating the project... I feel like oftentimes we don't like to be open as people about our emotions or things that we are going through. At the time [of recording], I was very closed off except for when I was writing or when I was in the studio."
She explained further: "I am a voice for women who feel like they're alone in these situations. This project came from emotion, and that's what I want it to be about – not what I look like or who I'm with, but the raw emotion and support for women." To NPR she said, "I feel like this is the era of the anti-star. I really just wanted it to be about the music, and get away from, 'Who is she with?' and 'What is she wearing?'"