KEHLANI

Kehlani Ashley Parrish (born April 24, 1995), known professionally as Kehlani, is an American singer and songwriter who is currently signed to Atlantic Records.

Kehlani is originally from Oakland, California where she achieved initial fame as a member of the teen pop group, Poplyfe, which was a finalist on America's Got Talent. She released her first mixtape, Cloud 19, in 2014. The album was listed among Complex's "50 Best Albums of 2014." Kehlani's second mixtape, You Should Be Here, debuted at number 5 on the national R&B/Hip-Hop chart in 2015 and preceded her sold-out North American promotional tour. In 2016, she was nominated for the Best Urban Contemporary Album Grammy Award for You Should Be Here. Kehlani's debut album SweetSexySavage will be released on January 27, 2017.

Kehlani grew up in Oakland, California. She has described her ethnicity as a mix of "black, white, Native American, and Hispanic". She was raised by her aunt because her father died when she was young and her mother was in and out of prison. She attended the Oakland School for the Arts initially with a focus on dance.

Early in her life, Kehlani aspired to train as a dancer at the Juilliard School, but she suffered a knee injury in junior high and turned her attention toward singing. Her aunt listened almost exclusively to R&B and neo soul artists, and Kehlani counts Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, and Jill Scott among her early influences. When she was 14, Kehlani was recruited to join a local pop cover band, PopLyfe.