Halsey

Biography of Halsey

Halsey (Ashley Nicolette Frangipane) was born on September 29, 1994 in Edison, New Jersey. She is an American singer.

Ashley Nicolette Frangipane grew up in New Jersey in a dysfunctional family. Her parents dropped out of college when her mother was pregnant with her. She was the eldest of three children. Her parents worked low-wage jobs to support the family and moved frequently. Like her mother, Frangipane suffers from bipolar disorder. She was interested in music as a child, learning violin, viola and cello, among other things, before settling on the acoustic guitar at the age of 14.

First songs were created in her high school days. She derived her stage name as an anagram from her first name Ashley, but also understood it as a reminder of Halsey Street in Brooklyn, where her boyfriend at the time lived. She broke up with her family several times during her teenage years. At seventeen she attempted suicide. After graduating from Warren Hills Regional High School, she attended the Rhode Island School of Design, but could not afford college. She then found a community college, which she dropped out after a few semesters.

At a party she met a music producer who shortly afterwards produced her first single Ghost. He uploaded it to SoundCloud, where it quickly became a success. The first labels showed interest in her and she started playing concerts. While on tour, she suffered a miscarriage, which took a heavy toll on her. However, she began to focus further on her music career and signed her first record deal with Astralwerks in 2014. She then played support for The Kooks. In the same year their first EP Room 93 was released, which reached number 159 on the Billboard 200.

Her debut album Badlands followed in 2015, with which she made her breakthrough. It reached #2 on the US Billboard chart. It was certified platinum in the United States. Her subsequent US tour almost sold out within minutes, including her performance at Madison Square Garden, which ended the tour. She also had a guest appearance on Justin Bieber's album Purpose.

In 2016, Halsey guest-starred and co-wrote The Chainsmokers' hit single Closer. She received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for the song. In 2017, she released the album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, which reached #1 on the US Billboard 200. At the same time, she was featured on the Fifty Shades of Gray soundtrack with the single Not Afraid Anymore.

In 2018, she guest-starred on Benny Blanco's debut single Eastside. That same year, the animated film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, which featured Halsey as the voice of Wonder Woman. She also had a cameo in A Star Is Born and appeared as a coach on the television show The Voice. In October 2018, the single Without Me was released. It became her most successful single to date and her first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. In addition, she has been a guest singer for BTS, Yungblud and Juice WRLD. In 2019 she worked mainly on her third album, which was released in January 2020. The two singles Nightmare and Graveyard had already been released in 2019.

Especially early in her career, she referred to herself as "tri-bi" on Twitter, where she used to describe herself as bipolar, bisexual, and "biracial." After some criticism, she described this as a misleading label. Nevertheless, these three components of her identity are important to her. Although her appearance identifies her as "white", she claims to have black roots and sees herself as a descendant and representative of a black culture.

References to her bisexuality and her bipolar disorder are also frequently found in her lyrics. Her self-image in terms of these three identities also brought her into conflict with other musicians. She described Iggy Azalea's music as "a complete disregard of black culture" and the rapper as an idiot. She had further arguments with Demi Lovato. She also supported her boyfriend at the time, G-Eazy, with various beefs.

In the 2016 United States presidential election, she supported Bernie Sanders. She has contributed to several charity singles, including Hands, a single dedicated to the victims and families of the June 12, 2016 Orlando attack. Besides her, Selena Gomez, Pink and Britney Spears, among others, participated in the single. In 2019, she contributed to a benefit single called Earth, which aims to raise awareness of climate change.

Halsey participated in the Entercom radio network's I'm Listening suicide prevention campaign. She sees herself as a feminist and supported, among other things, the Women's March on Washington and its sequel 2018 Women's March, which was primarily directed against Donald Trump. There she performed a poem that dealt with her own experiences with sexual abuse and the oppression of women. She also took part in the March for Our Lives.

From 2015 to 2016, she was in a relationship with music producer Lido, who helped her with her first album. Her second album is said to be largely about her relationship with him.

A rather dysfunctional relationship with G-Eazy followed. Not only was Halsey involved in various beefs with the rapper, tabloid photos also appeared documenting her cocaine use. There were also several high-profile disputes about G-Eazy's affairs. The couple eventually separated in October 2018. Relationships with Yungblud and actor Evan Peters followed.

Halsey is in a relationship with Turkish-American screenwriter Alev Aydin. Their son Ender Ridley Aydin was born on July 14, 2021.