Demi Grace

Grace Abidemi Ayorinde, professionally known as Demi Grace (born November 9, 1989) is a US-based model, singer, songwriter, recording artiste, performer and occasional actor. She made history as the first model to appear in a major hair product ad campaign for Pantene with natural dreadlocks in 2017.[1][2][3] She became the first artiste to be signed to Universal Music Group, Nigeria in 2017.[4]

Demi Grace
Birth nameGrace Abidemi Ayorinde
Born (1989-11-09) 9 November 1989
London, United Kingdom
Genres
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, performer, actress
Years active2007 – present
LabelsUniversal Music Group Nigeria
Websitedemigrace.com

Early life

Grace was born in London, England to Nigerian parents.[5] She is of Yoruba heritage. At the age of six, she and her family emigrated to the United States.[6] She and her siblings began to take interest in the arts at a young age and her sister Deborah Ayorinde went on to become a Hollywood actor, appearing alongside Kevin Hart in the 2019 movie, Fatherhood.[7] She attended Deer Valley High School in San Francisco and during her time in high school, she became heavily involved in school music programs, as she joined and taught the school choir and she also performed weekly in a local fish shop.

Demi Grace began recording music under the provision of Disney Music executive, Alyssa Talovic, while she was attending college at CSU-Northridge,[6] after which she earned a bachelor's degree in Business Management with a minor in Marketing and released her first record the year she graduated.[6]

Career

Grace began her career in music singing background for rock bands in 2008.[8] She also began actively pursuing a career in acting and modeling and she has gone on to model for several notable brands and featured in ad campaigns. In 2014, she covered Rolling Out magazine and has also covered German magazine Trend Prive and was featured in Teen Vogue.

In 2015, Want You, a track from her debut album Forward Movement Only was featured in the 2015 drama Phantom Halo, featuring Rebecca Romijn.[9] In 2016, We are Not Alone, another song from her album was featured on MTV's Real World Television series.

In 2016, Grace performed alongside Beyonce at the 2016 MTV Music Video Awards[10] and she also performed the theme song for Dark and Lovely's nationally syndicated commercial.[11][12] Grace has appeared on a number of television shows, including VH1's Beverly Hills Fabulous, The Unstoppables on TLC and WeTV's LA Hair, she also had a role in a Nollywood film, Black Gold.

Grace became the Face of Sephora in 2016[12] and in 2017, she made history as the first model to appear in a major hair product ad campaign with natural dreadlocks, when she was cast in the 2017 ad campaign for Pantene hair products.[13]

Universal Music Group

In January 2019, after performing at the January 1st concert in Lagos, Nigeria, a radio promoter introduced Grace to executives from Universal Music Group Nigeria and in February 2019, she was officially signed unto the Universal Music Group Nigeria imprint.[4]

In July 2019, she unveiled the lyric video for her debut single under the Universal Music Group titled, Tired of You.[14]

Grace has a publishing agreement with JTV Digital.[15]

Artistry

Grace has cited her musical influences as Janet Jackson, Grace Jones, and Missy Elliot.[6] Her music style has been described as evolutionary, as she has sampled different sounds from the afrobeats genre, reggae, rock, pop and R&B.

Discography
  • Want You (2012)
  • Watch Me (2012)
  • Fire it Up (2012)
  • Bad Girl (2012)
  • We are Not Alone (2012)
  • Poke it Out (2012)
  • Dream Seller (2012)
  • Spend it All (2012)
  • Go! Live it Up (2014)
  • For the Girls (2016)
  • Afraid (2016)
  • The Dream featuring Jay Karnell (2017)
  • Why Would You Lie (2018)
  • Come Closer (2018)
  • Tired of You (2019)
  • Just Friends (2019)

References
  1. "STYLE EXCLUSIVE: Meet Demi Grace, the First Model With Locs to Star in a Pantene Campaign". ebony.com. 23 March 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  2. "Demi Grace - Just Friends". naijaloaded.com. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  3. "Demi Grace on Wearing Locs in Her Pantene Campaign". teenvogue.com. 28 March 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  4. "THE RISE OF AFROBEATS IN AMERICA: DEMI GRACE BECOMES FIRST UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP NIGERIA ARTIST". gritdaily.com. 30 April 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  5. "INTRODUCING LONDON-BORN, CALIFORNIA-BASED NIGERIAN ARTIST DEMI GRACE". elitemuzik.net. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  6. "Introducing 'Demi Grace', Singer/Songwriter and Pan-African Wonder Woman!". musicunitesafrica.org. 20 April 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  7. "Lil Rel Howery, Paul Reiser, & Deborah Ayorinde Join Sony's Kevin Hart-Led 'Fatherhood' Film". deadline.com. 30 April 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  8. "DEMI GRACE". sonicbirds.com. 23 May 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  9. "PORTRAIT - DEMI GRACE". oakhella.com. 23 May 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  10. "How Demi Grace, New Face Of Sephora, Discovered She Was Performing With Beyoncé At The VMAs". myhoustonmajic.com. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  11. "Demi Grace – Just Friends". notjustok.com. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  12. "How Demi Grace, New Face Of Sephora, Discovered She Was Performing With Beyoncé At The VMAs". hellobeautiful.com. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  13. "Nigerian Model, Demi Grace, Is The First Woman With Locs In A Pantene Campaign". konbini.com. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  14. "UMG ARTISTE DEMI GRACE SHARES NEW AFRO-POP TRACK, 'TIRED OF YOU'". soundcity.tv. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  15. "Demi Grace Signs with Universal and JTV". jtvdigital.com. 20 February 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
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