Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao ( born March 3, 1997) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. While in Fifth Harmony, Cabello began to establish herself as a solo artist with the release of the collaborations “I Know What You Did Last Summer” with Shawn Mendes and “Bad Things” with Machine Gun Kelly, the latter reaching number four on the US Billboard Hot 100. She left the group in late 2016.

Her debut studio album, Camila (2018), reached number one on the US Billboard 200. The Latin music–influenced pop album was critically well-received and earned a Platinum certification from the RIAA. Its lead single “Havana” topped the charts in several countries, including Australia, the US and UK, and the follow-up single “Never Be the Same” reached the top ten in multiple countries. Cabello’s 2019 duet with Mendes, “Señorita”, became her second single to top the Billboard Hot 100. Her second studio album, Romance (2019), included her collab with Mendes and peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, with the single “My Oh My” peaking at number 12 on the Hot 100, and inside the top ten in multiple countries.

In 2021, Cabello made her acting debut, starring as the title character from the film Cinderella. Cabello released her third studio album Familia in April 2022, with the lead single “Don’t Go Yet” released in July 2021. The second single from Familia, “Bam Bam”, reached the top five of the Billboard Global 200 Chart, Cabello’s highest entry and peaked inside the top ten in several countries; it also peaked at 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Familia peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200, number 9 in the UK and number 6 in Canada.

Cabello has amassed billions of streams on music platforms, and “Havana” became the best-selling digital single of 2018, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Cabello’s many awards include two Latin Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, and one Billboard Music Award. Cabello was born in the Habana del Este district of Cojímar in Havana, Cuba, to Alejandro Cabello and Sinuhe Estrabao. Her father was born in Mexico City and is a Mexican who moved to Cuba. She has a younger sister named Sofia. For most of her early life, Cabello and her family moved back and forth between Havana and Mexico City, the country from which she acquired Mexican nationality in 1997.

When Cabello was six years old, she relocated to Miami, Florida with her mother by crossing the border from Mexico to the United States and taking a 36 hour long Greyhound bus ride to Miami after waiting only a day at the border before being granted permission to enter the US. Cabello was told by her mother that she was going to Disneyworld as an incentive to go to the US; they moved into Cabello’s grandfather’s colleague’s house who later became her godmother. Cabello’s mother took night courses to learn English. Cabello’s father was unable to obtain a visa at the time and joined the family approximately 18 months later where he would first work washing cars in front of Dolphin Mall. Cabello’s mother who was an architect with a degree in Cuba worked at Marshalls stacking shoes in the US before two other Cuban women approached her at work and told her that they had a brother who worked in architecture and needed someone who worked in AutoCAD; Cabello’s mother learned the program in a week and later earned enough money to move into an apartment with Cabello. Cabello’s mother and father eventually formed a construction company named after her and her sister.

Cabello attended Miami Palmetto High School but left during the 2012–13 school year, while she was in 9th grade to pursue her singing career. Later, she earned her high school diploma. Cabello performing with Fifth Harmony at the 93.3 FLZ Jingle Ball in Tampa, Florida, in 2013 Camila Cabello auditioned for the TV talent competition show The X Factor in Greensboro, North Carolina, with Aretha Franklin’s “Respect”; however, her audition was not aired because the series did not get the rights for the song. After elimination during the “bootcamp” portion of the process in Miami, Florida, Cabello was called back to the stage along with other contestants Ally Brooke, Normani, Lauren Jauregui, and Dinah Jane to form the girl group that would later become known as Fifth Harmony. After finishing in third place on the show, they signed a joint deal with Syco Music, owned by Simon Cowell, and Epic Records, L.A. Reid’s record label.