Ciara Princess Wilson ( born October 25, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter, businesswoman, dancer, model and actress. She rose to prominence with her debut studio album Goodies (2004), which spawned the top five singles “1, 2 Step” (featuring Missy Elliott), “Oh” (featuring Ludacris), and “Goodies” (featuring Petey Pablo), the latter of which topping the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. The album was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and garnered two nominations at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards. Ciara was also featured on Missy Elliott’s “Lose Control” and Bow Wow’s “Like You”, both of which reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

Her second studio album, Ciara: The Evolution (2006), topped the Billboard 200 and spawned the hit singles “Get Up” (featuring Chamillionaire), “Promise”, “Like a Boy” and “Can’t Leave ’em Alone” (featuring 50 Cent). Ciara’s third studio album Fantasy Ride (2009), produced the international top-ten single “Love Sex Magic” (featuring Justin Timberlake), which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Her fourth studio album Basic Instinct (2010), included the R&B top-five single “Ride” (featuring Ludacris). After Basic Instinct was met with low sales, Ciara signed a new record deal with Epic Records in 2011. Ciara’s fifth studio album, Ciara (2013), peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 and spawned the hit single “Body Party”.

Her sixth album, Jackie (2015), included the singles “I Bet” and “Dance like We’re Making Love”. The next year, Ciara would sign a modeling contract with IMG, become a Global Brand Ambassador for the cosmetics giant Revlon, and marry quarterback Russell Wilson. Her seventh album, Beauty Marks (2019), included the hit single “Level Up”. Ciara signed a new record deal with Republic Records and Uptown Records, in partnership with her label Beauty Marks Entertainment. She released her single “Jump” as the lead for her upcoming eighth studio album on July 8, 2022.

Ciara is also an actress, having appeared in All You’ve Got (2006), Mama, I Want to Sing! (2012), That’s My Boy (2012), and The Game (2013). In March 2022, it was announced that Ciara had joined the cast of the 2023 remake of The Color Purple as Nettie. Ciara has received multiple accolades, including a Grammy Award, two BET Awards, the Woman of the Year award from Billboard Women in Music, two MTV Video Music Awards, seven Soul Train Awards, and thirteen Ascap Music Awards. As of 2019, Ciara’s worldwide sales total over 45 million.

Ciara Princess Harris was born in Fort Hood, Texas, on October 25, 1985, the only child of Jackie and Carlton Clay Harris. An army brat, she grew up in Georgia, New York, Utah, California, Arizona, and Nevada. She was named after the Revlon fragrance Ciara which was introduced in 1973. During her teens, Ciara and her family settled in College Park, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, where she attended North Clayton High School before graduating from Riverdale.

In her mid-teens, Ciara formed the all-girl group Hearsay with two of her friends.[who?] The group recorded demos, but as time went on, they began to have differences and eventually parted ways. Despite this setback, Ciara signed a publishing deal as a songwriter.

Her first writing credit was on Blu Cantrell’s debut album, So Blu, for the song “10,000 Times”. She also wrote the song “Got Me Waiting” for R&B singer Fantasia Barrino’s debut album, Free Yourself. It was when she was writing songs that she met music producer Jazze Pha, whom she called her “music soulmate”. In 2002, the two recorded four demos: “1, 2 Step”, “Thug Style”, “Pick Up the Phone”, and “Lookin’ at You”, which all appeared on her debut album that was released two years later. “1, 2 Step” was the second single released from the album and it was a hit.

After graduating from Riverdale High School in Riverdale, Georgia, in 2003, she was signed by LaFace Records executive, L.A. Reid, whom she was introduced to by Jazze Pha. She began production on her debut album later that year. In early 2004, she wrote a demo with record producer, Sean Garrett, which came to the attention of Lil Jon and became her debut single “Goodies”. Lil Jon stated later that he knew it would be big seeing how it sounded similar to Usher’s international hit, “Yeah!”.

Ciara released her debut album Goodies on September 28, 2004. The album debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 125,000 copies in its initial week and topped the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Following the release of the album, Ciara was called the “First Lady of Crunk&B”. Goodies had a 71-week run on the Billboard 200, and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on October 10, 2006. Charting at twenty-two on the Canadian Albums Chart, it was certified Platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. The album charted at 26 on the UK Albums Chart, and spent 20 weeks on the chart. It was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry.