Christina Grimmie

Submission 20,258

About

Christina Grimmie was a singer-songwriter known for making cover versions of popular songs on YouTube and for appearing as a contestant on the 6th season of the NBC singing competition reality show The Voice. On June 11th, 2016, Grimmie died after being shot during an autograph signing in Orlando, Florida.

Online History

Grimmie posted her first video on YouTube on July 17th, 2009, featuring a cover of the 2009 pop song "Don't Wanna Be Torn" off the Hannah Montana 3 soundtrack (shown below, left). Within 6 years, the video gathered over one million views. On August 12th, 2009, she posted a cover of the 2009 pop song "Party in the U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus, which received upwards of 12.5 million views over the next six years (shown below, right). According to a 2011 interview with Grimmie, the Cyrus cover was her first big hit on the video-sharing site.^[2]

On November 20th, 2010, Youtuber Kurt Hugo Schneider posted a cover of the 2010 R&B song "Just a Dream" by Nelly, featuring performances by Sam Tsui and Grimmie (shown below). Over the next six years, the video garnered more than 120 million views and 141,000 comments.

Reputation

In 2011, Grimmie released her first EP titled Find Me, which debuted at number two on iTunes and placed at number 11 on Billboard's digital releases. In 2013, Grimmie released her second album With Love, followed by a second North American tour.^[10] On February 24th, 2014, Grimmie rose to national fame with her audition in the 6th season of The Voice ^[4]. Grimmie subsequently placed third on the show after runner up Jake Worthington and winner Josh Kaufman.^[9]

Personal Life

Christina Victoria Grimmie was born on March 12th, 1994 and was raised in Marlton, New Jersey. Grimmie has cited her mother, a three-time breast cancer survivor, as the primary inspiration for her musical career ^[5]. In 2010, Grimmie's talent was discovered by Brian and Mandy Teefey of LH7 Management. After releasing her first Extended Play in 2011 titled Find Me, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her career in music.^[10] Grimmie was an active gamer and self-professed anime fan, displaying posters of her favorite games and shows in the backgrounds of her covers. Her favorite games streamed on her Twitch channel were League of Legends and Super Smash Bros ^[12] ^[13].

Death

On June 10th, 2016, Grimmie performed with the pop rock band Before You Exit at The Plaza Live in Orlando, Florida. While signing autographs, Grimmie was shot by 27-year-old Florida resident Kevin James Loibl, who then fatally shot himself after being grappled to the ground by Grimmie's brother Marcus. After being taken to the hospital in critical condition, Grimmie died to the gunshot wound the following day. On Twitter, the hashtag #PrayForChristina was subsequently launched to mourn Grimmie's death.^[11] On June 11th, a GoFundMe campaign was launched by user Laura Worley to help support Grimmie's family following the tragedy. Within 2 days, the campaign received over 121 thousand dollars from over 4.200 backers.^[15] On June 17th, a montage of clips featuring Grimmie titled "In Loving Memory Of Christina Grimmie" was posted on her official YouTube channel, which gained upwards of 2.5 million views and 33,000 comments in the first four days (shown below).