Camila Cabello Biography

Camila Cabello is the lively and loopy teen singer who got her start with the girl group Fifth Harmony in 2013. Camila Cabello was born in Cuba; “her family shuttled between Havana and Mexico for the first five years of her life,” according to MTV, before she moved to Miami with her mother in 2003. Cabello was attending Miami’s Palmetto High School in 2012 when she tried out for the TV talent show X Factor. Though she went in as a solo act, show creator Simon Cowell put her together with four other contestants (Lauren Jauregui, Normani Hamilton, Ally Brooke, Dinah Jane Hansen) to create the ready-made girl group Fifth Harmony. They didn’t win the X Factor grand prize (losing to working-class country singer Tate Stevens), but with Cowell’s backing, Fifth Direction took off and Cabello quit high school to pursue her musical career. Fifth Direction’s first EP, Better Together, was released on 22 October 2013 with the single “Miss Movin’ On.” They spent much of 2014 in tours and promotional appearances, were named “Artist to Watch” at MTV’s 2014 Music Video Awards, and late that year got their own line of Barbie dolls. Cabello was the group’s colorful presence, keeping things lively with a blend of goofy energy and sensual Latin style.  Her profile was raised by news that she was dating (and then had broken up with) YouTube pop star Austin Mahone. Fifth Harmony’s first full album, Reflection (with the singles “Boss” and “Sledgehammer”), came out in January of 2015.