Rebecca Black is a pop singer who found almost overnight success with the viral smash "Friday," which she followed with more Billboard-charting tunes. Born in Irvine, California to veterinarian parents, Black took an interest in musical theater at an early age at school. In 2010, at just 13, she recorded the song "Friday" and its accompanying music video with the help of Ark Music Factory, an L.A.-based record label and production facility with a roster of aspiring pop singers. The video for the single, which celebrated hanging out with friends on the weekend, was uploaded to the Internet in February 2011 and soon went viral. The song eventually charted on Billboard's Hot 100 and became YouTube's number one video of 2011. Black went on to appear on The Tonight Show, comedy website Funny or Die, and in a Katy Perry video. "Friday" was also covered that year on an episode of the musical sitcom Glee.

After parting ways with Ark Music Factory, Black launched her own independent label and continued to release singles, including the streaming hit "My Moment," "Sing It," and 2013's "Saturday," a sequel to her breakthrough hit that also landed on the Hot 100. She also posted regular updates to her YouTube channel, including a series of covers of artists such as Miley Cyrus and Drake. In the summer of 2016, still in her late teens, Black emerged with a more mature delivery and sophisticated electropop sound on the single "The Great Divide." It garnered millions of streams upon release, and a remix by English producer Crash Cove reached the Top 40 of Billboard's dance chart in 2017.

Marcy Donelson
AllMusic.com