Born in Fort Stewart, Georgia (USA), on February 11, 1998, R&B singer Khalid Donnel Robinson is better known by his first name. Born into a military family, he moved regularly during his childhood, notably to Germany and New York, before settling in El Paso (Texas). Encouraged by his singer mother, young Khalid began singing in 2015 and presented his first tracks on the internet. One of them, "Location", which received help from producers SykSense, Tunji Ige and Smash David, climbed into the R&B Top 10 in 2017. Another, "Hopeless", heralded his successful debut album American Teen (2017). That same year, he received the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist and collaborated with Fifth Harmony singer Normani Kordei on a track for the film Love, Simon. The track, entitled "Lovely", reached number one in the Billboard pop section and number ten overall. Khalid set to work on his second album, Free Spirit (2019), from which the tracks "Better" (#8), "Saturday Nights" and "Talk" (#3) were taken. Having become the first artist to occupy the top five spots on the Billboard R&B chart, Khalid embarked on a world tour completed before the Covid-19 pandemic. He then collaborated with Major Lazer ("Trigger"), before unveiling the track "New Normal" and the Scenic Drive mixtape in 2021, while "Silver Platter" featured on the Barbie movie soundtrack in 2023. 2024 saw the release of his third album, Sincere, at #43 (#11 in the R&B charts), whose singles were less successful than those of his past, despite the presence of Arlo Sparks on "Breathe".
