Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson (born June 27, 1997), known professionally as H.E.R. (pronounced as "her"; standing for "Having Everything Revealed") is an American R&B singer-songwriter. She has received an Academy Award, a Children's and Family Emmy Award, and five Grammy Awards, as well as nominations for a Golden Globe Award, three American Music Awards, and four Billboard Music Awards.
After initially recording under her birth name, Wilson adopted the stage name H.E.R. in 2016 and signed with RCA Records. She released her debut extended play (EP), H.E.R. Volume 1, in September of that year. Her first compilation album, H.E.R. (2017), peaked at number 23 on the Billboard 200 and earned five Grammy Award nominations, winning Best R&B Album and Best R&B Performance for "Best Part", a collaboration with Daniel Caesar. Her second compilation album, I Used to Know Her (2019), also received five Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year for "Hard Place".
In 2021, H.E.R. won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Fight for You", from Judas and the Black Messiah, and the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "I Can't Breathe". Her debut studio album, Back of My Mind (2021), peaked at number six on the Billboard 200. In 2022, she won the Children's and Family Emmy Award for her contributions to the animated children's series, We the People.
Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson was born on June 27, 1997, in Vallejo, California, to a Filipino mother and an African-American father, and raised in California's San Francisco Bay Area. According to an interview with Guitar Center, Wilson's father was a musician in a cover band, and hosted their practice sessions in the family's living room. She appeared in the 2023 edition of the Crossroads Guitar Festival performing with her father.
Additionally, members of her mother's extended family were guitarists, drummers and bassists, as well as vocalists, often playing for karaoke events. Wilson states that these were some of her earliest influences, musically.
At age ten, performing as Gabi Wilson, she played an Alicia Keys song on the piano for the Today Show and at the famed Apollo Theater (Harlem, New York City) on September 23, 2007, covering Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love". She made her acting debut in the Nickelodeon television film School Gyrls, written and directed by Nick Cannon, which premiered in February 2010. She also performed on Maury (2007), and Good Morning America and The View (both in 2008). At this time, she was managed by Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment. She performed at age 12 at the 2010 BET Awards, covering Keys' 2001 hit "Fallin'", sang a tribute to Keys at the ASCAP Awards, and competed on Radio Disney's The Next BIG Thing at age 12, with her song "My Music", featured on Radio Disney.
Wilson signed a record deal with Sony's RCA Records via J Records in a deal arranged by her manager Jeff Robinson's MBK Entertainment in 2011 when she was 14. In 2014, her debut single "Something to Prove" was released under her real name.
2016–2019: Breakthrough and I Used to Know Her
Rebranding in 2016 with the new H.E.R. persona, Wilson released her debut EP, H.E.R. Vol. 1 on September 9, 2016, produced by songwriter David "Swagg R'Celious" Harris. She received support from Usher, Tyrese, Pusha T, and Wyclef Jean; labelmates Alicia Keys and Bryson Tiller helped get the word out through Twitter co-signs, shoutouts, and re-posts. In April 2017, Barbadian singer Rihanna posted an Instagram clip with H.E.R.'s track "Focus" playing in the background. The clip has been viewed over five million times. Additional industry support came from Issa Rae of HBO's Insecure, Taraji P. Henson of Empire, Kylie Jenner, and Kendall Jenner.
NPR listed H.E.R. Vol. 1 as the first selection in its "5 Essential R&B Albums You Slept On". Calling the music "Slow-burning R&B that zooms in on emotional highs and lows," Rolling Stone included H.E.R. in its March 2017 "10 Artists You Need To Know" roundup. Forbes named her one of "5 Alternative R&B Artists to Look Out for in 2017", reporting: "In the same vein as The Weeknd's enigmatic introduction to the world, H.E.R.'s image remains a mystery. The irony, though, is that her moniker is an acronym for Having Everything Revealed."
Wilson's follow-up EP, H.E.R. Vol. 2 (2017) also produced by Harris, was released on June 16, 2017, and includes the single "Say It Again". She went on tour with Bryson Tiller for the Set It Off tour, and concluded her first headlining tour, the Lights On Tour, in support of H.E.R. Vol. 2. She released H.E.R. Vol. 2, The B Sides (2017), produced by Harris, on October 20, 2017, and the single "2" on October 13, 2017. The compilation album H.E.R. was released on October 20, 2017, comprising the songs from each of the three EP's in this series. The album won Best R&B Album and received four other nominations at the 61st Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best New Artist.
In 2018, she opened for Chris Brown's "Heartbreak on a Full Moon Tour". Wilson announced in September 2018 the I Used to Know H.E.R. Tour in support of her EP series I Used to Know Her: The Prelude and I Used to Know Her: Part 2. Her second compilation album I Used to Know Her was released on August 30, 2019. She performed as one of the headliners of the 2019 Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, New York on September 28. On October 5, she participated in the 2019 edition of the Rock in Rio festival located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Among the headliners were Drake, Foo Fighters, Bon Jovi, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Iron Maiden, Pink and Muse.
2020–present: Back of My Mind and acting debut
On September 20, 2020, she sang Prince's song "Nothing Compares 2 U" for the In Memoriam segment of the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards. In February 2021, during the pre-game festivities for Super Bowl LV, she performed "America the Beautiful", singing and playing guitar. On June 17, 2021, her single "Damage" topped the US R&B radio chart. The song is from her debut full-length album Back of My Mind, which was released on June 18, 2021, receiving two nominations for Album of the Year and Best R&B Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
In 2021 she also duet with Tauren Wells on the song called "Hold Us Together". In July 2021 she performed a song about citizenship on Netflix TV series We the People, making her winner of the Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Program.
H.E.R. made her acting debut as Belle on Disney musical television special Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration, while she starred as Mary "Squeak" Agnes on 2023 film adaptation of The Color Purple, directed by Blitz Bazawule, being nominated with the cast at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and winning a NAACP Image Awards.
In 2023 she performed at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Concert with her father and John Mayer both guesting on guitar.
H.E.R. joined Usher's performance at Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024, playing electric guitar during "U Got It Bad" and "Bad Girl." On February 13, 2024, H.E.R. announced a new management deal with Lighthouse Management + Media, whose founder Aleen Keshishian also represents singers Olivia Rodrigo and Selena Gomez. The move came after legal disputes with Wilson's previous management, MBK Entertainment, which included Wilson filing a lawsuit to be released from the MBK label.