Tiara Nicole Thomas (born September 12, 1989) is an American R&B singer. She is best known for her guest appearance on

Wale Wale or WALE may refer to: Places * Wale, Devon, a hamlet in England * Wale, Tomaszów Mazowiecki County, a village in Poland People * Wale (surname) *Wale (rapper), stage name of American rapper Olubowale Victor Akintimehin Radio and televisi ...

's 2013 single "

Bad Bad or BAD may refer to: Common meanings *Evil, the opposite of moral good * Erroneous, inaccurate or incorrect * Unhealthy, or counter to well-being *Antagonist, the threat or obstacle of moral good Acronyms * BAD-2, a Soviet armored trolley ...

", which peaked within the top 40 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and received

triple platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

certification by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. That same year, Thomas signed with

Rico Love Richard Preston Butler Jr. (born December 3, 1982), better known by his stage name Rico Love, is an American record producer, singer, songwriter, and rapper. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but split his childhood between Milwaukee, Wisco ...

's Division1 record label, an imprint of

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

. Thomas won Song of the Year at the 2021 Grammy Awards for co-writing

H.E.R. Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson (born June 27, 1997), known professionally as H.E.R. (pronounced "her" and standing for "Having Everything Revealed") is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer. She has won an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Child ...

's song "

I Can't Breathe "I can't breathe" is a slogan of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. The phrase originates from the last words of Eric Garner, who was killed in 2014 after being put in a chokehold by a New York City police officer. A number ...

". That same year, she received a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

nomination and won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for Best Original Song, for co-writing the song " Fight for You", from ''

Judas and the Black Messiah Judas Iscariot (; ; died AD) was, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane, in exchange for thirty pieces of s ...

''.

Early life

Thomas was born in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. Her parents encouraged her to pursue music. Thomas performed in school and church. She attended

Lawrence North High School Lawrence North High School is a public high school in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The school was founded in 1974 and graduated its first class in 1976. Lawrence North is one of two high schools in the Metropolitan School District of Law ...

. A hardcore fan of

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

and

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

, Thomas developed her sound early and set out to carve her own lane in music by fusing her love for pop and alternative music, ballads, and rap with instrumentation. In June 2012, Thomas graduated from

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana, United States. The university has three off-campus centers in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Fishers, Indiana. The university is composed of seven aca ...

Career

2009–2012: Early career

Thomas met founders of The Board Administration,

and Le'Greg O. Harrison, in a club in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, during a Wale concert in 2009. After exchanging information and submitting music, she received a response and positive feedback after three months. Shortly thereafter, she traveled to New York City where she opened for Wale and shared the stage with

Diggy Simmons Daniel Dwayne "Diggy" Simmons III (born March 21, 1995) is an American rapper, singer and actor from Queens, New York City. The fourth child of Run-DMC's Joseph "Rev. Run" Simmons, he began his recording career in 2009 and signed with Atlantic ...

J. Cole Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born in a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained attention as a rapper following the release of his d ...

, and

Fabolous John David Jackson (born November 18, 1977), known professionally as Fabolous, is an American rapper. Raised in Brooklyn, he first gained recognition for his ability upon performing live on DJ Clue's WQHT, Hot 97 radio show. Jackson then signed ...

at the

Highline Ballroom The Highline Ballroom was a music venue and nightclub located at 431 West 16th Street in the neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Description Primarily featuring musical acts, its capacity was approximately 700 people hosting divers ...

. Thomas signed to The Board Administration in 2011. She is well known for viral promotions via

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and recognized for new online musical content, live performance streams, and cover performances of popular music. On August 3, 2010, the world was introduced to Thomas on "The Cloud" with Wale through his mixtape ''More About Nothing''. Her name trended worldwide on May 30, 2011, on Twitter, the day "The Cloud" video released. Thomas was selected as a 2011–2012 Campaign Spokesperson for the

American Eagle Outfitters American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer headquartered at SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc ...

Back to School ''We The People'' Campaign. Her likeness is canvassed in New York City's

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

at the

flagship Store Location and across the continental U.S. in all 900+ stores worldwide. Her original songs for the campaign, "Denim" and "Wassup", are featured on the American Eagle Outfitters website and were circulated to the masses through their social media campaign.

2013–present: "Bad", ''Dear Sallie Mae'', and debut album

Thomas worked on her debut LP ''Sallie Mae'', and was featured on

's single "

". The latter peaked at number 21 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming her first Hot 100 and top 40 entry. In June 2013, it was announced she had left Wale's record label The Board Administration to sign with

's Division 1 record label in a joint deal with

Interscope Geffen A&M Interscope Geffen A&M Records (IGA) is an American umbrella label operating as a unit of Interscope Capitol Labels Group, owned by Universal Music Group. It currently consists of record labels Interscope Records (with its subsidiary, A&M Records) ...

. Thomas released a five-song EP titled ''Dear Sallie Mae'' on October 8, 2013.

Discography

* ''Dear Sallie Mae'' (EP) (2013) * ''The Bad Influence'' (2014) * ''Up in Smoke'' (EP) (2015) * ''Don't Mention My Name'' (EP) (2017) * ''FWMM'' (EP) (2018)

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Tiara 1989 births Living people 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American women singers African-American Christians African-American women singer-songwriters 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers American women singer-songwriters American contemporary R&B singers Grammy Award winners Interscope Records artists Musicians from Indianapolis Best Original Song Academy Award–winning songwriters 21st-century African-American women singers Singer-songwriters from Indiana