Ciara Princess Harris (born October 25, 1985), known simply as Ciara, is a Grammy winning American R&B, Hip-Hop, & Pop singer and songwriter.
Born in Austin, Texas. During her childhood her father was in the military so she has lived in several countries, but claims Atlanta, Georgia as her hometown. She has said that it was seeing a televised performance by Destiny's Child that inspired her to pursue a career in music. In her early teens she formed the goal to become a professional singer. She joined a girl group, worked on her songwriting, left the group, got a publishing deal, and found a "music soul mate" when she met producer Jazze Pha.
" Goodies" became a hit, reaching the top of the United States pop charts, and also charting in the United Kingdom (in January 2005, also reaching number one), Australia, Germany, Sweden, and New Zealand. With help from Pha, Garrett, and Lil Jon, Ciara released her debut album, Goodies in September 2004. It entered the Billboard 200 chart at number three, and sold over two milion copies in the United States of America alone. The second single, " 1, 2 Step", featuring Missy Elliott, reached the top ten in the U.S., peaking at number two in early 2005. " 1, 2 Step" was released in the U.K. on 11 April the same year, and reached number three, benefiting from the fact that it was the first week that downloads were incorporated into the singles chart. Ciara charted one place higher than she would have done if downloads had not been included in the chart formula; she would have instead swapped places with Elvis Presley's re-issue of "The Wonder of You" at number four.
In May 2005, Ciara's third single, Oh featuring Ludacris, reached number two on the Hot 100 and number 4 on the U.K. charts. In 2005 Ciara released her DVD of music videos with behind the scenes footage of her rehearsals for the Soul Train Awards.
