U.S. singer Halle Bailey was recently announced as Ariel in Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid.” So who is the 19-year-old singer, songwriter and actress? For starters, she’s not to be confused with Halle Berry, which is who a lot of people thought Disney had cast as Ariel. The Atlanta, Georgia native who was raised in Los Angeles has been on the scene since she was a preteen. From having amazing pipes to being a talented actress, owning runways and slaying Halloween, here are some facts that shed more light on the young woman behind one of Disney’s most alluring princesses. She is a R&B singer Bailey is the other half of the contemporary R&B duo, Chloe x Halle, together with her older sister Chloe. The two started out at the age of 13 and 11, performing covers on their YouTube channel before they were discovered by Beyoncé. She signed them to her management company, Parkwood Entertainment, and their debut album, “Sugar Symphony” was released in 2016. Both take active roles in the producing, writing and vocals. Bailey is also self-taught on the guitar. They have had their songs featured on “Grown-ish,” “Little” and “A Wrinkle in Time,” performed at Super Bowl LIII, and in 2019 received their first Grammy nominations. Beyoncé is her mentor The world may know her as Queen Bey, but Chloe and Bailey usually refer to her as their mentor. Bailey and her sister launched their YouTube channel with a cover of Beyonce’s “Best I Never Had.” Later, their cover of “Pretty Hurts” went viral and caught Queen B’s attention. Beyoncé has given the duo a solid platform and played an active role in their career. She signed them to her label, they appeared in “Lemonade,” and they were the opening act for the European leg of the “Formation Tour” and opened the North American leg of “On the Run II Tour.” She has three siblings We obviously hear a lot about Bailey’s older sister, Chloe, and people are always trying to figure out if they are twins. They look like they could be twins, but Ski is Bailey’s oldest sister. She helped film their YouTube videos. Bailey often posts cute pictures with her younger brother, Branson, on her joint Instagram with Chloe. She has a screen presence While you may have seen Bailey performing on stage, she has a growing stock of screen work, having appeared in Tyler Perry’s “Last Holiday” starring Queen Latifah, and a recurring role on “Grown-ish,” the popular spin-off of “Black-ish,” starring Yara Shahidi. Bailey and Chloe play twins who are star athletes. Bailey’s character, Sky, is smart, witty and independent and provides many thought-provoking discussions. Casting backlash Bailey was naturally thrilled at her new role, posting on Instagram an image of Ariel with brown skin and black hair. Unfortunately, some corners of the Internet went ballistic, with the hashtag #NotMyAriel trending. They just couldn’t accept Ariel as anything other than white or red-headed, even though her race and hair color were not intrinsic to the role as portrayed in the 1989 Disney animated movie. Only her voice was. Bailey herself hasn’t responded publicly to the backlash yet, but one could argue she doesn’t have to. Many people have responded on her behalf, including Donald Glover, now starring in Disney’s “Lion King” remake and Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel in the 1989 movie. (SD-Agencies) | 