The Life Story of H.E.R. aka Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson
I want to take a few minutes to tell highlight the incredible life story of H.E.R. aka Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson. It may seem strange to some to celebrate someone’s life story so early on (she is only 25 at the time of this writing) but a life story is a life story and we never know when our human lives will end so why not give roses to those who have accomplished so much in such a short period of time and celebrate them?
If you’re a fan of H.E.R. - you’re definitely going to want to read this as there were so many inspiring, fascinating, and uniquely quirky stories I discovered about her in my research to create this piece. Without further ado, here is H.E.R.’s life story:
Born Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson in Vallejo, Bay Area (707) to Filipina mother (Agnes) and African American father (Kenny), Wilson was born a Cancer on June 27, 1997 and “Gabi” was her nickname when she was little.
Gabi’s parents met by living across the hall from each other in an apartment complex, and sparks started flying one day when her mom cooked her dad lumpia, an infamously tasty type of fried spring roll popular in the Philippines.
View her full piece in our gallery
She was insanely creative growing up. One of my favourite parts about this art piece is on the bottom right—when she was only 8 years old, she wrote a children’s poetry book called “Anything On Earth Poems” and the sketch you see in the illustration is literally the cover that she drew! (hint: if you type in the name of the book, you can actually find it on Amazon).
Spongebob popping out of the book represents Gabi’s love for him; her absolute favorite cartoon character growing up. She’s mentioned that she thinks he represents positivity and always sticks by his friends’ side… with “Dirty Dan” or “Doodle Bob” being her two favourite episodes. Just to add to the love for Spongebob, we managed to re-create her as her very own Spongebob character!
At around age 10, Gabi started to be discovered and talked about as a “musical prodigy”… she grew up playing many instruments around the house, mastering bass, acoustic and electric guitar, piano, and drums.
Her biggest influences growing up were Prince, Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, and of course none other than Alicia Keys. The standout songs she covered when she was young that led to her rise in fame include the iconic “Fallin” by Alicia and “Freeway of Love” by Aretha Franklin.
Manifestation is real, guys… little did she know at the time that she’d not only meet Alicia but sign to the same label and management as her at age 14 which was an absolute dream come true.
Fun fact: Gabi also wrote a song called “Curious” when very young that meant a lot to her and at age 12 performed “My Music” her own song featured on Radio Disney.
Another fun fact: She loves snakes and has had a few; her favorite being Prince Roger (named after Prince) with the others being called Mike, Wednesday, and Vanilla 🐍
In 2011, at age 14, she then signed to RCA Records later releasing her debut single “Something to Prove” 🎶
This little girl at the time was HUSTLIN’ to make her dreams happen… the public often doesn’t see behind the scenes but doing this research on her, it was evident how much she worked, how humble she was, and how much she deserves her recognition and success now… however, there was a point of struggle when she was working on a ton of music but there was no official release dates for a while and lots of pressure from RCA to perform… practicing for years without really showing her face or revealing who she really is because of doubts, trying to figure out her own identity as she grows up working on music and trying to solidify herself as an artist…
H.E.R. aka “Having Everything Revealed” is officially re-born in 2016, after finally emerging from her more secretive persona. Gabi’s debut EP “H.E.R. Vol. 1” is finally released and essentially is her debut as a professional artist that’s also authentic to who she really is to the general public.
“Best Part” with Daniel Caesar then completely elevated her career and won her first Grammy at the 61st Recording Academy / GRAMMYs in 2018.
At this stage, the whole world is in tune and she is now FOCUSED and determined to change the world for the better.
The front middle section of the piece is her portrait/hero shot which is a sketch from a photo of H.E.R. carrying all those Grammys 🏆🏆 and on her enjoying her success after so many years of hard work.
In the background, @hellaleah added the sun from the flag of the Philippines, representing her Filipina heritage (fun fact: Leah is also Filipina-American!)
H.E.R.’s career then starts to skyrocket globally with an incredible performance at the Super Bowl in 2021 to 100+ million viewers. The outfit worn at the performance was made by Brea Stinson using scraps from designs worn by Stevie Wonder and other stars. The front side of H.E.R.'s rhinestone-covered bell-bottom pants is made of washed denim that Stinson dip-dyed and the fabric treatment gave it an ombré effect that fades from black to a purple color, which was a nod to Prince, one of her musical icons and biggest inspirations.
The words equality, peace, love, and justice can also be found on the outfit which was the perfect nod to her next chapter… SOCIAL ACTIVISM!
With the release of songs like “Fight For You” and “I Can’t Breathe” in recent months, H.E.R. has been lauded for her string of socially conscious hits with the most recent being “Change” from the “We The People” Netflix series.
I really loved the part of the series where she shouts on her megaphone and it goes from black and white to the colors completely taking over the city if you haven’t seen the series yet, watch it! It’s a powerfully visual video with an important message around social justice and positive change in our communities for the better.
I want to thank @hellaleah again so much for drawing out this piece, already looking forward to our next collab.
- CGR