- Singer songwriter born Destiny Hope Cyrus in 1992, from Franklin Tennessee. As a child, she was given the nickname ‘Smiley’ because she frequently smiled as an infant, which then was shortened to ‘Miley.’ She eventually changed her name to Miley Ray Cyrus.
- Her father, country artist Billy Ray Cyrus, took her to see the musical Mamma Mia! in Toronto when she was 8 years old. After the show, Miley stated that she wanted to act, and she started taking singing and acting lessons. She won a couple of small roles in TV and film, and when she was 11, she auditioned for Disney’s Hannah Montana TV show. Originally, she auditioned for the role of Hannah’s best friend, but she was selected for the main role because of her singing and acting abilities. The show premiered in 2006, and quickly became a huge success. Four seasons ran from 2006 to early 2011, as well as a concert film and a feature theatrical film based on the TV show.
- As Hannah Montana, Cyrus released 5 studio/soundtrack albums, 1 live album, and 2 remix albums. From these albums, 12 singles were released, from 2006 through 2010. Three of the albums topped the Billboard 200 album chart, with a fourth album reaching #2, and all of these were certified 2x or 3x platinum. The singles were moderately successful – only 1 made it to the top 10 of the Hot 100 chart – He Could Be The One reached that spot in 2009.
- Simultaneous with her career as Hannah Montana, Cyrus released music under her own name. Her debut album in 2007 was Meet Miley Cyrus. It topped the album chart, selling over 3 million copies in the U.S. – her highest selling album. This was followed by Breakout in 2007 and Can’t Be Tamed in 2010, as well as an EP in 2009 titled The Time Of Our Lives. Top 10 singles from these recordings were 7 Things, The Climb (from the Hanna Montana movie soundtrack), Can’t Be Tamed, and her best selling single, Party In The U.S.A., which is certified 7x platinum for sales and streams.
- Near the end of her Hanna Montana run, Cyrus wanted to completely change her image, moving away from teen idol to a more mature image. The Can’t Be Tamed album was more dance oriented, and featured lyrics and live performances that were sexy and provocative. Her outrageous performances included crotch grabbing of her male co-performers, twerking, near nudity on stage, and kissing female performers on stage. Over the next 2 years, she focused on film work, and sparked more controversy by an online video showing her smoking a bong (she is very open about her love of cannabis).
- In 2013, she hired a new manager and signed with a new record company. She started to work with hip hop artists, collaborating with will.i.am and Snoop Lion on singles, and she hired producers with hip hop backgrounds for her next release. In October 2013, she released Bangerz. The lead single, We Can’t Stop, and its follow-up, Wrecking Ball, became huge hits, reaching #2 and #1 respectively on the Hot 100 chart, and both were certified 5x platinum. The videos to both songs were highly controversial – We Can’t Stop features bizarre activities including the kicking of a skull made of french fries and the slicing of a woman’s fingers (along with twerking and lots of Cyrus’ tongue), while Wrecking Ball features Cyrus nude, swinging on a wrecking ball. Of course, the scandal led to record views on Vivo and YouTube, and no doubt generated the record sales she hoped for.
- A free album was released via SoundCloud in 2015. Titled Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, it was written by Cyrus, and contained songs characterized as psychedelic pop. Let’s call it weird – songs include Something About Space Dude, Fuckin Fucked Up, Slab of Butter (Scorpion), and something called Miley Tibetan Bowlzzz (actually, this is kind of an interesting song).
- Her most recent album, Younger Now, was released in 2017. The lead single, Malibu, peaked at #10 on the Hot 100 chart. The songs, and promotion for the album, show Cyrus in a much more conservative image. We will have to see if the public will embrace the mellow Miley Cyrus as much as it did to the raunchy Miley Cyrus.
- Ready for bizarre? Here’s the video for We Can’t Stop.