Actress/vocalist Demi Lovato began making a name for herself after starring alongside the Jonas Brothers in the 2008 Disney Channel movie Camp Rock. Born in 1992 in Dallas, Texas, she was raised in a household that included her mother (a former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader) and her two sisters, the youngest of whom launched her own acting career in 2008. Demi started out as a child actress, starring as a cast regular on Barney and Friends before finding her way onto the Disney Channel with a brief role in As the Bell Rings. Lovato's debut album, Don't Forget, featuring songs co-written by the Jonas Brothers, was released by Hollywood Records several months after Camp Rock's premiere. It debuted at number two, confirming Lovato's status as a star in her own right, and was followed in 2009 by the chart-topping Here We Go Again. Meanwhile, Lovato continued to act, appearing in a popular sequel to Camp Rock and starring in her own Disney series, Sonny with a Chance. In 2010, following a widely reported altercation with a backup dancer, Lovato left a tour with the Jonas Brothers to enter a treatment center for unspecified physical and emotional problems. After leaving the facility in 2011, Lovato announced that she had been treated for bulimia, among other issues, and had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She also revealed that she would not be returning to work on Sonny with a Chance. In 2011, Lovato released the studio album Unbroken, featuring the Toby Gad-produced single "Skyscraper" as well as the Timbaland/Missy Elliott-produced "All Night Long" but it was "Give Your Heart a Break" that was the album's second biggest hit, peaking at 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 on its way to being certified platinum.
Lovato's comeback continued in 2012 when she, along with Britney Spears, signed to be one of the four judges on the second season of the U.S. version of The X Factor, debuting in the fall of 2012.
Matt Collar
AllMusic.com
