From Gabby to H.E.R.: The Long Road Behind an Overnight Sensation

When Gabby Wilson was nine years old, she was in a store with her mom when "Boogie Oogie Oogie" by A Taste of Honey came on. Her mother said she wanted to learn exactly that song. Gabby pointed out it was a bass song. Her mom said okay. So they went together and bought a bass—a pink one, with a little sparkle—and Gabby learned to play it. That same year, her father posted videos of her on YouTube, which was still new. The first call came from the Maury Povich show, of all places, for a "talented kids" episode. That led to the Today Show, then The View. By the time she walked out of the Today Show building, Tommy Mottola was waiting to meet her. She was ten years old.

A Childhood Split Between Two Worlds

Growing up in Vallejo, California, in the Bay Area, Gabby lived in a multicultural household that shaped her in ways she's still unpacking. Her father is African American from Arkansas, a construction worker who played guitar in a cover band on weekends, rehearsing in the living room. Her mother is from the Philippines, an immigrant who arrived at 18 and was "anti" moving to Los Angeles when the Hollywood calls came. Her maternal grandparents lived with them, and at one point her uncle did too—intergenerational living that exposed her to different music, different tastes, different everything.