Ashley Nicolette Frangipane (born September 29, 1994), known by her stage name Halsey /ˈhɔːl.zɪ/, is an American singer and songwriter. She started songwriting at the age of 17. In 2014, she signed her first recording contract with Astralwerks and released her debut EP, titled Room 93. Her debut studio album, Badlands, was released in 2015. Halsey was born in New Jersey. Halsey had musical roots growing up, originally playing the violin, viola, and cello until moving onto the acoustic guitar when she was 14. The first song she learned to play on the guitar is said to be Taylor Swift's song "Fifteen". Around the age of 16 or 17, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. When she was 18, Halsey encountered financial trouble and music became a way to pay her rent. She played numerous acoustic shows in different cities under various stage names. She chose "Halsey" as her moniker because it is an anagram of her real name as well as a street in Brooklyn where she spent a lot of time as a teenager. Halsey originally planned on going to college to major in fine arts but instead enrolled in a community college as a creative writing major after realizing she could not afford it. Halsey identifies as bisexual. Twitter: @halsey Facebook https://m.facebook.com/HalseyMusic YouTube: Ashley Frangipane Instagram: iamhalsey Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.