Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Singer reportedly back home in Boca
Pop singer Ariana Grande was reported to be back home Tuesday in South Florida, a day after a suicide bomb blas at her concert.
London’s The Daily Mail published photographs and video Tuesday that it said showed Grande, friends and family traveling between two U.S. airports and in a line of black SUVs, entering a Boca Raton gated community.
A security guard at a drive-through gate at the pristine, tree-lined community where Grande lives declined Tuesday evening to allow
a reporter to enter. He pointed to cars parked in the swale off the boulevard where other local reporters and photographers awaited a glimpse of the young singer. He also declined to confirm whether Grande was home.
Grande’s publicist, Joseph Carozza, could not be reached for comment.
It is not yet known whether the singer will resume her European tour Thursday in London. The venue, the O2, said on its website that it was awaiting word from tour promoters.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the carnage in Manchester, England, that killed at least 22 of Grande’s young fans and others, and injured 59.
Grande, 23, tweeted hours later: "broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don't have words."
Her manager, Scooter Braun, tweeted a message after the bombing that said in part, “Words cannot express our sorrow for the victims and families harmed in this senseless attack. We mourn the lives of children and love ones taken by this cowardly act.”
Grande, who has lived in Boca Raton, attended North Broward Preparatory School in Coconut Creek.
She began performing in the region at an early age.
On YouTube, fans can see a pretty and poised 8-year-old Grande sing the national anthem without accompaniment before a Flor- ida Panthers hockey game in Sunrise.
Text messages about the explosion filled the phone of Janet Erlick, executive artist director at Florida Children’s Theatre.
Grande’s resume at the Fort Lauderdale company includes just one production, but nearly a decade later, she remains an important role model for former students who wanted to make sure Erlick had heard the news.
Erlick said Grande has stayed in touch with staff and students of the company, which was called Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theatre in 2008 when the singer had the title role in FLCT’s “Cinderella.”
Later that year Grande appeared on Broadway in “13.”
Her television career took off with roles on Nickelodeon’s “Victorious” and “Sam and Cat.”
Grande would return to speak to students and young summer campers, Erlick said.
Many former students are part of the singer’s private Facebook group, Erlick said, and Grande has routinely invited students backstage at South Florida performances.
In 2012, Grande told the Sun Sentinel that she began tweeting when she was 13.
"I thought it was a great way to keep in touch with people I knew,” Grande said then. “And I always thought that social media was a great way to save memories."
She has 45.9 million Twitter followers but has not tweeted since she apologized to her fans after the attack.
"I love sharing personal thoughts with my fans," she told the Sun Sentinel five years ago. "I ask them what cover they would like next."
Her spectacular career includes duets with artists like John Legend and Stevie Wonder; four Grammy nominations; an acting role on the Fox TV series “Scream Queens” and host of “Saturday Night Live.” Seven of her songs have landed in the top 10 spots on Billboard’s Hot 100 tracks chart.
“It’s not only her voice and talent,” Erlick said. “She’s such a consummate professional. She works so hard, and she is continually raising the bar, on herself, especially. Her work with young people is a rare and amazing thing to have mastered at her age. That’s the key to her success, whether it is theater, television or her singing.”