Grace Martine Tandon, professionally known as Daya (pronounced /deɪ.ə/), is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[1][2] She is signed to Artbeatz, Z Entertainment, and RED Distribution, and released her self-titled debut extended play (EP), Daya, on September 4, 2015, which includes the song "Hide Away", which has peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. Daya was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her grandfather is Indian, and her stage name Daya is the Hindi translation for 'Compa**ion'.[5] She attended Mt Lebanon High School.[6] At the age of three, Tandon began to learn the piano, eventually converting to jazz piano at the age of eleven. By this time, she had also learned to play the guitar, ukulele, saxophone, and flute.[6] At eleven, Daya enrolled as a student at the Accelerando Music Conservatory, owned by Christina Chirumbolo,[7] Pittsburgh, where she eventually met songwriter and producer Gino Barletta.[1] Barletta, a colleague of Chirumbolo who visited the school as a lecturer. Chirumbolo and Barletta founded INSIDE ACCESS, a music camp, the two worked with Daya eventually inviting her to Los Angeles in February 2015 to work on her original material. Tandon's professional career began when her parents accompanied her to Los Angeles to work with Christina Chirumbolo and Gino Barletta, founders of INSIDE ACCESS by Accelerando, Brett McLaughlin, Britten Newbill and Noisecastle III at Paramount Recording Studios. It was during one of these writing sessions that her debut single "Hide Away" was written and recorded, and Barletta consequently introduced Daya to Steve Zap of Z Entertainment. A radio promotions veteran, Zap liked the song and was interested in helping to promote the singer, leading to forming an independent label with Barletta called Artbeatz. Daya released her song "Hide Away" on April 22, 2015.[citation needed] The song was well-received online, enjoyed support from a number of notable bloggers including Tyler Oakley and Perez Hilton, the latter commenting "There is something very special about Daya's voice".[8] Jason Lipshutz of Billboard also featured the single on their official website, labelling it "a gorgeous debut".[9] Daya made her television debut performing "Hide Away" on Today on August 21, 2015.[10] Following a successful debut, Daya released her self-titled EP, Daya, which features six songs, including "Hide Away", on September 4, 2015.[4] The EP was premiered in full a day early by Billboard, and debuted at number 161 on the Billboard 200, propelling "Hide Away" to number 40 on the Billboard Pop Songs chart.[11][12][13] On October 30, 2015, Daya released the physical version of her debut EP through Target.[14] In 2016, Daya was the opening act for American pop-rap duo Jack & Jack's US tour.[