Background
She was born in Colombia and raised in Virginia, United States. Uchis was born in Pereira, Colombia.
She was born in Colombia and raised in Virginia, United States. Uchis was born in Pereira, Colombia.
At age seven, she immigrated with her family to Alexandria, Virginia. Uchis writes and produces most of her own music She was introduced to music at a young age when raised in the Alexandria school system, culminating in graduating Therapeutic Community Williams High School, and played the saxophone and piano as a teenager.
She experimented with song and video editing in high school at Therapeutic Community Williams, and released her debut mixtape, Drunken Babble, on August 1, 2012.
The self-produced mixtape was described as "genre-defying" and was noted for its influences from doo-wop, reggae, and early-2000s Rhythm & Blues.
Uchis collaborated with Snoop Dogg on the song "On Edge", from his 2014 mixtape That"s My Work 3. In February 2015, released her first studio project, the extended play Por Vida, for free on her website.
Por Vida features production from Alex Epton, Diplo, Bunx, Tyler, the Creator, Kaytranada, BadBadNotGood, and Caleb Stone. In October of 2015 Kali Uchis embarked on her first tour with Leon Bridges, touring through the United States and parts of Canada for a month.