Joshua Blanchard/Getty ImagesChristina Grimmie was a star long before The Voice.
The late singer and New Jersey native, who was shot dead at age 22 at a concert in Orlando, Florida Friday, has been singing since age 5 and like many people from her generation, used the Internet to gain exposure and fans.
Check out five facts about Grimmie.
1. She released her first record at age 17: Grimmie released the EP Find Me in 2011, about three years before competing on The Voice. It debuted at number 35 on the Billboard 200 chart and contains the hit songs "Advice" and "Liar Liar." At the time of the LP's release, the singer had just moved to Los Angeles to further her music career. Grimmie attended Cherokee High School and left in 2010 to be home-schooled, NJ.com reported.
"A tragedy... It is with heavy hearts our Cherokee family extends sincerest condolences to the family of Christina Grimmie ...always a Chief," read a tweet posted on the school's Twitter page Saturday.
Grimmie released her first album, With Love, in 2013. Her second LP, Side A, was release this past February.
2. She was a YouTube star: Also while in high school, Grimmie began posting videos of herself singing cover songs on YouTube. As of Saturday, she has more than 3.2 million subscribers.
Here are three of her most popular clips:
Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA":
Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On":
Imagine Dragons' "Demons":
Selena Gomez's "A Year Without Rain":
And Grimmie also paid tribute to her own fans on YouTube.
"She loved meet and greets and called her fans her 'frands,'" a source told E! News exclusively. "She considered them to be a sort of friend and was so appreciative of their support. She would spend hours after a show or appearance taking photos, signing autographs and being with her fans. She wanted to give back to them everything they gave to her."
3. She's toured with Selena Gomez, Rachel Platten and Before You Exit:
Grimmie opened for Gomez on her Stars Dance tour in 2013. Gomez posted a selfie of her and the late singer Saturday.
"My heart is absolutely broken," Gomez tweeted. "I miss you Christina."
Earlier this year, Grimmie opened for Platten on her Wildfire tour before setting off to tour with pop rock group Before You Exit. She was shot dead at the band's concert in Orlando, Florida.
My heart is absolutely broken. I miss you Christina pic.twitter.com/KWGwZZlj4t
— Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) June 11, 2016
4. Her final interview: In what marked her last published interview before her death, posted on Tuesday, Grimmie talked to PopCrush about her future music plans.
"Right now I'm focusing on writing, I'm pushing Side A for this tour and want to play it for some people," she said. "I want to get a full length album out this year. You would be the first that I'd be telling actually, I haven't really said much about it. With that being said, I definitely want to do that because there's so much great music being made right now."
"I'm going to be writing for the next couple of months," she added. "I do want to go on another tour, maybe by the end of this year—if I do get an album out this year. If I don't get an album out this year, crossing my fingers I hope I will, then I would just love to tour that album."
Christina's friend Ashly Nicole told E! News the singer was "really excited" about her new projects.
"I know she was hoping to one day headline her own tour," she said. "She was so talented and had so much potential. I am a photographer so we would talk about how we would go on the road together one day. We were so excited about it."
5. She came in third on The Voice season six: And host Carson Daly, speaking on NBC's Today show hours after her death was announced, said he was "shocked" the singer did not win.
Grimmie was on coach Adam Levine's team. He and several co-stars, including the season six winner and runner-up, paid tribute to Grimmie after her death.
"Behati and I are absolutely devastated and heartbroken by Christina Grimmie's tragic death," he said in a statement to E! News, referring to wife Behati Prinsloo. "Our hearts go out to her family. Christina was a natural, a gifted talent that comes along so rarely. She was taken from us too soon. This is yet another senseless act of extreme violence. I am left stunned and confused how these things can conceivably continue to happen in our world."
In her interview with PopCrush, Grimmie said she felt she "grew as a person" on The Voice.
"I don't really get nervous for anything anymore, because I remember that feeling and I don't think anything can top national TV and learning a song in less than a week!" she said. "I was sculpting myself as I was on the show. You have your mentor, which was Adam in my case, which was great. And that's all they are, mentors. They help shape you when you don't know your direction and they're pulling things out of you, and you're like 'Wow, where'd that come from?' That's what's amazing about the show."
—Reporting by Melanie Bromley