Tori interested in music from childhood, her parents helped to her find own style in vocals. She says “My parents say that I was singing before I could talk. I owe a lot to them, because they kept no genre off limits. Music was always playing in the house. They never told me to be quiet, turn the music down or anything like that. So I felt pretty free and experimental as a kid to kind of figure out my own voice”. Kelly has appeared on the Star Search show and winning the title of Junior Champion in the junior singer division, but did not win the contest. Kelly was offered a record deal with Geffen Records when she was twelve, which she accepted, but soon she was released. Kelly slowly became popular since she was 14, after starting to post videos on YouTube.

Tori auditioned for the singing competition television series "American Idol" when she was 16. Soon she was eliminated from the show because did not reach the "Top 24”. She began to work on her own music, learned how to play on guitar and composed original songs. After that Tori began sharing her music performances through YouTube and soon her page reached over seven hundred thousand subscribers. Kelly gained recognition for her acoustic cover "Thinking about You" (in original by Frank Ocean), that she sang with a YouTuber friend.

Tori Kelly independently released her first EP in the 2012, she produced, wrote it by herself and titled "Handmade Songs By Tori Kelly". In the next year, she met her manager - Scooter Braun and was introduced by him to Capitol Records, with whom she signed a contract. In the 2014 she also wrote a song "Silent" for "The Giver: Music Collection", it was released on iTunes for supporting the film adaptation of the novel "The Giver". Throughout 2014, Tori worked with manager on her first album in which she had contributions from musicians like Toby Gad, Max Martin, and Ed Sheeran. Kelly's debut album "Unbreakable Smile", was released on June 23, 2015.

Her best single, "Nobody Love", was released in the spring and became her first US Billboard Hot 100 appearance. In the end of 2015 Tori Kelly became the brand-ambassador of the clothing line by William Rast and Justin Timberlake. Tori Kelly was nominated for Best New Artist at the 58th Grammy Awards. She also recorded a version of "Baby Baby" with the song's original singer Amy Grant, it was released on April 29, 2016 for commemorates the song's 25th anniversary. For cinematic debut, Kelly worked with the upcoming animated movie "Sing" playing the voice of Meena the elephant. Tori Kelly has a net worth of 3 million dollars.