Ciara (Ciara Princess Harris, born October 25, 1985 in Austin, Texas) is an American R&B performer.

Ciara grew up in army bases in Germany, New York, California, Arizona, and Nevada, since her father was in the United States Army. She said after seeing a Destiny's Child's performance on television it inspired her to pursue a career in music. In her early teens she formed the goal to become a professional singer. She joined a girl group, worked on her songwriting, left the group, got a publishing deal, and found a "music soul mate" when she met producer Jazze Pha.

"Goodies" became a hit, reaching the top of the United States R&B and pop charts, and also charting in the United Kingdom (in January 2005, also reaching number one), Australia, Germany, Sweden, and New Zealand. With help from Pha, Garrett, and Lil Jon, Ciara released her debut album, Goodies in September 2004. It entered the Billboard 200 chart at number three, and sold over two milion copies in the United States alone. The second single, "1, 2 Step", featuring Missy Elliott, reached the top ten in the U.S., peaking at number two in early 2005. "1, 2 Step" was released in the U.K. on 11 April the same year, and reached number three, benefiting from the fact that it was the first week that downloads were incorporated into the singles chart. Ciara charted one place higher than she would have done if downloads had not been included in the chart formula; she would have instead swapped places with Elvis Presley's re-issue of "The Wonder of You" at number four.

In May 2005, Ciara's third single, "Oh" featuring Ludacris, reached number two on the Hot 100. In August 2005, Ciara's fourth single, "And I" was released and peaked at #96 which was poor compared to the first three singles. As of December 2005, it is rumored that a fifth single will be released off Ciara's multi-platinum debut, "Hotline".

In 2005 Ciara released her DVD of music videos with behind the scenes footage of her rehearsals for the Soul Train Awards.

Ciara is featured on several singles by other hip-hop artists, such as Missy Elliott's 'Lose Control' from her album The Cookbook which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. She is also featured singing alongisde current love interest, Bow Wow, on the second single from his 2005 album Wanted entitled "Like You". The duet also reached a peak of #3.