ZZ Ward is an American musician, singer and songwriter. 　　Ward released her debut EP, Criminal, on May 8, 2012. Her debut album, Til the Casket Drops, was released on October 16, 2012. "Put The Gun Down", her first single, broke into the top 10 on the AAA radio chart on February 3, 2013, staying there for 10 weeks, and also broke into the top 40 on the Billboard Alternative chart. On March 2, 2017, Ward released the single "The Deep" (featuring Joey Purp). Her second studio album, The Storm, was released on June 30, 2017, peaking at number 1 on the Billboard Blues Albums Chart in July 2017. 　　Ward grew up in Roseburg, Oregon. In Roseburg, she joined her first band, with her father, at the age of 12. Ward recalled the first song she sang was "an Albert King track called 'As the Years Go Passing By'". 　　After moving to Los Angeles and signing to E. Kidd Bogart's Boardwalk Entertainment Group, Ward began recording the Criminal EP, as well as Eleven Roses, a free mixtape on which she offered her interpretations of tracks by Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Tyler, the Creator, Freddie Gibbs and Wiz Khalifa. Eleven Roses features Better Of Dead, Got It Bad, Overdue, Criminal, Morphine and Cinnamon Stix, it was released on 3 November 2011. For the recording of "Criminal", she sampled the beat from "Oil Money" by Freddie Gibbs, who was so impressed by Ward's remake that he asked to contribute a guest verse to the official version on the EP. The Criminal EP was released on May 8, 2012, and features the songs "Til the Casket Drops", "Put the Gun Down", "Move Like U Stole It", and "Criminal" (feat. Freddie Gibbs).