Kelsea Ballerini

Kelsea Ballerini
Ballerini in 2016 at the ACM
Background information
Birth name	Kelsea Nicole Ballerini
Born	(1993-09-12) September 12, 1993 (age 23) Mascot, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres	Country pop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals guitar
Years active	2013–present
Labels	Black River
Website	kelseaballerini.com

Kelsea Nicole Ballerini (born September 12, 1993) is an American country pop singer-songwriter. She is signed to Black River Entertainment, and released her first album The First Time in 2015. She received a nomination for Best New Artist at the 2017 Grammy Awards.

Kelsea Ballerini was born in Mascot, Tennessee and grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her father, a country radio programmer, is of part Italian descent. Her mother has worked in marketing for Thomas Nelson Bible publishing and a sponsorship company. She started taking dance lessons at 3 and stopped ten years later. She sang in the church and school choirs. She wrote her first song at 12 for her mother and moved to Nashville, Tennessee three years later. She attended Lipscomb University for two years until she pursued a musical career.

At 19, she signed a deal with Black River Entertainment. In late 2014, she released her debut single "Love Me Like You Mean It", which debuted on the Country Airplay chart in October 2014. She released a self-titled extended play for the label in November. She was named one of CMT's Next Women of Country in 2014. She performed for the first time on the Grand Ole Opry on February 14, 2015 and sang "Love Me Like You Mean It". For the chart dated July 4, 2015, "Love Me Like You Mean It" reached number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, making Ballerini the first solo female country music artist to score a number one hit with her debut single since Carrie Underwood did so with "Jesus, Take the Wheel" in 2006, and only the eleventh in history to achieve the feat. Ballerini also became only the fifth solo female country music artist to score back-to-back number one hits with her first two singles when "Dibs" reached the top of the Country Airplay chart. She became the first to do it since Jamie O'Neal in 2001. The album's third single, "Peter Pan", was released to country radio on March 21, 2016. "Peter Pan" reached number one on both the Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts in September, making Ballerini the first solo female country music artist to top both country music charts simultaneously. This achievement also made her the first solo female to send her first three singles to number one since Wynonna Judd accomplished the same feat in 1992. The album's fourth single, "Yeah Boy", was released to country radio on October 10, 2016. In early 2017, Ballerini was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 – Music list at #2.