Country music star Kelsea Ballerini knew that while she dreamed of becoming a successful singer-songwriter very few people actually ever get the chance to achieve that dream.
The 24-year-old who grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee wrote her first song at the age of 12 for her mother. Three years later she moved to Nashville where she finished high school and attended Lipscomb University, a liberal arts school, for two years before she started chasing her dream of being a singer-songwriter.
Through it all Kelsea kept her feet on the ground while dreaming of being a star.
“Even when I dreamt about like having a song on the radio or like doing a tour or any of that,” she admits, “I would very quickly go into like the one percent of people get to do that.”
At the age of 19 Kelsea signed a deal with Black River Entertainment. She released her debut single “Love Me Like You Mean It” in 2014 and her debut album For The First Time the next year. That debut single reached the top of the Billboard Country Airplay singles chart as did three of her next four singles, “Dibs,” “Peter Pan” and “Legends.” Kelsea’s forth single “Yeah, Boy” fell just short peaking at #3 on the chart. Her current single “I Hate Love Songs” is from her sophomore album Unapologetically and is approaching the top 30 on the country radio airplay singles charts. You can listen to Kelsea’s latest single “I Hate Love Songs” at the bottom of the page.
Kelsea has been nominated for Grammy Awards, CMA Awards and ACM Awards (among others) and she won the New Female Vocalist of the Year Award at the 2016 ACM Awards.
By all accounts Kelsea has become one of the “one percent” of people that get to do that as she mentioned. While she is reaching her dreams, she still keeps her feet on the ground in her attitude.
“I’ve always had this vision of what this would be like, but I never really knew if it was gonna ever happen,” Kelsea confesses.
Congratulations on reaching some of your dreams Kelsea Ballerini and good luck on getting to those that remain ahead of you.
By: Buck Stevens
