Kelsea Nicole Ballerini (born September 12, 1993) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She released her first album The First Time in 2015, and her second album Unapologetically was released on November 3, 2017. She received a nomination for Best New Artist at the 2017 Grammy Awards. Ballerini\'s two albums have accounted for seven charted songs on the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. She has four No. 1 singles on the latter, starting with her debut single "Love Me Like You Mean It", which made her the first female artist to send a debut single to the top of that chart since Carrie Underwood in 2006. It was followed by "Dibs" and "Peter Pan", whose peaks also made her the first female country artist to send her first three singles to the top of that chart since Wynonna Judd. Ballerini\'s fourth No. 1 single is "Legends".\n', 'Ballerini grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her father, Ed, a former sales manager for a country radio station, is of part Italian descent. Her mother, Carla, has worked in marketing for Thomas Nelson Bible publishing and a sponsorship company. She is an only child. She started taking dance lessons at Premiere Dance Studio in Seymour Tennessee when she was three 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 Central High School in Knoxville, Tennessee; Centennial High School in Franklin, Tennessee; and then Lipscomb University for two years until she pursued a musical career.\n', '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 at the Grand Ole Opry on February 14, 2015, and sang "Love Me Like You Mean It". On May 19, 2015, Ballerini\'s debut album The First Time was released through Black River. For the chart dated July 4, 2015, "Love Me Like You Mean It" , the album\'s first single, 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", the second single from the album, reached the top of the Country Airplay chart. She became the first to do it since Jamie O\'Neal in 2001.\n', '

Return to Kelsea Ballerini Autograph Profile