Kelsea Ballerini

Kelsea Nicole Ballerini (born September 12, 1993) is an American country pop singer and songwriter. She began songwriting as a child and signed a contract with Black River Entertainment in 2014, releasing her debut studio album the following year, The First Time. Her second studio album, Unapologetically, followed in 2017. Ballerini's first two albums have accounted for seven charted songs on the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. She has five 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". Her third studio album, Kelsea, and a counterpart acoustic album, Ballerini, were both released in 2020. Her fourth studio album, Subject to Change was released in 2022. Ballerini (an only child) was raised in Knoxville, Tennessee by her father, Ed and her mother, Carla. Ed held a job as a sales manager for a country radio station and is of Italian descent. Carla has worked in marketing for Thomas Nelson Bible publishing and a sponsorship company. Ballerini started taking dance lessons at Premiere Dance Studio in Seymour, Tennessee when she was three and quit ten years later. She also 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.