Biography

Black River's Kelsea Ballerini consistently makes history. With the release of her debut album The First Time she became the "only female country artist to hit #1 with the first three consecutive singles from a debut album." Since then, she's had seven #1 singles and five back-to-back Top 10 entries on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

Among dozens of accolades, she's garnered four GRAMMY® Award nominations, won two ACM Awards, Billboard Awards, and CMA Awards; an iHeartRadio Music Awards honor, and received multiple career nominations from the ACM, American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, CMA, CMT, and People's Choice Awards. Kelsea returned to host the 2024 CMT Music Awards for the fourth year, this time as a solo host, and lead the field in nominations. Most recently, she earned three 2024 ACM Award Nominations, including "Album of the Year" for her acclaimed Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good) as both artist and producer as well as "Female Vocalist of the Year."

The Grand Ole Opry member was named the newest face of COVERGIRL (2022) and later built on her multi-year partnership by launching a cosmetic collaboration with the brand (2023). Expanding her sphere of influence, she authored her first original poetry book, Feel Your Way Through, and Dolly Parton tapped her to star in the audio book of Run, Rose, Run.

Kelsea's fourth album, SUBJECT TO CHANGE, was released in 2022. Five months later, she surprised fans with Rolling Up the Welcome Mat and the accompanying short film. This led to her Saturday Night Live debut, universal acclaim from critics including The New York Times, Variety, Rolling Stone, and the honor of gracing the cover of TIME Magazine's TIME100 Next issue.

With these accolades, it is no wonder NPR proclaimed, "Kelsea Ballerini is definitely one of the most influential women in country right now... she's defining the sound of the genre."
- IMDb mini biography by: TOC