Colbie Caillat

Colbie Caillat
Colbie Caillat performing in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Colbie Marie Caillat
Born	(1985-05-28) May 28, 1985 (age 26) Newbury Park, California, United States
Origin	Malibu, California, United States
Genres	Pop, folk pop, pop rock, blue-eyed soul
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist
Instruments	Vocal, acoustic guitar, ukulele, piano
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Universal Republic Records
Website	www.colbiecaillat.com

Colbie Marie Caillat (ⁱ/ˈkoʊlbi kəˈleɪ/; born May 28, 1985) is an American pop singer-songwriter and acoustic guitarist from Malibu, California. She debuted in 2007 with Coco, which included hit singles "Bubbly" and "Realize". In 2008, she recorded a duet with Jason Mraz, "Lucky", which won a Grammy. Caillat released her second album, Breakthrough, in August 2009. Breakthrough was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2010 Grammy Awards. She was also part of the group that won Album of the Year at the 2010 Grammys for her background vocals and writing on Taylor Swift's Fearless album. She has sold over six million albums worldwide and sold over 10 million singles. In 2009, Billboard magazine's 94th-best-selling music artist of the 2000–2009 decade.^[1]

Life and career

Childhood and youth

Caillat was born in Malibu, California, and grew up in Newbury Park, California. Her father, Ken Caillat, co-produced Fleetwood Mac's Rumours (1977) and Tusk (1979) albums. When she was an infant, her parents gave her the nickname "Coco", which she would later name her debut album.^[2] Caillat took piano lessons as a child, but lacked significant inspiration until she turned 11 years old, when she became enthralled with Lauryn Hill's performance in Sister Act 2.^[3] She realized that she wanted to be a singer, and began taking vocal lessons, performing onstage for the first time in sixth grade.^[4] Since then she has covered the Roberta Flack song that Lauryn Hill immortalized, "Killing Me Softly", and Hill's own^{[citation needed]} "Tell Him" (an import bonus song from her solo debut album).

Caillat soon met producer Mikal Blue, who hired her to sing on techno songs used at fashion shows. Caillat began playing the acoustic guitar at age 19, and Blue helped her record her first song.^[3] She auditioned for American Idol but was rejected at the pre-audition stage and was unable to sing for the judges.^[5] The second time she auditioned for the show, she sang her own original song, "Bubbly", and was rejected once again. However, Caillat expressed gratitude at the judges' decision, saying "I was shy. I was nervous. I didn't look the greatest. I wasn't ready for it yet. I was glad, when I auditioned, that they said no."^[6] The popularity of Caillat's MySpace profile led her to become the number-one unsigned singer in her genre for four consecutive months.^[7]

2007–2008: Coco

Caillat performing at The Malibu Inn during the Coco Summer Tour

Caillat's debut album, Coco was released in 2007. Her debut single "Bubbly" peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Pop 100. Two other singles followed, "Realize" (#20, Hot 100) and "The Little Things" (#94, Pop 100).^[8] After touring with The Goo Goo Dolls and Lifehouse in 2007, she was the supporting act for John Mayer on his 2008 Summer Tour.

In 2008, Caillat recorded a duet with Jason Mraz, called "Lucky," on his album, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things.^[9] In August 2008, Caillat released a song and video for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics called "Somethin' Special".^[10] Caillat also sings on "You" by Schiller and appears in the music video. She has been involved in the soundtrack of the movie Imagine That; she and Mikal Blue cover the Beatles song "Here Comes the Sun". She is also featured in Colombian singer Juanes' album La vida... es un ratico (en vivo) in the song "Hoy Me Voy". In October 2008, the song "Midnight Bottle" was included in the soundtrack of Brazilian soap opera Três Irmãs. She also played herself on this soap opera. Caillat provided background vocals for and co-wrote Taylor Swift's song "Breathe", on her album, Fearless.

2009–2010: Breakthrough

Caillat at the 2009 American Music Awards show.

Caillat's second album, Breakthrough, was released in August 2009. Most of the album was co-written by Jason Reeves and features guitarist David Becker on two tracks. Becker has worked with Caillat's father Ken.^[11] Caillat had writer's block during the recording sessions, so she enlisted her friends Kara DioGuardi and Jason Reeves, and they went to Hawaii for three weeks, rented a beach house and wrote songs. The first single from Breakthrough, "Fallin' for You", was released in June. The second single, "I Never Told You," was released in February 2010. Caillat released two Christmas songs for the 2009 holiday season: the standard "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and the Beach Boys song "Merry Christmas, Baby".^[12]

Caillat was recognized as BMI's songwriter of the year. In July 2010, Caillat performed "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch at the 2010 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. In September 2010, Caillat performed the national anthem in the season opener game of the National Football League in New Orleans and a Monday Night Football game in Chicago. In December 2010, Caillat performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway. In 2010, Caillat visited the Watkins Glen, New York shelter of Farm Sanctuary, an organization she supports.^[13]

2011–present: All of You

Caillat's third album, All of You, was released on July 12, 2011. The first single, "I Do" was released in February. The second single, "Brighter Than the Sun", was released in June.^[14] Caillat performed an acoustic version of the National Anthem before the San Diego Chargers v Minnesota Vikings game at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego on September 11, 2011, during the day of remembrance for 9/11. Caillat performed "Brighter Than the Sun" on Disney Channel's Original Series So Random.

Caillat appeared in the third episode of the cancelled NBC television series The Playboy Club as 1960s singer Lesley Gore. In the episode broadcast on October 3, 2011, Caillat sang Gore's 1963 hit, "It's My Party".^[15] Cast for the part in August 2011,^[16] Caillat taped her portion of the episode in Chicago.^[17]

Discography

• Coco (2007)
• Breakthrough (2009)
• All of You (2011)

Tours

• 2008: John Mayer 2008 Summer Tour
• 2008: Coco Summer Tour
• 2008: Coco World Tour
• 2009/2010: Breakthrough World Tour
• 2011: All of You Summer Tour
• 2012: Co-Headlining Summer Tour with Gavin DeGraw

Filmography

Awards and nominations

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Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Caillat has won two awards from four nominations, including Album of the Year (as featured artist).

Others awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Colbie Caillat

	Book: Colbie Caillat
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• Official website
• Colbie Caillat at Universal Republic
• Colbie Caillat at the Internet Movie Database
• Colbie Caillat on the cover of the March 19, 2008 issue of iProng Magazine
• Colbie Caillat cover story in the January 2009 issue of International Musician
• AOL Sessions Performance & Interview
• Interview with Caillat's manager Chad Jensen, HitQuarters Jun 2008