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Sara Beth Bareilles (born December 7, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She achieved mainstream success in 2007 with the single "Love Song", which brought her into the Top 5 on the Billboard pop charts. She has been compared to Delta Goodrem, Fiona Apple and Norah Jones despite her lack of formal training in either voice or piano.
Sara Bareilles: Biography
Sara Bareilles - Early life
Bareilles was born and raised in Eureka, California. She participated in high school choirs and local community theater musical productions, including her high school's production of Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey. She graduated from Eureka Senior High School in June 1998, having been voted "Most Talented" in the senior yearbook of that year.
Bareilles attended UCLA, where she was a member of their a cappella group Awaken. The group's rendition of Bareilles' "Gravity" was featured on the Best of College A Cappella 2004 compilation CD. Sara also stated on MTV's TRL that she and the band Maroon 5 go back far to their younger days in California when the band was known as Kara's Flowers.
Sara Bareilles - Career
After graduating from college in 2002, Bareilles performed at local bars and clubs, earning a following, before performing in larger venues. She issued two demos of mostly live tracks in 2003: The First One in April and The Summer Sessions in October. In 2004, she appeared as a singer in a bar in the indie film Girl Play, performing the song "Undertow".
In January 2004, Bareilles released her first studio album, Careful Confessions. She signed a contract with Epic Records' A&R executive Pete Giberga on April 15, 2005. The remainder of the year and early 2006 was spent writing and reworking songs for her upcoming album. She also toured as the opening act in 2006 for Marc Broussard's "Carencro" tour. In 2007, Bareilles toured as the opening act for Aqualung and Mika. In mid-2007 she opened for Rocco DeLuca and the Burden during their inaugural headline tour and co-headlined a tour with Jon McLaughlin. In late-2007, she opened for several shows on both Maroon 5 and Paolo Nutini's U.S. tours.
In June 2007, iTunes featured Bareilles' single "Love Song" as the free single of the week. The following month, her major-label debut Little Voice shot to #1 on the list of most downloaded albums of the music store in its first week of release, and debuted at #45 on the Billboard 200 chart. After being featured on a Rhapsody commercial in 2007, "Love Song" began climbing the pop charts, jumping from #73 to #16 in one week. As of December 27, 2007, "Love Song" has entered the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bareilles performed the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday, January 17, 2008, and on the Today show on Thursday, February 21, 2008.
As of February 14, 2008, "Little Voice" has been certified gold by the RIAA and as February 27, 2008, the album has jumped to the top 10 of the Billboard 200 at #7. |
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