Kelsea Ballerini Bio
Kelsea Nicole Ballerini (born September 12, 1993) is an American country and country pop singer, songwriter, and musician. She began writing songs as a child and rose to prominence in the mid-2010s with a string of number one country radio hits. A five-time Grammy Award nominee, she has received honors including the Academy of Country Music Gene Weed Milestone Award and Billboard’s Rising Star Award, and she was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2019.
Since releasing her debut single in 2014, Ballerini has built a catalog of five studio albums, multiple EPs, and chart-topping collaborations spanning country and pop. Beyond music, she has expanded into television, poetry, and acting, becoming one of the most recognized young voices in contemporary country music.
Early Life and Background
Kelsea Nicole Ballerini was born on September 12, 1993, in Mascot, Tennessee, and grew up in nearby Knoxville. She is an only child raised by her father, Ed Ballerini, a sales manager at a country radio station, and her mother, Carla Ballerini, who worked in marketing for the Bible publishing division of Thomas Nelson and a sponsorship company. Ballerini is of Italian, German, and Scottish descent.
From a young age, Ballerini showed a strong interest in performance. She began taking dance lessons at Premiere Dance Studio in Seymour, Tennessee, south of Knoxville, when she was three years old and continued for a decade. She also sang in a church choir and her school choir throughout her childhood. Ballerini wrote her first song at age twelve as a gift for her mother, an experience that sparked a lifelong passion for songwriting.
Ballerini attended Central High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, and later Centennial High School in Franklin, Tennessee. She went on to study at Lipscomb University in Nashville for two years before leaving to pursue a full-time music career. By her late teens, she had already moved to Nashville to focus on songwriting and recording.
Path to Music
Ballerini’s early interest in music was shaped by a wide range of pop and country influences. She grew up listening to top 40 pop artists such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, NSYNC, and Hilary Duff, and has cited Justin Bieber as an early inspiration. Her turn toward country came after hearing Keith Urban’s “Stupid Boy,” which led her to explore albums by Taylor Swift, Sugarland, and the Dixie Chicks. She has named Shania Twain as her greatest musical influence.
At nineteen, Ballerini signed a recording contract with Black River Entertainment and released her debut single, “Love Me Like You Mean It,” in late 2014. She also released a self-titled EP that November. She was named one of CMT’s Next Women of Country in 2014 and made her debut performance at the Grand Ole Opry on February 14, 2015, performing her first single on the legendary stage.
Her early industry recognition grew quickly. Ballerini’s first album, The First Time, was released in May 2015, and its lead single reached number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. She was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 – Music list in 2017, signaling her rapid rise within the country music industry.
Kelsea Ballerini Career
Early Career (2014–2016)
Kelsea Ballerini launched her professional career in 2014 with the release of “Love Me Like You Mean It” and a self-titled EP through Black River Entertainment. Her debut album, The First Time, followed in May 2015 and produced a series of chart-topping singles. “Love Me Like You Mean It” reached number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, making Ballerini the first solo female country artist to top the chart with a debut single since Carrie Underwood in 2006.
She followed that success with “Dibs” and “Peter Pan,” both of which also reached number one on Country Airplay. With “Peter Pan,” she became the first solo female country artist to top both the Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts simultaneously, and the first to send her first three singles to number one since Wynonna Judd in 1992. These early achievements established her as a leading new voice in country music.
Breakthrough (2017–2019)
In 2017, Ballerini released her second studio album, Unapologetically, which debuted at number three on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and number seven on the Billboard 200. The album spawned hit singles including “Legends,” “I Hate Love Songs,” and “Miss Me More,” and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Album at the 61st annual Grammy Awards. She also collaborated with The Chainsmokers on “This Feeling” and appeared on the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
Ballerini expanded her television presence by joining the fifteenth season of NBC’s The Voice as the fifth coach, leading a digital companion series called The Comeback Stage. In March 2019, she was invited by Little Big Town to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and she was officially inducted on April 16, 2019, by Carrie Underwood. That same year, she launched the Miss Me More Tour in support of Unapologetically, selling out multiple dates across the country.
Notable Works and Milestones
Her signature songs include “Love Me Like You Mean It,” “Dibs,” “Peter Pan,” and “Miss Me More,” all of which reached number one on country charts. Ballerini’s milestone of sending her first three singles to the top of the Country Airplay chart made her one of the most decorated debut artists in modern country music. She has also been recognized with the ACM Gene Weed Milestone Award and Billboard’s Rising Star Award.
Kelsea Ballerini Award Nominations
Throughout her career, Kelsea Ballerini has earned five Grammy Award nominations, including a nod for Best Country Album for Unapologetically and a nomination for Best Country Solo Performance for “Heartfirst” at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. She has also received nominations from the Academy of Country Music, the Country Music Association Awards, and CMT Music Awards across categories such as Female Vocalist of the Year, Video of the Year, and CMT Performance of the Year.
Kelsea Ballerini Awards Won
Ballerini has won two Country Music Association Awards for her collaboration with Kenny Chesney on “Half of My Hometown.” She has also received the Academy of Country Music Gene Weed Milestone Award, the Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award, and a CMT Music Award for Performance of the Year. In 2019, she was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, one of country music’s highest honors.
Kelsea Ballerini Family
Kelsea Ballerini is the daughter of Ed Ballerini, a former sales manager at a country radio station, and Carla Ballerini, who worked in marketing for Thomas Nelson and a sponsorship company. She grew up as an only child in Knoxville, Tennessee, and has spoken publicly about the influence of her parents on her early interest in music and performance.
Personal Life
Ballerini began dating Australian country singer Morgan Evans in March 2016. The couple became engaged on Christmas Day 2016 and married on December 2, 2017, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. In August 2022, Ballerini announced that she and Evans were divorcing, and the divorce was finalized on November 15, 2022.
In February 2023, it was confirmed that Ballerini was in a relationship with Outer Banks actor Chase Stokes. The couple reportedly began dating in January 2023 and have been together since. Ballerini has also spoken openly about experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder following the 2008 shooting at Central High School in Knoxville, where she was a student at the time.