KAYLEE BELL * COWBOY UP *
Kaylee Bell is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. In 2013, she won the Toyota Star Maker award in Australia. Bell opened for Brad Paisley on his World Tour NZ show late 2022, Kane Brown on his Australia and NZ Arena Tour November 2024 and was support act for Ed Sheeran on his Mathematics World Stadium Tour in 2023. Bell shot to fame on The Voice Australia performing her hit single "Keith" to coach Keith Urban. The song reached #12 on the US Billboard chart and was a certified Gold record in Australia and New Zealand.
Career
Bell was born in Waimate in Canterbury, New Zealand and began singing at the age of four. She attended Craighead Diocesan School in Timaru.Bell won the NZ Gold Guitar Award at age 18 and moved to Australia four years later to pursue a career in country music. In 2013, she won the prestigious Toyota Star Maker award, which led to her releasing the single "Pieces" with fellow Australasian, Jared Porter. The song received substantial airplay in Australia and earned the duo an APRA Award for Best Country Music Song at the 2015 APRA Silver Scroll Awards and the overall grand prize at the US Unsigned Only Competition, marking the first time a non-American had won the latter award.Bell independently released her debut studio album, Heart First, in 2013 that included her first solo single of the same name. Heart First won Best Country Album at the 2014 New Zealand Music Awards.
In 2016 Bell released her breakout single "Getting Closer" a break-up anthem written with Morgan Evans, that charted on the New Zealand Heatseekers singles chart. Bell started reaching career highs on the Australia country music charts with the release of her singles "One More Shot", "Who I Am", "Keith", and "Wasted on You" in 2018 and 2019; these songs and "Getting Closer" were later repackaged as The Red EP in 2021. Bell's tribute to Keith Urban, 'Keith' went to #1 on The Music Network Country Chart where it spent 25 weeks on the chart. Three further one-off singles were released in 2020: "Light On", "Home", and "Be With You". In 2021, Bell released three collaborative singles "That Summer" with Josh Mirenda or Lepnani, "Before I Met You" with The McClymonts, and "Living Free" with Lindsay Ell, and announced that her second studio album, Silver Linings, would be released November 26, 2021. 'That Summer' featuring Kiwi Pop Artist Lepani had crossover success at NZ mainstream radio in 2021 being 'the most added single to radio' for the month of May on hard hitters ZM, More Fm and The Hits.' Bell was chosen as the face for Spotify's EQUAL global programme for Female Artists in Music where she was featured on a billboard in Times Square, New York, USA.
In 2022, she auditioned for The Voice Australia and all four coaches turned for her. After Keith Urban was blocked, she chose to join Jessica Mauboy's team. She was eliminated in the battle rounds.
In June 2023, Bell became the first independent Australasian female country singer to receive a gold certified single or EP, with The Red EP.
Bell's third studio album Nights Like This was released in March 2024. Info: Wikipedia
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