Chelsea King
Chelsea King | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Chelsea Gilliland |
| Born | June 26, 1998 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Genres | |
| Instruments | Piano, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Drums, Vocals |
Chelsea King (born Chelsea Gilliland; June 26, 1998) is an award-winning, American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.[1] On September 8th, 2022 her self-produced, debut album Quantum Entanglement was released under her previous artist name, CHLSY.[2] All three singles achieved minor success with her leading single No (Hard) Feelings reaching over a million streams on YouTube in the first two weeks[3] and her follow up single Vancouver winning the John Lennon Songwriting Award.[4]
Early Life[edit]
King was born in Boston, Massachusetts[5] on June 26th, 1998 to Spanish mother, Teresa Gilliland and American father Nathan Gilliland. It was in Boston that King began learning classical piano at the early age of five. She spent the majority of her early life dedicated to competitive ski racing and tennis.[6] She credits her fathers music taste for her love of 90's grunge, drawing influence from some of his favorite bands including Pearl Jam, Nirvana (band), The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, and The Pixies.[2] Her father Nathan Gilliland, a veteran entrepreneur in alternative energy[7] took a job in Piedmont, California where King moved at age 14.[2] This move was filled with ups and downs for the musician including sexual assault, the death of her beloved aunt, and her fathers move to Vancouver, Canada that would ultimately lead to her award-winning single, Vancouver.[2] Some of her happiest memories were with her middle and high school band The Harder We Fall. King met drummer, Rachael Cohen, while attending middle school at Julia Morgan School for Girls. Cohen introduced King to the rest of the band and they began working diligently at writing music and performing. The group met up every Thursday night for five years at Bandworks in Oakland, CA. King credits bandmate, Natalie Wright for teaching her how to write songs.[8] The group released their debut record, Better Things in 2017 when they graduated High School and went their separate ways for college.[9]
Career[edit]
College and Career Beginnings: in love in hell[edit]
In 2017 King was the recipient of BMI's Songwriting Scholarship[10] as well as an academic scholarship which allowed her to attend Belmont University in Nashville, TN. While at Belmont she worked hard to establish her own sound, majoring in Songwriting with a minor in Music Business.[6] After releasing her debut single, Cowboy in 2020, she spent many sleepless nights writing emails and mailing letters to radio stations, A&R, and other industry professionals.[6] She mailed over one thousand letters to radio stations alone and it was the letters that would later land her a job at 96.7fm Nashville. During this same time she began printing her own merchandise.[6]
In 2019 she was offered a record deal by former manager of The Pussycat Dolls, Jeff Haddad and legendary producer Polow DaDon.[6] The legal terms went back and forth for several months and into the start of the 2020 pandemic. It was because of the pandemic that King ultimately decided to turn down the deal. Regardless, she had developed a lasting friendship with Haddad who connected her to producer, Dave Audé.[2] King and Audé worked tirelessly developing her country/western sound. This ultimately led to the release of her second single, On Read.[11] While working with Audé, attending University, and working at GiGi's Cupcakes in Nashville, King was offered a job as a Radio Show host on 96.7fm Nashville. She helped build the radio station from the ground up, both online and in person.[6] Chelsea King graduated with honors from Belmont University in 2021. As a graduation present to herself, King decided to release an EP of her country tunes. This EP landed her a spot in Belmont University and CMT's 2020 Country Music Showcase.[12]
CHLSY: Forming The Band[edit]
While at Belmont University in Nashville, TN Chelsea King met bandmates Sawyer Dodds (drums), Korgan Robb (guitar and vocals), and Sean Swanson (bass). The four of them decided to start a band that they initially called American Gothic.[8] They spent about a year traveling, playing shows, and writing music together. Often driving to Texas to perform at Pioneer Tap house in Brownwood, TX. While staying in a barn at Dodd's Ranch, King stayed up one sleepless night and wrote award-winning single, Vancouver.[4] The bands excitement surrounding the first single led them to continue their travels, ultimately landing in Maui, HI where they stayed in yet another barn and wrote music. It was in Maui that King wrote, "it was all in my head..." about an unknown circumstance.[3]
With two singles down, the band decided to begin working on an album. Swanson and Dodds wrote their own instrumental parts while King and Robb tackled lyrics and melody. The difficulties King faced while working with Robb were later revealed in an interview[3] and ultimately led to King kicking him out of the band. With Robb gone, the band found it necessary to change the band name. The trio ultimately settled on the name, CHLSY.[2]
2021 -2022: Quantum Entanglement[edit]
Chelsea King, Sawyer Dodds, and Sean Swanson asked their good friend Jon Ezzo to join their band and finish writing their album after settling on the band name, CHLSY.[2] Together they released debut album, Quantum Entanglement on September 8th, 2022. King wrote leading single, "No (Hard) Feelings" in her bedroom. The music video, directed by Josh Bush, quickly reached over one million plays on YouTube within the first two weeks of release.[3] The single also won the John Lennon Break-Up Song contest. King used a poem she wrote while sitting on the roof of the house she shared with Swanson and Dodds as inspiration for the lyrics to their second single, "Garden."[8] The song went viral on TikTok resulting in over two million views and a decent following.
After the release of their third single, "Vancouver," the John Lennon Songwriting Competition announced it as a winner of the Lennon award.[4] This got the ball rolling for the release of their debut album, Quantum Entanglement. Half of the songs were mixed by grammy winning producer, Zach Allen and the other half of the songs were mixed by long-time collaborator of King, Aaron Hellam. The entire record was mastered by the legendary Richard Dodd, most known for his production of Tom Petty's, Wildflowers.[6]
After the release, the band continued touring around the US and playing local shows in Nashville, TN. For unknown reasons the band broke up and was turned into a solo project now available under the artist name "Chelsea King."[2]
2022 -present: I'll Meet You in Dreams[edit]
Chelsea King announced the release of her second album, "I'll Meet you in Dreams" with a date set for April 8th, 2024.[6] She explained that she will be playing most of the instruments on the record as well as self producing it. The listening experience will still fall under a similar genre to her original record, but will include more synths and modern elements.[2]
Discography[edit]
- in love in hell
- no (hard) feelings
- vancouver
- garden
- Quantum Entanglement
- crush!
- hiraeth
Awards and Accomplishments[edit]
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | BMI's Songwriting Scholarship | Pop | Fire | Recipient | [10] |
| 2020 | International Songwriting Competition | Unsigned Only | Cowboy | Honorable Mention | |
| 2020 | International Songwriting Competition | Unsigned Only | Dead | Finalist | |
| 2022 | The John Lennon Breakup Song Contest | Breakup Song | No (Hard) Feelings | Won | |
| 2022 | The Lennon Award | Rock Music | Vancouver | Won | [4] |
References[edit]
- ↑ "Spotify". open.spotify.com. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Block, Donna (2022-07-18). "Nashville Rock Group CHLSY Releases "555," from Their Upcoming Album, Quantum Entanglement". Medium. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 CHLSY band has a new album called “Quantum Entanglement”, 2022-09-20, retrieved 2023-11-22
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "John Lennon Songwriting Contest". jlsc.com. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ↑ Block, Donna (2022-07-18). "Nashville Rock Group CHLSY Releases "555," from Their Upcoming Album, Quantum Entanglement". Medium. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Aristo, Media Group (2023). "Nashville Rock Group CHLSY To Release New Album Quantum Entanglement September 9!".
- ↑ Sep 27, Maggie Feldman-Piltch on; 2016. ""What's Next?" with Nathan Gilliland". American Security Project. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Bowman, Bethany (2022-09-09). "Music Spotlight: CHLSY". Tennessee Star. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ↑ "Spotify". open.spotify.com. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "20th Annual John Lennon Scholarship Winners Announced". BMI Foundation. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ↑ Wallock, Matt (2020-08-21). "CHLSY Delivers a Tongue-in-Cheek Takedown of Creepy Old Dudes in "On Read"". American Songwriter. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ↑ "Belmont Showcase Series". Belmont Showcase Series. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
This article "Chelsea King" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Chelsea King. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
