Vanessa Lee Carlton is an American-born pop singer, songwriter, songwriter, and actress with Jewish roots. Her debut single A Thousand Miles peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and held the position for three weeks.
A year later, Billboard magazine called the song "one of the most enduring songs of the millennium."
Childhood singer
The singer was born on August 16, 1980 in Milford, Pennsylvania and was the first child in the family of pilot Edmund Carlton and school music teacher Heidi Lee.
At the age of two, after visiting the Disneyland amusement park, the girl played It's a Small World on the piano on her own. Her mother began to study with her, instilling a love for classical music, and at the age of 8, Vanessa wrote her first work.
At the same time, she successfully mastered the art of ballet and at the age of 13 began taking lessons from such top dancers as: Gelsey Kirkland and Madame Nenette Charisse in New York. And at the age of 14, thanks to her perseverance, bordering on obsession, she was enrolled in the classical School of American Ballet.
Youth Vanessa Lee Carlton
Despite the inner strength, exhausting studies and the increased demands of teachers undermined the state of mind of a young girl.
In adolescence, Vanessa Carlton developed depression, which turned into anorexia. With the help of drugs and therapy, she coped with the disease, but the mental imbalance did not leave her.
And then music appeared - in the hostel where Carlton lived, there was an old out-of-tune piano. The girl began to play, sometimes even skipping ballet classes. Then she began to compose poetry and there was a "breakthrough" - words and music combined.
After graduating from university, she rented an apartment in half with a friend, got a job as a waitress, and honed her vocals at night, performing in nightclubs.
Personal life of Vanessa Lee Carlton
In October 2013, Vanessa Carlton became engaged to John McCauley, lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for Deer Tick.
Almost immediately, the couple announced a pregnancy, which turned out to be ectopic and ended in bleeding. Despite the misfortune, the young people got married, and on January 13, 2015, Vanessa gave birth to a daughter, Sidney.
Creativity Vanessa Lee Carlton
Producer Peter Zizzo invited the aspiring singer to his studio to record a demo. A few months later, the girl began recording the album Rinse, which was produced by Jimmy Iovine. The album never came out.
Be Not Nobody
Vanessa did not feel understanding from Jimmy and felt at a dead end. The situation was resolved by A&M President Ron Fair, who, after listening to A Thous and Miles, took up arranging the song and recording the album. By the way, the song was originally called Interlude, but Ron Fair insisted on renaming it.
The composition became a hit and won awards: Grammy Awards, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist. The album Be Not Nobody was released on April 30, 2002, and in 2003 Variety reported that it had sold 2,3 million copies worldwide.
Harmony
Vanessa Carlton's next album was Harmonium, released in November 2004. It was created in creative tandem with Stefan Jenkins from Third Eye Blind. At that time, they were a couple, and it seemed to them that they were in the same “emotional orientation”.
Stefan Jenkins protected the singer from pressure from the heads of the recording studio, and the girl was able to express herself as much as possible. The album turned out to be lyrical, feminine, but there was no commercial success.
Heroes and Thieves
Carlton wrote her third album, Heroes and Thieves, under The Inc. Records with Linda Perry. It was recorded under the influence of feelings from the breakup with Stefan Jenkins. The collection did not have significant success and was sold in the amount of 75 thousand copies in the USA.
Rabbits on the Run and Hear the Bells
On July 26, 2011, the singer's fourth album, Rabbits on the Run, was released. The writing of the collection was inspired by the books of Stephen Hawking "A Brief History of Time", in which he shared knowledge about the structure of the Universe, and Richard Adams "The Hill Dwellers" about the life of civilized rabbits.
Vanessa said that she would need ideal conditions to record the perfect album and chose Real World Studios. In general, the work earned positive reviews from critics. The famous single of the collection was Carousel.
Liberman, Blue Pool, Liberman Live and Earlier Things Live
After the release of Rabbits on the Run, the singer took a break for the birth of her daughter and a creative "reboot". A reflection of her emotional experiences, motherhood was the album Liberman (2015), the title is due to the singer's grandfather by the name of Lieberman.
The songs turned out to be atmospheric, sensual and filled with deep sincere love. All listeners noted a huge difference in performance between just a singer and a mother singer.
Love Is an Art
Since 2017, the singer began preparing for the release of her sixth album, Love Is a Art, recording one cover version of a song per month. On March 27, 2020, the collection was released, it was produced by Dave Friedmann.
In parallel with the creation of the collection in May 2019, the singer began to participate in the Broadway show.
