Meet Country Artist Celeste Kellogg

Touring and performing on stage with Radio Disney, having her first promo tour endorsed by Gibson Guitars, and starring in a movie developed around her band....all before the age of 20!  I had the pleasure of chatting with a young lady who is a star in the making, and is approaching it all with the wisdom of someone twice her age. She is a singer, songwriter, actor, choreographer….and does it all with a philosophy of work hard, stay true to yourself, and there are no limits to what a person can accomplish.  An admirable insight from a teenager in the limelight.

“I try to live each day so I can look back and be proud of who I am.”

Nashville recording artist, Celeste Kellogg, is capturing the attention of Music Row in a big way.  She was accepted as an emerging artist by the Country Music Association at last year’s CMA Fan Fest.  Linda Davis, mother of Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott and talented singer in her own right, declared Celeste to be the “Shania Twain of this generation.”  High praise for a very talented artist indeed.

             Pop Star Magazine covered her promo tour, making her the 2nd country artist to be featured.  Taylor Swift being the first. iHeart Radio named her an "Artist to Watch."  We couldn't agree more!

Celeste tells us a little about her childhood, her desire to be an authentic artist, and her plans for the future.

AV:     Tell us a little about yourself.  What sparked your interest in singing when you were only 6 years old?  Where did you grow up?  Who were your musical influences growing up?

CK:     I grew up in southeastern Virginia. I started singing at the age of 6 in a church choir.   My dad would sing me to sleep every night, singing the Eagles and James Taylor.  My mom was a choreographer.  She had me in dance at the age of two.  So you can say music has always been around me.  My dad sounds a lot like Alan Jackson.  As I grew older I became an Alan fan. Musical influences growing up would have to be Shania, Alan and Wynonna Judd.

AV:     You were a part of Radio Disney…tell us about that.  How did you become involved?  How old were you when you did that?

CK:     When I was 12, I saw that Radio Disney was holding auditions for a Tween Pop Group on their website. I asked my Mom if I could audition and she said "Sure! You don't have a Disney                  voice, (your voice is more country) but every audition is an experience so why not!"  So that's the way I looked at it.  I auditioned and was honored to be a part of the group.  We opened for Raven, The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, the Cheetah Girls and Kelly Clarkson. It was such an amazing experience and that's when I realized that music is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

AV:     You attained success in Germany with the single “The Look” from your 2010 CD “This Is Where I Wanna Be,” produced by multi platinum producer Andrew Lane.    Tell us about creating the CD.  With this being your debut CD, what goals did you have going into production?

CK:     When my first CD, This Is Where I Wanna Be, was released at the end of 2010, my song ‘The Look’ charted #20 on iTunes in Germany!  With this being my first CD, I started by co-writing 4 songs with Nashville songwriters: Anthony Little, Noah Gordon, Kris Bergsnes and my music producer, Andrew Lane.  About a year later, I came back to Nashville with songs I had written by myself and the same songwriters helped me tweak them a little bit.  Then, I recorded the final 5 songs for the CD.  During the production of the CD, I just wanted my sound to be different….something people hadn't heard before.  We just ended up putting this sound together that was authentic. Later, people would say it was country, pop, and rock with a touch of soul!  It wasn't intentional but that's what happened!

AV:     After Radio Disney ended, you started a band called No Limit.  Where did that name come from?

CK:     We named the group that to tell kids and teens like us that "If you work hard and stay true to yourself, there is NO LIMIT to what you can do!" And that was our message for 3 years!

AV:     You and No Limit garnered the attention of someone in another art form.  Tell us about the movie “No Limit Kids:  Much Ado About Middle School.”

CK:     We actually got the attention of award winning producer and director, Dave Moody.  He asked us to be in a movie that he was directing, later called "No Limit Kids: Much Ado About Middle School".  The screenplay writer, Josh Moody, wrote the movie around us. It was such a cool experience being able to act in a movie because it was something I had never done before!  Coming off the set of the movie you have so many emotions, and I found myself writing 19 songs!

AV:     Compare putting your thoughts and emotions into acting vs. writing/recording music.

CK:     Personally, I think it's a little bit harder to put my thoughts and emotions into acting than singing because acting is a different character.  When I'm singing a song it's easy to put emotion into it, especially if I wrote it.  That’s because I know the feelings that went into the song.  I do think the two go hand and hand, though.  I have done more acting since then and would love to do more!

AV:     You released your 2nd CD this year called “Broken Record.”  Again working with Andrew Lane, how is this CD similar/different than your debut CD?  Did you approach this project with the same philosophy as the debut CD?

CK:     "Broken Record" was released in April 2013.  I think the biggest difference between this CD and my debut CD is that I wrote all of the songs on "Broken Record" by myself.  It's a CD that I am really proud of and hopefully people will like the music that comes from my heart. I did approach the CD with a similar approach as my first CD in the fact that I just wanted it to be different! And I really hope people will like it :)

AV:     What inspires you to write?  What inspired the title cut from “Broken Record?”

CK:     I actually came up with the idea for the song in 2009 and that it would say “Bro Bro Bro Broken Record” but I didn't write the song until 2012.  I thought it would be a cool name for a CD because it's like a record! Different situations that I go through or that I see my friends go through inspire me to write certain songs. "Not Your Girl" was about a break up that I went through that didn't really make sense. There was really no reason to break up, so this song was about getting over that and moving on. "Broken Record" is written about seeing the same guys say the same thing to a bunch of different girls and a girl wanting to find that one special guy. I wrote "Rain" when I was 16.  It was the night before a break-up that I felt coming and I couldn't stop it nor understand how the relationship had gotten so bad. "Tornado".... now I'm not really sure what I wrote that about.  It doesn't really make much sense but it does at the same time. It's about an up and down relationship.  I wrote "Superman" about a "dream guy" that I had kind of made up in my head. I took different traits that I liked in different guys and put them all together to be my SUPERMAN!

AV:     What has the fan interaction been like?  Where can the fans find your music?

CK:     The fan interaction has been great!!! I had a booth at CMA Fest Fan Fair X this year and had a listening station where people could listen to "Broken Record". I was so excited to see their reactions to my music! 75% of the people who listened to my EP, bought it, which really meant a lot to me. One of the most important things to me as a songwriter is knowing that people can relate to and like the songs I write! Especially if it can help them through a situation! I've gotten a lot of tweets about how a song of mine has helped somebody with a situation or that it was theirs and their significant other's song. That puts the biggest smile on my face!
Fans can find my music on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, Google Play or they can get an autographed physical CD off of my website...... http://celestekellogg.com

AV:     What’s on the horizon?

CK:     Up next for me is filming my "Broken Record" music video that multiple TV networks are waiting for.  Country Girl Power Tour is in development, along with lots of meetings, performing and promoting my music, and with a possible radio tour to promote the single!!! I can't wait to visit more places in the United States and around the world! I'm looking forward to meeting you guys and meeting more music fans! I love you all and thank you so much for the support you've given me! Without you guys, there would be no concert, no glow sticks, no songs - you make our dreams as musicians come true! Thank you!