Katrina Elam

All Music Guide:

Katrina Elam can write and sing a contemporary country song with wit and charm, but when she started out she was your everyday child singer, belting out songs as loud as she could. For some reason she decided to tone down her performance at the 4-H talent show in her home state of Oklahoma. She was only nine and her heartfelt delivery made her mother cry. Elam rushed to see what was wrong with her mother, and when the young singer found out it was her performance that drew the tears, she knew music was her calling. She spent time practicing on a karaoke machine and performing at weddings and corporate events. By the time she was 15 the Oklahoma Country Music Association and the Oklahoma Opry had named her the state's female singer of the year. When Reba McEntire and Vince Gill visited the state, they invited Elam to perform with them and took word back to Nashville that there was a superstar back in Oklahoma waiting to be discovered. Elam had started writing songs at this point and sent a demo to Nashville. Warner-Chappell Music took one listen to her tape and offered Elam -- now 16 -- a publishing contract. By 17 she had moved to Nashville. She was satisfied with being a writer at first but soon desired to be the singer of the songs she was writing. Only a month of performances for record executives had past before Elam was offered a recording contract by Universal South. The label released her self-titled debut in October 2004. Turn Me Up arrived in 2007.

Wikipedia:

Katrina Ruth Elam (born December 12, 1983 in Bray, Oklahoma) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Universal South Records in 2004, she released her self-titled debut album that year, charting in the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) with the #29 "No End in Sight" and the #59 "I Want a Cowboy". A third single, "Love Is", peaked at #47 from an unreleased second album Turn Me Up. Elam left the label in 2008.

Early life

Elam was born in Bray, Oklahoma, population 1,035. She performed in a 4-H talent show at the age of 9. In 1998 she was named female vocalist of the year by the Oklahoma Country Music Association and the Oklahoma Opry. Elam received a publishing contract at the age of 16. In her senior year of high school, her mother home schooled her because of her busy writing and recording schedule.

Elam is now married and has a son.

Career

After completing high school, Katrina Elam moved to Nashville, TN, where she secured a contract with Universal South Records. Jimmie Lee Sloas produced her first self-titled album, released on October 5, 2004. The album reached #42 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and #33 on Top Heatseekers chart. The first single, “No End In Sight”, reached #29 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The follow-up single "I Want a Cowboy" reached #59 on the same chart. Elam also toured in 2004 with Keith Urban.

Elam later toured with Rascal Flatts to promote her unreleased second album, Turn Me Up. "Love Is," the first single released from the album, peaked at #47 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in 2006. Another single from the album, "Flat on the Floor," eventually peaking at #52. Later in the year, Carrie Underwood did include a version of the track on her 2007 album Carnival Ride. Elam exited Universal South in 2008. Elam also co-wrote the track "Change" on Underwood's 2009 album Play On. Reba McEntire covered "I Want a Cowboy" on her 2009 album Keep On Loving You. Elam also co-wrote "Easy", Rascal Flatts' collaboration with Natasha Bedingfield.

In late 2010, Elam was cast in a sequel to the 1992 film Pure Country, titled Pure Country 2: The Gift Elam's "Dream Big" was released to radio in late 2010 and served as the lead single for the movie's soundtrack, which was released on February 8, 2011.