Colette Mary Carr (born January 6, 1991) is an American musician and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Carr's debut album, ''

Skitszo ''Skitszo'' is the debut studio album by American singer-rapper Colette Carr, which was released as a whole on July 9, 2013 through Interscope. The album consists of four digital EPs, each featuring four songs, released two months apart. The full ...

'', a collection of previously released digital EPs, was released on July 9, 2013. " Never Gonna Happen", the fifth single from the album, was released May 5, 2013 and reached the number eleven spot on ''Billboard''s Dance-Club Chart. Her musical style has been compared to

Dev Dev, sometimes capitalized as DEV, can be referred as: People Single names * Dev (born 1982), Indian actor * Dev (born 1984), British radio presenter, DJ and actor * Dev (born 1989), American singer * Dev, Indian actor First names * Dev Anand (19 ...

and

Little Boots Victoria Christina Hesketh (born 4 May 1984), better known by her stage name Little Boots, is an English electropop singer-songwriter and DJ. She was previously a member of the band Dead Disco. Since performing as a solo artist she has released ...

Early life

Carr grew up in Malibu, California. She has one older sister named Nicole. Carr played competitive

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

, training for the Olympics, but the activity reduced the cartilage in her spine, and she was told by a doctor never to play again. She listened to hip hop music in her teens. She learned to rap freestyle, participating in battle raps at parties.

Career

2009–10: Career beginnings and ''Sex Sells Stay Tooned''

Discovered at a

Game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

concert, Carr volunteered to go on stage when host comedian Story Moyd, asked the audience if anyone could freestyle. The audience reacted positively to Carr, screaming "Go white girl". Carr gained the attention of the audience, and various producers, including the Cataracs, who produced various songs for her. Carr released her debut single, " Back It Up" in 2009, which quickly became a viral success. The music video, directed by Richie Mac, received more than 465,000 views on MTV Music networks MTVU channel, charting top 10 video of the week. When Carr's self-produced video, "Back It Up", went to No. 1 at MTVU, it attracted the attention of Nick Cannon, who helped Colette release her debut mix tape, "Sex Sells Stay Tooned"" through his NCredible Entertainment label. In 2010, Carr released promotional single "Bitch Like Me", accompanied with video directed by Jonathan Singer-Vine, and her first mix-tape "Sex Sells Stay Tooned", with over 100,000 downloads in its first few months.

2011–2014: ''Skitszo''

Interscope Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Musi ...

boss Jimmy Iovine signed Colette and sent her to the recording studio for her debut album, ''

'', which produced the ''Billboard'' Dance hit, " Never Gonna Happen" and the ''Billboard'' Uncharted topper, "

(We Do It) Primo "(We Do It) Primo" is a song by American recording artist Colette Carr. The song was written by Carr, and produced by Frankmusik. "(We Do It) Primo" was released on May 11, 2011 by Interscope as the first single from Carr's debut album ''Skitszo'' ...

", working with producers such as

RedOne Nadir Khayat ( ar, نادر الخياط; born 9 April 1972), better known by his stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan singer, songwriter, record producer and record executive. As a record producer and songwriter, he has worked with many high-profi ...

(

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

). The lead single, "

", was released on May 11, 2011. It reached the number-one spot on ''Billboard''s Uncharted chart for artists whose music is primarily distributed online. Carr was included on the CherryTree Pop Alternative Tour along with LMFAO, Far East Movement, Frankmusik, and

Natalia Kills Natalia Noemi "Teddy" Sinclair (née Cappuccini; born 15 August 1986), is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She has recorded music under various aliases, most famously as Natalia Kills and Verbalicious. She is currently the lead vocali ...

. Carr released four digital EPs, "Skitszo" parts 1–4, which consisted of songs from her debut album that had been split into four. Carr's debut album "Skitszo Collection" was released as a whole on July 9, 2013 through Interscope, which included parts 1–4 and four additional songs. " Never Gonna Happen" was the album's fifth single, released on March 5, and a remix by

Dave Aude Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

appeared on ''Billboard''s

Hot Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart at No. 11. Colette then released "HAM" featuring Ben J from Hip Hip duo New Boyz, co-written by

Nate Walka Nate or NATE may refer to: People and fictional characters *Nate (given name) *A nickname for Nathanael *A nickname for Nathaniel Organizations *National Association for the Teaching of English, the UK subject teacher association for all aspects ...

and Jon Redwine, and produced by Marley Waters. Carr released and premiered the music video for "HAM" on popular American radio personality, television host, and producer

Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American media personality and producer. He is the co-host of ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'', as well as the host of multiple media shows including ''American Idol'', ''American Top 40'', and '' ...

's site RyanSeacrest.com on September 13, 2013. Carr toured along with Huey Mack and Mayo on the "Pretending Perfection" tour and then toured for the "On the Rise" tour, along with Jake Miller, Becky G,

T. Mills Travis Tatum Mills (born April 12, 1989), previously known by his stage name T. Mills, is an American rapper, singer, and actor from Riverside, California. Following his name change from T. Mills to Travis Mills, he began hosting an eponymous s ...

, and

Mike Stud Michael Francis Seander (born October 30, 1988), known professionally as Mike (stylized as mike.; formerly Mike Stud), is an American hip hop recording artist. His first musical recognition came with the release of his viral single "College Hum ...

2015–present: ''Believe in Us'' and Tiki Lau

In January 2015, Carr announced that she was working on her second studio album '' Believe in Us'', due to be released in late 2017. The majority of the album has been written and produced with Carr's frequent collaborator Frankmusik. Like her previous album, ''Believe in Us'' will be split into EPs with the full album being released as a whole later. The first EP of "Believe in Us", ''Static.Start.'', was released on June 23, 2015 on Kawaii Nation. The EP includes Carr's lead single from her album, "Static". A second single from the album, named " Play House" was released on January 22, 2016 with the music video released on February 3, 2016. A third long-awaited single from the album, named "Believe in Us" was released on October 27, 2017. By 2020, the album has been scrapped with no new information about the album being released. In 2019, Carr came together with her fiancé and DJ and producer Naka to form a music group Tiki Lau. They released a single called “Mike Tyson” which charted at number 3 on Billboard's “Top Triller U.S.” on December 12, 2020. American Boxer

Mike Tyson Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is cons ...

, who the song is named after, used the song as his walkout theme for his comeback fight against

Roy Jones Jr. Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American former professional boxer who holds dual American and Russian citizenship. He competed in boxing from 1989 to 2018, and held multiple world championships in four weight classes, inc ...

Personal life

Carr is an

oil painter Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

who combines abstract atmosphere with recognizable figures. She has often painted herself with makeup before a concert. Carr announced on September 2, 2018, via Instagram that she was engaged.

Discography

* ''

'' (2013)

Concerts

Co-headlining tours * The CherryTree Pop Alternative Tour (2011) * Pretending Perfection (2014) * On the Rise Tour (2014)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Colette 1991 births American women pop singers American women singer-songwriters American women rappers Interscope Records artists Living people Singer-songwriters from California Rappers from Los Angeles American hip hop singers 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American rappers 21st-century women rappers American women in electronic music 21st-century American singers