Kelly Marie Harper (born June 28, 1979 known professionally as Kelly Harper, is an American recording artist and singer-songwriter. Harper's debut hit song "New Best Friend" charted at number 38 on

Billboard's ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

Top 40 CHR charts. She has had 8 of her songs placed on

Oxygen network Oxygen (branded on air as Oxygen True Crime) is an American television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, through its Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary. The channel primar ...

hit show ''

The Bad Girls Club ''Bad Girls Club'' (abbreviated ''BGC'') is an American reality television series created by Jonathan Murray for the Oxygen network in the United States. The show focused on the altercations and physical confrontations of seven aggressive, q ...

'', '' Love Games'', licensed to

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's ''

Road Rules ''Road Rules'' is an MTV reality show that was a sister show of the network's flagship reality show, ''The Real World''. The series debuted on July 19, 1995, and ended on May 9, 2007. This allowed ''Road Rules'' a total of 14 seasons and 12 year ...

'', and '' Real World'', and

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

's ''Living Lohan'' show. Harper won best song in "Songwriter Universe Magazine" for her acclaimed hit "Till This Goes Away" co-written by multiplatinum award-winning

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

/songwriter

Rob Wells Rob Wells (born 1971/1972) is a Canadian producer/songwriter, and is one half of music production team "The Fourth Floor" with award winning singer/songwriter/recording artist Shobha. Artists that Wells has worked with includes Ariana Grand ...

. She was signed to Feenix Rising Entertainment through former

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

exec Len Nicholson and

Amerie Amerie Mi Marie Nicholson ( Rogers; born January 12, 1980) is an American singer. Born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, she gained an appreciation of the classical arts from her mother Mi Suk Rogers and of music from her father Charles Rogers, and ...

1997–1999 Early Life and Career Beginnings

Harper was born and raised in the small town of

Lewistown, Pennsylvania Lewistown is a borough in and the county seat of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the principal city of the '' Lewistown, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area'', which encompasses all of Mifflin County. It lies along the Juniata Ri ...

. An introverted young girl Kelly found her joy in music. At the age of 8 she began by singing in the local

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

and writing poetry. By age 10 her mother bought a piano. Harper taught herself how to play it and started to turn her poetry into songs. After graduating high school, Kelly's door to fame opened when a

modeling agency A modeling agency is a company that represents fashion models, to work for the fashion industry. These agencies earn their income via commission, usually from the deal they make with the model and/or the head agency. The top agencies work with bi ...

signed her and took her to New York City for four years.

1999–2007

Harper was born and raised in

Lewistown, PA Lewistown is a borough in and the county seat of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the principal city of the '' Lewistown, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area'', which encompasses all of Mifflin County. It lies along the Juniata Riv ...

. She moved to Los Angeles in 1999 and walked away from a modeling career. Kelly began writing and playing with local musicians and songwriters instantly. Her first album "New Best Friend" gained immediate exposure and buzz as her song landed on the Billboards Top 40/CHR charts at No. 38. Hollywood music supervisor Debra Baum chose the song "New Best Friend" from a catalog of over a thousand songs for placement in the feature film "Thanks to Gravity." as well as being placed on the Oxygen Networks top rated show's 'The Bad Girls Club'. 'Love Games, MTV's 'Road Rules', 'The Real World', and 'Living Lohan' Show.

2007–present

Harper began writing with Multi Platinum Award Winner Producer/Songwriter "

" and together they immediately gained attention with placements winning the best song for " Till this goes away" in Songwriter Universe magazine. The song placed as a top 10 finalist in the International Songwriting Competition in the Top40/Pop category. Harper wrote a song on her EP with

Christopher Ward Christopher Ward may refer to: * Christopher Ward (British politician) (born 1942), British solicitor and Conservative Party politician * Christopher Ward (conductor) (born 1980), British conductor * Christopher Ward (entomologist) (1836–1900), E ...

best known for Black Velvet By

Alannah Myles Alannah Myles (née Byles; born December 25, 1958) is a Canadian singer-songwriter who has won both a Grammy and a Juno Award for the song " Black Velvet". The song was a top-ten hit in Canada; it was also a number one hit on the US ''Billboar ...

. Harper is back in the studio working on her soon to be released second studio album fall 2013.

References

External links

Official WebsiteMySpaceFacebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Kelly American women singer-songwriters 1982 births Living people People from Lewistown, Pennsylvania Singer-songwriters from Pennsylvania 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers