Veronica Jean Ballestrini (born October 29, 1991) is an Italian-American singer and songwriter. She has released two studio albums. Her self-made success story has caught national attention as Jon Caramanica wrote in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', "... When someone like Ms. Ballestrini arrives essentially unannounced and begins to attract attention, it’s significant."

Biography

Ballestrini was born in

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...

, and raised in

Waterford, Connecticut Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,571 at the 2020 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place (CDP) and had a population of 3,074 ...

. She comes from a large family of four brothers and one sister. Her father Rosario Ballestrini and mother Carol Marandino Ballestrini are both

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

Ballestrini began playing

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and writing songs at the age of thirteen, the same year she started her MySpace music page. With only cover songs up at the time, she still managed to attract many fans. Veronica's popularity increased after writing and composing her song "Daddy" and posting it to her MySpace playlist. At age fourteen Ballestrini began performing around her home state of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

at local talent contests and

fairs A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

. In November 2006, Ballestrini won 1st place at the USA World Showcase in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, performing her song "Daddy". Her internet status caught the attention of Nashville record producers, who then contacted her about recording in

Music City Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect o ...

. While still in high school, Ballestrini made her professional singing debut. Ballestrini created an independent label in 2009 and worked with producer Cliff Downs, with whom she has written many songs. Downs produced her debut album "What I'm All About".

Music career

2009-2010: ''What I'm All About''

Ballestrini went on to record her debut album ''What I'm All About'' which was released on August 21, 2009 on her own independent label. Her first single "Amazing" charted at #24 on the

Music Row Music Row is a historic district located southwest of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Widely considered the heart of Nashville's entertainment industry, Music Row has also become a metonymous nickname for the music industry as a w ...

chart. and the music video debuted at No. 3 on

CMT Pure Country Music Television (CMT) is an American pay TV network owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched on March 5, 1983, as Country Music Television, CMT was the first nationally available channel devoted to coun ...

. "Don't Say" and "Out There Somewhere" were two other singles released off this album. Ballestrini was named one of six "Artists to Watch For" by

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

Magazine. Ballestrini's song "Destiny" is featured in the Diary of an Ex-Child Star (formerly Leaving Hollywood) movie and on the soundtrack. "Destiny" is also on her "What I'm All About" CD.

2010: ''If I Can Dream''

In April 2010, Ballestrini was chosen as the "Editors Pick" in the

If I Can Dream "If I Can Dream" is a song made famous by Elvis Presley, written by Walter Earl Brown for the singer and notable for its similarities with Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech. The song was published by Elvis Presley's music pub ...

MySpace contest, created by

Simon Fuller Simon Fuller (born 17 May 1960) is a British entrepreneur, artist manager, and film and television producer renowned for nurturing and inspiring world class entertainment talent. He is the creator of the ''Idols'' TV format, including the UK s ...

. She visited the Dream House in Beverly Hills from June 4–7, 2010. Ballestrini returned to the Dream House on June 23, 2010. During her stay she recorded her song "Fascinated" and worked with top writers, vocal coaches and had a romantic link to

Alex Lambert Alexander Don Lambert (born December 10, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter from North Richland Hills, Texas, who was a semi-finalist on the American Idol (season 9), ninth season of ''American Idol'' and starred on a web show, ''If I Can D ...

. She was at the house for two weeks. Lambert and Ballestrini broke up Winter 2010. For her audition video, Ballestrini sang "Blessed The Broken Road" by

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cousi ...

2010-2012: ''Gotta Make A Change''

In 2010, Ballestrini was part of the "Mead Five Star" Music Insider nationwide sweepstake along with 9 other bands. In October 2010 it was announced Veronica was the winner of the fan voted contest, scoring $25,000. Ballestrini used that money to work on new music. In 2011, Ballestrini began working on a project titled ''Gotta Make A Change'', a process that set in motion her "Gotta Make A Change" tour. Throughout the summer 2011, Ballestrini performed shows at various camps, festivals, Girl Scout events and women’s correctional facilities across the U.S. to help spread the project's motivational message. Veronicaperformingguitar

In July 2011, Ballestrini announced to her fans her new single would be "Temporary Fix". The music video for this single was shot in Malibu, California. "Temporary Fix" was released on iTunes on August 11, 2011 and the music video, released on September 24, 2011. In November 2011, Ballestrini charted on the

Billboard Social 50 A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large out-of-home advertising, outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboard ...

chart and #2 for Country artists. In 2012, Ballestrini released another single "Don't Give Up On Me", along with a music video. Ballestrini was in a relationship with country singer Shay Mooney from Dan and Shay from Summer 2011 to March 2013. During their relationship, they would post cover and original songs on YouTube and reached over 400,000 views combined. The pair co-wrote songs for Ballestrini's sophomore album "Flip Side". The album was released on June 17, 2014.

2014-present: ''Flip Side''

In 2014, Ballestrini changed her album title name from "Gotta Make A Change" to "Flip Side". Ballestrini still continued to work on this album with producer/engineer

Brandon Metcalf Brandon Metcalf (born July 3, 1986) is an American record producer and entrepreneur. In 2005, he founded Destiny Collective, a network of businesses in the music and merchandising industries. He was originally a Seattle-based record producer but ...

. While working on her album, Ballestrini went on a U.S. tour with

Secondhand Serenade Secondhand Serenade is an American rock band, led by vocalist, pianist and guitarist John Vesely. Vesely has released four studio albums to date under the name Secondhand Serenade. The name can also refer to John Vesely alone. His debut album us ...

and

Juliet Simms Juliet Nicole Simms (born February 26, 1986), also known as Lilith Czar, is an American musician, songwriter, and entrepreneur. She established a fan base as the front woman of the band Automatic Loveletter. In 2007 - in the band's earliest ye ...

. The tour kick off show was in Lexington, KY on March 8 and ended in Hollywood, CA on April 9. Ballestrini has three duets on

's album ''Undefeated'', which was released in October 2014. Ballestrini is also featured on the

cover of " Say Something". In April 2014, Ballestrini was chosen by Ford to be an agent for the Ford Fiesta Movement as part of a promotion with Ford and YouTube. She received a 2015 Ford Fiesta for a year, along with free gas, insurance, and all expenses paid. On April 24, 2015, Ballestrini became engaged to

front man John Vesely. The couple met at Destiny Recording Studio in Nashville in early 2013 to record a

duet titled "By The Way". Veronica and John were married on April 1, 2017, in Vero Beach, Florida.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

Filmography

References

External links

Veronica Ballestrini's Official WebsiteVeronica on CMTVeronica on Sennheiser
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballestrini, Veronica 1991 births Living people People from Waterford, Connecticut American people of Italian descent American women country singers American women singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters American Internet celebrities 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers Country musicians from Connecticut Singer-songwriters from Connecticut