By the time I was 14 and had started high school, I was a midwestern teenager living the life of a workaholic New Yorker. Going to school from 7-3 didn’t cut it for me. I had to be in every club and organization. Choir, drama club, key club…you name it. I had to be physically active. I had to have a social life — with 18 year olds who had cars and stayed out late. I had to be active in my church, leading youth group and attending services three times a week. And more importantly, I had to pursue my songwriting and music career, which kept me out way past bedtime at bars for shows and open mics.

I was getting by on around 4 or 5 hours a sleep a night and I was doing it without caffeine. I had straight A’s and…a lot of my friends openly hated this about me. I was a nonstop go-getter, over-achieving on minimal sleep before I even had my driver’s license. When I was 16, I launched my own handbag line and my shows became more steady. By the time I was 17, I had a serious boyfriend to throw into the mix as well as a ‘real’ job, a position running the choir, and college application stress. Yet, I was still going strong, riding on an ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead‘ slogan. Read More »

MySpace has brought many an artist to the musical forefront, and Colbie Calliat is no exception. However, unlike many artists today, Calliat (like ballet) writes her own music.

The 22 year-old hails from sunny California and grew up in a musical family. Her father co-produced a few Fleetwood Mac albums and by age 11 Colbie began singing. It wasn’t until she was 19 that she took guitar lessons and really started to take her music seriously.

After the song “Bubbly” garnered interest on her MySpace page, Colbie’s music career took off. She shopped around for a record label and found a home with Universal Republic.

Aside from dropping her first album CoCo this past July, Calliat has been named a finalist in the AOL Breakers contest, a VH1 artist You Oughtta Know and is scheduled to appear at GIRLFRENZY! alongside the likes of Sheryl and Fiona in 2008. Read More »