Bonnie McKee
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Bonnie McKee | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Bonnie Leigh McKee[1] |
| Born | January 20, 1984 |
| Genres | pop rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, actress |
| Instrument | Piano |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Labels | Reprise Records (2000–2007) |
Bonnie Leigh McKee (born January 20, 1984)[1] is an American singer-songwriter, formerly signed to Reprise Records. She released her debut album Trouble in 2004, which was a minor success. The single "Somebody" was included in the soundtrack to the 2004 comedy film Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!. As a songwriter McKee has enjoyed success writing international hit singles for Katy Perry ("California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" and "Part of Me"), Taio Cruz ("Dynamite") as well as Britney Spears ("Hold It Against Me").
Biography
Early life
McKee was born in Vacaville, California, and spent her formative years in the Seattle area. Upon moving to Seattle, she joined the Seattle Girls Choir. She toured Europe in 2000 as a member of its top Prime Voci choir, including a concert in Rome at the request of Pope John Paul II. She recorded two albums with the choir, including "Jackson Berkey Meets The Seattle Girls' Choir" and "Cantate 2000".
McKee's youth was somewhat unconventional. She attended the private high school, The Bush School, but amid failing most of her classes, and at the requests of parents concerned with the influence McKee would have on her classmates, she was kicked out before she could finish her freshman year. However, the week after her expulsion, The Bush School did allow her to participate in a program in which she spent a week in a recording studio with her classmates. This demo contained several songs that ended up on her album Trouble, including the title track and "When it All Comes Down", the latter being inspired by her rejection from the school.
2004–2005: Trouble
McKee had progressed to writing her own music by the time she was twelve. By fifteen she was performing on her own and had produced her own six-track EP. This material, re-recorded, formed the core of her first major label album, Trouble released September 28, 2004. She gave the EP to a friend, who happened to babysit for a family with connections to the music industry in Los Angeles. Her EP sparked interest around town, and her song, "Somebody" fell into the hands of Nic Harcourt, who played it on Morning Becomes Eclectic, igniting a bidding war among the major labels.
Ultimately, McKee signed with Tom Whalley as his first artist as the CEO at Warner Brothers, and signed of one of the last 'big' record deals before the industry began to suffer.
At sixteen, McKee moved to Los Angeles on her own, and recorded her album with Rob Cavalo.
McKee's first major brush with national exposure came in the March 7, 2004 "Shoot the Moon" episode of the American Dreams TV series, in which she portrayed Janis Joplin. Her song "Somebody" was featured in the 2004 film Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, garnering enough notice to cause her album to be released ahead of its (previously delayed) schedule.
There was lots of press, including interviews and shoots with Blender, Nylon, Interview, Paper, The Los Angeles Times and Teen People. She played on Jimmy Kimmel Live and was also featured on MTV's Buzzworthy, VH1's You Outta Know, and MTV's Pre-RL.
She toured nationally with Ryan Cabrera in 2005.
In the non-fiction book "The Long Tail" by Chris Anderson, McKee is used as an example of how the internet, specifically Yahoo's Launchcast service, forced Reprise to change how they marketed McKee. According to the book, Robin Bechtel, Warner Bros. and Reprise Records Head of New Media, tried to convince the label that because of the internet data, the label was marketing McKee to the wrong audience. Reprise was trying to target the adult contemporary audience (women in their 30s and 40s), but when an early track release on Launchcast revealed the song was a hit with a strong preteen, teen and 20-something female audience, Reprise gave McKee more 'edge' and targeted them instead. Even though McKee's single was a hit on the internet, Trouble sold fewer than 17,000 copies and got very little airplay. Bechtel pitched this story to Chris Anderson for his book.
2007–present: Acting, songwriting and second studio album
In mid 2007 McKee was dropped from Reprise. Feeling happy about her departure, she soon started recording new music and eventually got a supporting role in the film August Rush.
She made an appearance on CSI: NY in the episode "Help" alongside Alex Band. McKee played a dead subway singer and performed her own songs including "Trouble" and "To Find You".
McKee collaborated with Dr. Luke and Katy Perry for Perry's second album, co-writing both of Perry's international hit singles, "California Gurls" and "Teenage Dream", both of which topped the Billboard Hot 100, as well as "Last Friday Night". She co-wrote five songs for Britney Spears's 2011 album,[2] including the lead single, "Hold It Against Me". McKee is also a co-writer on Taio Cruz's hit single, "Dynamite" found on the international edition of his second studio album, Rockstarr, and has written songs for Leighton Meester, Fefe Dobson, Miranda Cosgrove, and Elliot Yamin.
McKee is currently working on her second studio album.[2] She is working with American producer Dr. Luke, who is also the executive producer of the album.
In an interview with alexkazemi.com, McKee said that she had worked with Kelly Clarkson on her upcoming fifth studio album.[3]
McKee appeared in Bravo's Platinum Hit as a guest judge. On episode 6 (of season 1), she judged the challenge where the final seven contestants were tasked with writing a song about risk. She told the second place team that they should write pop song lyrics that a four-year-old could understand.
McKee revealed via her twitter page[4] that she is working on new music and hopes to have a new single released by summer of 2012.
It seems that she's also working with Leona Lewis, writing a song called "Lovebird"[5].
Discography
Albums
| Title | Album details | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Trouble |
|
17,000 (US) |
Singles
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Adult Top 40 | |||
| "Somebody" | 2004 | 39 | Trouble |
Songwriting discography
| Year | Artist | Album | Song | Co-written with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Miranda Cosgrove | Sparks Fly | "There Will Be Tears" | Ammo, Allan Grigg |
| Taio Cruz | Rokstarr | "Dynamite" | Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Benny Blanco, Taio Cruz | |
| Katy Perry | Teenage Dream | "Teenage Dream" | Katy Perry, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Benny Blanco | |
| "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" | Katy Perry, Dr. Luke, Max Martin | |||
| "California Gurls" (featuring Snoop Dogg) | Katy Perry, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Benny Blanco, Snoop Dogg | |||
| Fefe Dobson | Joy | "Thanks for Nothing" | Fefe Dobson, Josh Abraham, Luke Walker | |
| 2011 | Britney Spears | Femme Fatale | "Hold It Against Me" | Max Martin, Dr. Luke, Billboard |
| "Inside Out" | Max Martin, Lukasz Gottwald, Mathieu Jomphe, Jacob Kasher Hindlin | |||
| "How I Roll" | Christian Karlsson, Henrik Jonback, Magnus Lidehäll, Pontus Winnberg, Nicole Morier | |||
| "Seal It With A Kiss" | Lukasz Gottwald, Max Martin, Henry Walter | |||
| "Gasoline" | Lukasz Gottwald, Claude Kelly, Benjamin Levin, Emily Wright | |||
| Namie Amuro | Checkmate! | "make it happen" (feat. AFTERSCHOOL) | DOUBLE, Jörgen Elofsson, Erik Lidbom | |
| Kelly Clarkson | Stronger | "Hello" | Kelly Clarkson, Josh Abraham, Oliver Goldstein, Bonnie McKee | |
| "Alone" | Josh Abraham, Oliver Goldstein, Bonnie McKee, Ryan Williams | |||
| 2012 | Katy Perry | Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection | "Part of Me" | Perry, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Henry Walter |
| "Wide Awake" | Perry, Dr. Luke, Max Martin |
Top Ten Singles
The following singles peaked inside the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100.
- Number-one singles
- "California Gurls"
- "Teenage Dream"
- "Hold It Against Me"
- "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"
- "Part of Me"
- Top 10 Hits
- "Dynamite"
References
- ^ a b California Births, 1905 - 1995, Bonnie Leigh McKee – Birth Date: 01/20/1984, County of Birth: Solano (Vacaville)
- ^ a b Lipschutz, Jason (12 November 2010). "Hit songwriter Bonnie McKee to record solo album - Yahoo! News". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
- ^ http://alexkazemi.com/2010/07/listensingle-review-teenage-dream-katy-perry/
- ^ http://twitter.com/#!/BonnieMcKeee/status/145223338627833856
- ^ http://thelavalizard.com/2012/01/new-song-leona-lewis-lovebirds-snippet/
External links
Official information
- Reprise Records: 2003 EPK; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- Reprise Records: Artist Spotlight: Bonnie McKee; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- NBC: American Dreams Episode Guide, Season 2 Episode 215, Shoot The Moon 8/7pm 3/07/04; Retrieved December 6, 2004
Interviews and Articles
- Jones, Oliver: Coming Attraction: Bonnie McKee Blender, October 2003; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- Mooallem, Steven: [Bonnie McKee: the ingenue who turned her messed-up life into music - Music Prediction - Interview] Interview, November 2003; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- Elliot, Russell W.: Bonnie McKee; Trouble; interview and album review Musical Discoveries, July 24, 2004; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- Monger, James Christopher: Bonnie McKee Biography AMG, 2004; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- Tate, Natalie: [Bursting through stereotypes; Singer-songwriter brings maturity, depth to ‘bubblegum’ pop star image] UCLA Daily Bruin, December 2, 2004; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- Lieberman, Sara: [It Girl: Bonnie McKee] Alloy, September 29, 2004; Retrieved December 6, 2004