Jessica Danielle Andrews (born December 29, 1983 in
Huntingdon, TennesseeHuntingdon is a town in Carroll County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 4,349 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Carroll County.-Geography:Huntingdon is located at ....
) is an American
country musicCountry music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer. At age 15 in mid-1999, she made her debut on the
BillboardBillboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now
Hot Country SongsHot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
) charts with the single "I Will Be There for You", from her debut album
Heart Shaped World, released in 1999 on
DreamWorks RecordsDreamWorks Records was an American record label. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down...
Nashville.
Andrews saw her biggest chart success in 2001 with the song "
Who I Am"Who I Am" is the title of a song written by Brett James and Troy Verges, and recorded by American country artist Jessica Andrews. It was released as the first single from her second studio album of the same name.-Content:...
", a #1 country hit and the title track to her second studio album, which was certified gold in the United States. A third album,
NowNow is the third album of country music singer Jessica Andrews. It was released on April 15, 2003. The single "There's More to Me Than You" served as its lead-off single, reaching Top 20 on the country charts...
was released in 2003 to lower sales, while a fourth album (tentatively titled
Ain't That Life) was never released due to DreamWorks' closure. In late 2008, Andrews signed to Carolwood Records, an imprint of
Lyric Street RecordsLyric Street Records was an American record label specializing in country music. The label was part of the Disney Music Group, owned by the The Walt Disney Company. President Randy Goodman, formerly a general manager for RCA Records, founded the label in 1997...
, however, she was dropped from the label in 2009 without issuing an album.
Early life
Jessica Andrews was born in
Huntingdon, TennesseeHuntingdon is a town in Carroll County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 4,349 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Carroll County.-Geography:Huntingdon is located at ....
to parents Jessie and Vicki Andrews. When she was seven, a bone was growing through her spinal cord, a condition that required surgery. She had a 50/50 chance of coming out of it paralyzed. Andrews learned her passion for singing in the fourth grade. Andrews planned on dancing in her school's talent show, but her sister convinced her to sing
Dolly PartonDolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
's "
I Will Always Love You"I Will Always Love You" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton in 1973, who first released the song as a single in 1974.-Dolly Parton version:...
" instead. At 11, she put her first band together. Meanwhile, after someone sent a song of her singing to producer
Byron GallimoreByron Gallimore is an American record producer known for his work in the field of country music. He has worked with artists such as Sugarland, Lee Ann Womack, Jo Dee Messina, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, whose 1999 album Breathe won him the Grammy Award for Best Country Album.-Biography:Byron...
, Andrews signed with
DreamWorks RecordsDreamWorks Records was an American record label. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down...
Nashville and soon began working on her first album. Prior to its release, she began opening for Faith Hill on her Fall 1998 tour, as well as for Tim McGraw (also produced by Gallimore) for his New Year's Eve concert.
Heart Shaped World
At the age of 15, Andrews released her debut album,
Heart Shaped World. Sensitive to her age, she and Gallimore recorded 50 songs before settling on the twelve that appear on the album. Serving as its debut single was "I Will Be There for You", which reached #28 on the
BillboardBillboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now
Hot Country SongsHot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
) charts in 1999. In March of that year, she also performed the song on an episode of the soap opera
Another WorldAnother World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
; One month later, she made her debut on the
Grand Ole OpryThe Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
. Also in 2000, she toured with Trisha Yearwood.
Heart Shaped World also produced two more Top 40 country singles in "You Go First (Do You Wanna Kiss)" and "Unbreakable Heart", although the fourth single ("I Do Now") failed to reach Top 40. The album itself peaked at #24 on the Top Country Albums charts. Andrews was also featured on the premiere episode of
On the Verge, a television series on
CMTCountry Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...
which followed the careers of up-and-coming country artists. On May 3, 2000, Andrews was invited to sing "Unbreakable Heart" at the ACM Awards, where she was nominated for Top New Female Vocalist, along with
Julie ReevesJulie Reeves is an American country music artist. She released one studio album for Virgin Records in 1999, and charted three singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including two minor Top 40 hits. Reeves was once married to country music parodist Cledus T...
and
Chalee TennisonChalee Tennison is an American country music artist from the state of Texas. She has released three major-label studio albums in addition to charting six singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts...
.
Who I Am
Who I Am was the title of Andrews' second album, released in 2001. It was used as the theme song for the police drama
Sue Thomas: F.B.EyeSue Thomas: F.B.Eye is a Canadian-American television series that premiered in the United States in 2002 and Canada in 2003. The show ended in May 2005 due to PAX's decision to halt the production of original programming. It was one of the two highest rated shows on PAX. In September 2009, Gospel...
where the main character
Sue ThomasSue Thomas is an American woman who became the first deaf person to work as an undercover investigator doing lip-reading of suspects for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.-Early life:...
(played by deaf actress
Deanne BrayDeanne Bray is a Deaf American actress who is best known for her role as Sue Thomas in the show Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye. She is also known for her recurring role as Emma Coolidge on Heroes.-Personal life:...
) was a deaf FBI officer, landing a position in an FBI Surveillance team thanks to her
lip readingLip reading, also known as lipreading or speechreading, is a technique of understanding speech by visually interpreting the movements of the lips, face and tongue with information provided by the context, language, and any residual hearing....
talents.
Andrews, who was 17 years old when
Who I Am was recorded, described the album as a more mature effort than
Heart Shaped World, because it focused more on the emotions that come with growing up. Serving as the album's lead-off single, "
Who I Am"Who I Am" is the title of a song written by Brett James and Troy Verges, and recorded by American country artist Jessica Andrews. It was released as the first single from her second studio album of the same name.-Content:...
" became, to date, Andrews' only Number One (and only Top Ten) hit on the country music charts, in addition to peaking at #28 on both the
Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and
Hot Adult Contemporary TracksThe Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...
charts. In a 2001 interview, Andrews explained that she recorded the song (which was written by
Brett JamesBrett James Cornelius is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Signed to Career Records as a solo artist in 1995, James charted three singles and released a self-titled debut album that year...
and Troy Verges) because she felt that its lyrics were especially fitting to her own life: "Everything is so true in that song, except that my grandmother's name is not Rosemary. It's about believing in yourself and being supported by those around you. No matter how many mistakes you make, your friends and family will be there for you." Also included on the album was Andrews' first songwriting credit in the track "Good Friend to Me", which she co-wrote with Annie Roboff and
Bekka BramlettRebekka Ruth Lazone "Bekka" Bramlett is a singer from the United States. She is the daughter of popular music duo Delaney and Bonnie....
.
Andrews spent 2001 on tour with
Billy GilmanWilliam Wendell "Billy" Gilman III is an American country music artist. In 2000, at the age of 12, he debuted with the single "One Voice," a Top 20 hit on the Billboard country music charts and became the youngest singer to a Top 40 hit on the country music charts...
to help promote her second album and its lead-off single; she would later tour with
Tim McGrawSamuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...
as well. The success of "Who I Am" also earned Andrews a Top New Female Vocalist award from the
Academy of Country MusicThe Academy of Country Music was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Whereas the Country Music Association, founded in 1958, was based in Nashville, the Academy sought to promote country music in the western states. Among those involved in the...
, while the album itself received RIAA gold certification for sales of 500,000 copies only four weeks after its release. Its second and third singles, "Helplessly, Hopelessly" and "Karma", peaked at #31 and #47, respectively, on the country charts.
Now and Ain't That Life
NowNow is the third album of country music singer Jessica Andrews. It was released on April 15, 2003. The single "There's More to Me Than You" served as its lead-off single, reaching Top 20 on the country charts...
was the title of Andrews' third studio album, also released on DreamWorks Nashville. Its lead-off single, "There's More to Me Than You", reached Top 20 on the country singles charts, while the second (and final) single, "Good Time", failed to make Top 40. The album featured more of an emphasis on ballads than her first two albums did. Also in 2003, she befriended and began dating songwriter
MarcelMarcel Francois Chagnon is an American country music singer and songwriter known by the singular name Marcel. Signed to Mercury Nashville Records in 2003, he released his debut album You, Me, and the Windshield that year and charted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts with the single "Country...
, co-writer of "There's More to Me Than You".
In late 2004, Andrews charted a duet with
Bret MichaelsBret Michaels is an American musician, actor, director, screenwriter, producer and reality television personality. He first gained fame as the lead vocalist of the glam metal band Poison. Besides his career as lead singer, he has several solo albums to his credit, as well as one chart single...
of the rock band
PoisonPoison is an American glam metal band that achieved great success in the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. To date, Poison has sold over 30 million records worldwide and have sold 15 million records in the United States alone. The band has also charted ten singles to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100,...
, entitled "All I Ever Needed" for his solo album
Freedom of Sound. The song was Michaels' only country hit, peaking at #45. Shortly afterward, Andrews began work on her fourth studio album, tentatively titled
Ain't That Life. Its lead-off single, "The Marrying Kind", failed to chart, while "Summer Girl", the second single, peaked at #46 in mid-2005. DreamWorks' recording division was dissolved shortly afterward and
Ain't That Life was not released.
2008-present
Andrews performed a duet with pop artist
Richard MarxRichard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...
titled "Wild Horses", which was released on his 2008 album
Sundown. In October 2008, Andrews signed with
Lyric Street RecordsLyric Street Records was an American record label specializing in country music. The label was part of the Disney Music Group, owned by the The Walt Disney Company. President Randy Goodman, formerly a general manager for RCA Records, founded the label in 1997...
's subsidiary imprint, Carolwood Records. Her first single for the label, "Everything" (which Andrews co-wrote with Marcel), was released on November 23, 2008. The song failed to make the Top 40 of the country charts, reaching #45 in early 2009. Her album was then pushed back to a later 2009 release; but in October of that year, Carolwood Records closed and the album was shelved. Additionally, Andrews was the only artist on Carolwood not to be transferred to its parent label, Lyric Street.
On November 2, 2010,
Geffen RecordsGeffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
released Andrews' first greatest hits album,
Icon, as part of their Icon budget release series.
Personal life
In October 2010, Andrews announced that she would marry singer-songwriter
MarcelMarcel Francois Chagnon is an American country music singer and songwriter known by the singular name Marcel. Signed to Mercury Nashville Records in 2003, he released his debut album You, Me, and the Windshield that year and charted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts with the single "Country...
on November 11, 2011.
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Singles
Guest singles
Music videos