Ashley Ballard
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Ashley Ballard | ||
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Background information | ||
Birth name | Ashley Monique Ballard | |
Born | June 9, 1985 (age 21) | |
Origin | Mission Viejo, California United States |
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Genre(s) | Pop | |
Years active | 1998-present | |
Label(s) | Atlantic Records (1998-2002) Warner-Reprise Records (2002-2002) | |
Website | Ashley Ballard - V Entertainment Group page |
Ashley Ballard (born Ashley Monique Ballard June 9, 1985 in Mission Viejo, California) is an American pop singer.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early Start
Ashley Ballard sang from the time she was three, creating her own arrangements of favorite nursery rhymes while imitating songs she'd hear on the radio. In 1990, a five-year-old Ashley performed onstage for the first time with her pianist uncle as part of a Christmas concert in Orange County. Her first demos were recorded when she was six.
In 1992, she was a four-time Junior Finalist on StarSearch. Ashley also performed for a number of local events, ranging from church, school, and community theater events to private parties and regional cable television programs. Another milestone came in 1996 when Ashley was asked to perform for President Bill Clinton during a political event in Century City. Thereafter, she was invited to sing in Washington D.C. on the occasion of Clinton's second inaugural.
[edit] Signing With Atlantic
In 1998, she sang at the Blues Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Awards ceremony, performing alongside Ray Charles, Ruth Brown, Boz Scaggs, Stephen Stills, and Bobby 'Blue' Bland. She made her recorded debut a year later with the November 1999 release of Atlantic's RIAA double-platinum Pokémon: The First Movie soundtrack with Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins' R&B girl group So Plush.
April 2000 saw the release of "Don't Get Lost In A Crowd", Ballard's contribution to the Center Stage motion picture soundtrack, and in June, she performed as part of the Steve Madden/Atlantic Records Girl Band Search final ceremonies, held at the South Street Seaport in New York City. Two months later, she was performing sets in a dozen malls across the country to promote her album "Get In The Booth". She also sang Vice President Al Gore at a Los Angeles event during his presidential campaign.
In Spring 2001 Ashley appeared on, Teensation! alongside Atlantic labelmates Debelah Morgan, PlusONE, M2M and Willa Ford. The concert was taped in Hard Rock Live in Orlando, Florida.
[edit] Get In The Booth
On August 15, 2000, Atlantic Records released "Hottie", the first single from her upcoming album Get In The Booth. On May 8, 2001, a maxi CD-single version was released including the "Hottie" single and remixes by Eddie Arroyo, Richie Santana, E-Smoove and Kobie's Proceed. The single sold over 100,000 copies and became #1 in over 10 major radio stations across the US. The song was also included on the MTV original show "Spyder Games" soundtrack.
Ashley's debut album Get In The Booth was released as advanced versions in local malls and radio stations. The official version of the album was never released. Subsequently, Ashley was dropped from her label, Atlantic Records, only to be signed by Warner-Reprise Records. According to her MySpace Music page created on March 11, 2006, political reasons within Warner-Reprise caused her to be dropped shortly thereafter, leaving Get In The Booth to be shelved indefinitely.
[edit] Present
In 2004, Ashley joined the teaching staff at the Rancho Canyon Music School in Rancho Santa Margarita, California as a voice teacher but left the following year.[citation needed] She is also involved in commercial work, having performed on an international radio campaign for a major US toy company. [1] Ashley is currently managed by the V Entertainment Group. [2]
[edit] Discography
Album(s):
- Get In The Booth (2001)
Single(s):
- "Hottie" (2000)
Soundtracks:
- Pokémon: The First Movie Soundtrack - It Was You (feat. So Plush) (1999)
- Center Stage Soundtrack - Don't Get Lost In The Crowd (2000)
- Spyder Games Soundtrack - Hottie (2001)
Other Songs:
- "2 Out Of 3" (2001)
- "Let's Get Naked" (2006)
- "Inspiration" (2006)
- "Strange Thing" (2006)