Kaylee Bell is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. In 2013, she won the prestigious Toyota Star Maker award in Australia, joining the likes of Lee Kernaghan, Samantha McClymont and was the first New Zealand born Artist since 1990 winner Keith Urban. She subsequently released her debut studio album, Heart First, later that year. Bell has placed multiple singles in the Top 10 of the Australian Country Music Charts and won multiple awards. She is currently the 'Most Streamed Female Country Artist' in Australia. Her second album, Silver Linings was released in November 2021. Bell has been announced to open for the Brad Paisley World Tour NZ show late 2022 alongside Australian Country Star Morgan Evans.
Kaylee Bell | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1989/1990 (age 32–33)[1] Waimate, Canterbury, New Zealand |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 2013–present |
| Labels | Independent |
| Website | kayleebellmusic |
Kaylee Bell was born in Waimate in Canterbury, New Zealand and began singing at the age of four.[2] She won the NZ Gold Guitar Award at age 18 and moved to Australia four years later to pursue a career in country music.[2] In 2013, she won the prestigious Toyota Star Maker award, which led to her releasing the single "Pieces" with fellow Australasian, Jared Porter.[3] The song received substantial airplay in Australia and earned the duo an APRA Award for Best Country Music Song at the 2015 APRA Silver Scroll Awards and the overall grand prize at the US Unsigned Only Competition, marking the first time a non-American had won the latter award.[4][5][2] Bell independently released her debut studio album, Heart First, in 2013 that included her first solo single of the same name.[6] Heart First won Best Country Album at the 2014 New Zealand Music Awards.[7]
In 2016 Bell released her breakout single "Getting Closer" a break-up anthem written with Morgan Evans, that quickly stormed the streaming charts and charted on the New Zealand Heatseekers singles chart. Bell started reaching career highs on the Australia country music charts with the release of her singles "One More Shot", "Who I Am", "Keith", and "Wasted on You" in 2018 and 2019; these songs and "Getting Closer" were later repackaged as The Red EP in 2021. Bell's tribute to Keith Urban, 'Keith' went to #1 on The Music Network Country Chart where it spent 25 weeks on the chart. Three further one-off singles were released in 2020: "Light On", "Home", and "Be With You".[8] In 2021, Bell released three collaborative singles "That Summer" with Josh Mirenda or Lepnani,[9] "Before I Met You" with The McClymonts, and "Living Free" with Lindsay Ell, and announced that her second studio album, Silver Linings, would be released November 26, 2021.[10] 'That Summer' featuring Kiwi Pop Artist Lepani had crossover success at NZ mainstream radio in 2021 being 'the most added single to radio' for the month of May on hard hitters ZM, More Fm and The Hits.' Bell was chosen as the face for Spotify's EQUAL global programme for Female Artists in Music where she was featured on a billboard in Times Square, New York, USA.
In 2022, she auditioned for The Voice Australia and got all four Coaches to turn for her. After Keith Urban was blocked, she ultimately chose to be a part of Team Jess.[1] She was eliminated in the battle rounds.
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Heartfirst |
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| Silver Linings |
|
| Title | EP details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| AUS indie [11] | ||
| The Red EP |
|
9 |
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NZ Hot [12] | |||||||||
| "Heartfirst"[13] | 2013 | — | Heartfirst | ||||||
| "Pieces"[14] (with Jared Porter) |
2014 | — | East to West | ||||||
| "That's What I Call Crazy"[15] | 2016 | — | Non-album single | ||||||
| "Getting Closer" | —[upper-alpha 1] | The Red EP | |||||||
| "Next Somebody" | 2017 | —[upper-alpha 2] | Non-album single | ||||||
| "One More Shot" | 2018 | —[upper-alpha 3] | The Red EP | ||||||
| "Who I Am"[19] | — | ||||||||
| "Keith" | 2019 | 22 | |||||||
| "Wasted on You" | —[upper-alpha 4] | ||||||||
| "Light On"[21] | 2020 | — | Non-album singles | ||||||
| "Home"[22] | — | ||||||||
| "Be With You" | —[upper-alpha 5] | ||||||||
| "That Summer" (featuring Josh Mirenda or Lepani) |
2021 | 17 | Silver Linings | ||||||
| "Before I Met You" (featuring The McClymonts) |
—[upper-alpha 6] | ||||||||
| "Living Free"[25] (featuring Lindsay Ell) |
—[upper-alpha 7] | ||||||||
| "Same Songs"[27] (with James Johnston) |
2022 | — | TBA | ||||||
| "Small Town Friday Nights"[28] | — | TBA | |||||||
| "—" denotes recording that failed to chart or was not eligible to chart. | |||||||||
The Tamworth Songwriters Association (TSA) is an annual songwriting contest for original country songs, awarded in January at the Tamworth Country Music Festival. They commenced in 1986.[29] Kaylee Bell has won one award.[30]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | "The Seed" by Kaylee Bell and Lance Coassin | Amateur Contemporary Award | Won |
The Country Music Association Awards (CMA) are an annual American awards show honouring the best in country music. Bell has received one nomination.[31]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result (wins only) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Kaylee Bell | Global Country Artist Award | Pending |