December 7: "The Sing-Off" singer-songwriter and pianist Sara Bareilles is 32-years-old today.

Sara Beth Bareilles was born and raised in Eureka, California, the youngest of three daughters.  She has sold over 1 million records worldwide and has been Grammy-nominated three times.

Bareilles' vocal range registers from contralto to mezzo-soprano, and is often compared to artists such as Fiona Apple, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell and Norah Jones. Her sound is described as "slightly edgy, stompy piano-based pop rock" that incorporates jazz and soul.


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Sara was a member of her the high school choir, Limited Edition, and local community theater musical productions, including her high school's production of Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey.


Bareilles attended the Communication Studies program at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was a member of the co-ed a cappella group Awaken A Cappella, and can be heard on their Dysfunktional Family album singing "Gravity" and "I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5. The group's rendition of Bareilles' "Gravity" was featured on the Best of College A Cappella 2004 compilation CD.

Sara also stated on MTV's TRL that she and the band Maroon 5 go back far to their younger days in California when the band was known as Kara's Flowers. She performed in the annual student concert, UCLA Spring Sing, winning twice.

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After graduating from college in 2002, Bareilles performed at local bars and clubs, building a following before performing in larger venues. She issued two demos of mostly live tracks in 2003: The First One in April and The Summer Sessions in October. In 2004, she appeared as a singer in a bar in the indie film Girl Play, performing the song "Undertow."

In January 2004, Bareilles released her first studio album, Careful Confessions. She signed a contract with Epic Records on April 15, 2005. The remainder of the year and early 2006 were spent writing and reworking songs for her upcoming album.


In June 2007, iTunes featured Bareilles' single "Love Song" as the free single of the week. The following month, her major-label debut Little Voice shot to #1 on the list of most downloaded albums of the music store in its first week of release, and debuted at #45 on the Billboard 200 chart.

After being featured on a Rhapsody commercial in 2007, "Love Song" began climbing the pop charts, jumping from #73 to #16 in one week. It entered the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 27, 2007, and peaked at #4. On other charts, such as the Pop 100 and Hot AC, "Love Song" hit #1.


Bareilles performed the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday, January 17, 2008, and on the Today show on Thursday, February 21, 2008. Soon after that, the song entered the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #4.


Bareilles began work on the follow-up to her major label debut in the summer of 2009, collaborating with the likes of Amir "Questlove" Thompson, members of Weezer, and Pharrel Williams. The first single from her second album, "King of Anything," has since been certified Platinum by the RIAA.


In anticipation of the new album, Bareilles released a series of webisodes, featuring the making of select songs from Kaleidoscope Heart, including "King of Anything," "Uncharted," "Gonna Get Over You," "Bluebird," and a strings only version of "King of Anything." She was selected as VH1's Posted Artist of the Month for July 2010, chronicling her life leading up to the album's release.

Kaleidoscope Heart was released on September 7, 2010 and debuted at number 1 in the United States, selling 90,000 copies. Bareilles toured Europe and parts of Asia and Australia with Maroon 5 throughout spring 2011. She also opened select shows for country music duo Sugarland on their Summer 2011 Incredible Machine Tour.

On May 13, 2011 her song "Breathe Again" was used in the Smallville series finale for the wedding of comic book couple Clark Kent and Lois Lane.


It was announced in July 2011 that Bareilles will star in the third season of the NBC television series The Sing Off as a celebrity judge, alongside Ben Folds and Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men. The third single off of Kaleidoscope Heart is "Gonna Get Over You," with a music video directed by Jonah Hill. Bareilles also guest-starred on Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures.


For more about Sarab Bareilles, visit her Website at: http://www.sarabmusic.com