Music
Caillat rockets to top from MySpace
Wednesday, December 12, 2007 3:21 AM
By Jon Bream
STAR TRIBUNE (Minneapolis)
Colbie Caillat is the queen of MySpace.
But with more than 12 million views, 267,000 friends and a No. 5 song on Billboard's pop chart, Caillat (rhymes with ballet) has to be the Web site's biggest success story for a newcomer.
A year ago, the 22-year-old acoustic-pop-soul singer was working the front desk at a tanning salon and living with her parents in Malibu, Calif. Now, she has a hit album and a headlining tour. She'll perform tonight at the sold-out WNCI (97.9 FM) Jingle Ball in the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion.
It's all because her tune Bubbly popped from MySpace to No. 1 on iTunes to adult-pop radio to Top 40 radio.
"I'm so excited and so proud of it," she said recently from Northampton, Mass.
When Caillat set up her MySpace site, she didn't know how to post music: "My friend had to make the page for me and show me how to upload my songs."
Last spring, she spent four months at No. 1 on MySpace's unsigned-artist list -- and even started getting recognized on the street -- before landing a deal with Universal Republic.
Caillat grew up in the music business. Her dad, Ken, co-produced the Fleetwood Mac albums Rumours and Tusk, and ran his own label.
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