Brandi Carlile—the risk-taking, try-it-all, rock-and-roll, Americana, singer-songwriter, and guitarist—will take the stage with her full band at College of Charleston TD Arena on Memorial Day (Monday, May 30 at 8:30pm) during the Festival’s 40th season. Here are some facts you may or may not know about Brandi:

  • Born on June 1, 1981 in Ravensdale, Washington
  • Six albums to date—her most recent album is the Grammy-nominated The Fire Watcher’s Daughter (2015)
  • Brandi’s versatile vocal talents have taken her musical focus from pop, to rock, to alternative country, to folk, and all the spaces in-between. She seeks to erase the lines between musical genres.
  • Her mother was also a singer and taught Brandi to sing country music on stage when she was 8 years old.
  • When she was 16, she was as a backup singer for an Elvis impersonator.
  • She dropped out of school as a teenager to put her focuses towards a music career
  • She collaborated with Elton John, whose music inspired her to learn to play piano, for her album Give Up the Ghost in 2009.
  • Early in her career she was featured on Rolling Stone’s “10 Artists to Watch in 2005.”
  • Her first album Brandi Carlile reached number 1 on U.S. Folk Albums in the Billboard charts.
  • The original trio (herself and twin brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth) make up the core of her band today.
  • 4 of Brandi’s songs have appeared on Grey’s Anatomy.
  • Boston Globe wrote that Brandi has “the most arresting female voice in pop this side of Adele.”
  • Brandi and her band frequently record raw tracks for their albums and avoid making demos, because as she told NPR, rock and roll is “more of a recklessness or a risk.”
  • She created the Looking Out Foundation in 2008 to give financial support to causes such as the American Diabetes Association, Honor the Earth, and others.
  • She is known for her immense voice that cracks when singing strenuously and emotionally.

Tickets to see Brandi Carlile at Spoleto Festival USA can be found HERE.

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