Colbie Caillat Biography

The singer, songwriter, and guitarist Colbie Caillat was born in 1985 in Malibu, California. That Colbie would grow up to become a performer is little surprise, considering that her father is Ken Caillat, the co-producer who has worked with notable bands as Fleetwood Mac (particularly on Fleetwood Mac’s iconic album, Rumours.)

Colbie began vocal lessons and piano lessons when she was in elementary school, appearing on stage for the first time when she was in sixth grade. By the time she’d graduated from high school, Caillat had started playing acoustic guitar. After a failed attempt to audition for American Idol, Colbie decided to turn to YouTube and try to establish her own following. Over time, Colbie Caillat grew to become the number one unsigned signer in her genre on the popular forum MySpace.

Colbie Caillat released a debut album in 2007. The album, Coco, featured hit single “Bubbly,” which rose to the number two spot on the pop charts and into the top five on the mainstream charts. The additional singles “Realize” and “The Little Things” followed, and by 2008 Colbie was performing on tour with some of the era’s most notable performers, including John Mayer and The Goo Goo Dolls. But it was the duet song “Lucky,” recorded with Jason Mraz, that truly put Colbie Caillat on the map, earning her a Grammy Award and setting the stage for her big breakthrough. That opportunity came, ironically, through her sophomore album titled Breakthrough, which earned Colbie her first solo Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album in 2010.

Since that time, Colbie Caillat has gone on to sell more than ten million singles and six million albums, becoming one of the top 100 music artists of the 2000’s. Her album Gypsy Heart arrived in 2014, featuring the single “Try”; her most recent album, The Malibu Sessions, arrived in 2016.