Gia Farrell (born Jeannie Bocchicchio, February 9, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter and make-up artist. Her 2006 single " Hit Me Up" was featured on the ''

Happy Feet ''Happy Feet'' is a 2006 computer-animated jukebox musical comedy film directed, produced, and co-written by George Miller. It stars the voices of Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, and ...

'' soundtrack in 2006 and climbed the charts internationally. In 2015, she released a single under the artist name "Bokeeks" titled "Smile". She's currently working on her first commercial album after leaving Atlantic Records in 2008.

Early life

Gia was born in

Suffern, New York Suffern is a village that was incorporated in 1796 in the town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. Suffern is located 31 miles northwest of Manhattan. As of the 2010 census, Suffern's population was 10,723.Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also bo ...

'' and opened for Fat Joe, where she performed songs from Beyoncé and Mariah Carey. At age 13, she had performed on ''

Showtime at the Apollo ''Showtime at the Apollo'' (formerly ''It's Showtime at the Apollo'' and ''Apollo Live'') is an American variety show that first aired in syndication from September 12, 1987 to May 24, 2008. In 2018, the series returned on Fox with Steve Harvey ...

'' being named one of their "Best Artists of the Year" as well as on

Ed McMahon Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. (March 6, 1923 – June 23, 2009) was an American announcer, game show host, comedian, actor, singer, and combat aviator. McMahon and Johnny Carson began their association in their first TV series, the ABC game sh ...

's ''Next Big Star'' and ''

Star Search ''Star Search'' was an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Al Masini. A relaunch was produced by 2929 Productions from 2003 to 2004. On both versio ...

''. In 2005 at 16 years old she signed with Atlantic Records. She later adopted her grandmother's maiden name as her stage name. Farrell cites artists

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed " The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston i ...

, Mariah Carey and

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice of ...

as her biggest influences.

2005–2007

Farrell released her first single, "Hit Me Up", in January 2007. The song was featured on the soundtrack of the movie ''

''. It found moderate success internationally charting in various parts of Europe, topping the charts in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

and peaking at No. 6 in Australia. The single was used as the theme song for the second season of ''

Germany's Next Topmodel ''Germany's Next Topmodel'' (often abbreviated as ''GNTM'') is a German reality television series, based on a concept introduced by Tyra Banks with ''America's Next Top Model''. The competition is hosted by Heidi Klum who also serves as the lea ...

''. For the 2006 holiday season, Farrell's song "Christmas Everyday" was released on the

Make-A-Wish The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in the United States that helps fulfill the wishes of children with a critical illness between the ages of and 18 years old. Make-A-Wish was founded in 1980 and headquar ...

Holiday CD sold at Bath & Body Works. In 2007 she recorded three songs "You'll be Sorry", "Can & Cannot Do" and "Stupid For You", however none were officially released as part of a CD or album. This was due to Gia Farrell leaving her label Atlantic Records because they did not release her album due to a change in internal staff and management. During this time in her early career, Gia had several managers and handlers including Doug Davis son of the legendary Clive Davis. After parting ways with Doug, Gia was forced to find new management. Gia's new manager was an unscrupulous individual who attempted to derail her career, steal her money and keep her in the dark. Unfortunately, he was successful at straining her relationship with her label. After a lengthy court battle and tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, Gia won a court case against her manager and permanently parted ways with him. In April 2007 Farrell rode on the float for the opening parade celebration at the Cincinnati Reds opening day baseball game and sang the

US National Anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...

. In December 2008 Farrell left Atlantic Records.

2009–2011

In May 2009 she released a demo single "New Religion" which was accompanied with a music video. Gia began posting random YouTube videos of original and cover songs. her videos had reached 600,000+ views. In January 2011, Farrell joined

Miranda Cosgrove Miranda Taylor Cosgrove (born May 14, 1993) is an American actress and singer. She was the highest-paid child actor in 2012 and was included on ''Forbes'' magazine's " 30 Under 30" list in 2022. She is known for her career on television, parti ...

on her tour to promote her debut album, '' Sparks Fly''. In mid June 2011, Farrell joined in a cover for

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a rec ...

's "

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" with The All Ways band. She also appeared on the eleventh season of ''American Idol'' as Jeannie Bocchicchio but was unable to complete the season due to having been previously signed to Atlantic records.

Discography

Note: Only six songs from her "Gia Farrell" album leaked on the internet. Christmas Everyday and Hit Me Up had already released commercially for purchase online.

From the unreleased "Gia Farrell" album

* Christmas Everyday – 2006 * You'll Be Sorry – 2006 * Got Me Like Oh! song originally by ''

Sertab Erener Sertab Erener (born 4 December 1964) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer. With her coloratura soprano voice, she started working as a backing vocalist for Sezen Aksu, and with Aksu's help she released her first studio album in the 1990 ...

'' – 2006 * Hit Me Up from ''

'' – 2007 * Stupid For You – 2007 * Obvious – 2007 * I Been Hopin' – 2007 * Can & Cannot Do – 2007 * Next – 2007 * Real – 2007 * So Wrong – 2007 * Do You Know What It's Like? – 2007 * I Was Ready – 2007 * Girl Like Me – 2007 * Flashback – 2007 * Don't Make Me Break Your Heart – 2007 * Over You – 2007 * Outta My Mind – 2007 * Let's Go – 2007 * Wait and See – 2007

Other sample songs

* New Religion – 2009 * Oh Holy Night – 2009 * The Christmas Song – 2009

With Blackbird

* Can't Make Somebody Love You – 2014 * Goodbye – 2014

As Bokeeks

* Smile (2015) * Christmas Love (2015)

2017–18

* Original Sin (2017) * Love Is Gone (2017) * You'll Be Sorry (2017 version) * Rhythm and Sex (2017) * What'd You Say (2017) * Into The Ground (2018)