Brittany Jean Carlson (born April 22, 1987), better known by her stage name BC Jean, is an American singer-songwriter, best known for writing and singing the song " If I Were a Boy" with which

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

would later achieve worldwide commercial success.

Early life

Jean was born in Mercy Hospital,

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

to mother Lori Carlson, a talent manager and a stockbroker father that played trumpet and piano. She has lived in

Ramona ''Ramona'' is an 1884 American novel written by Helen Hunt Jackson. Set in Southern California after the Mexican–American War and annexation of the territory by the United States, ''Ramona'' explores the life of a mixed-race Scottish– Native ...

, Valley Center, and Carmel Valley, California. She plays piano and began songwriting at 14 inspired by the works of performers including

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

, and

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

. Jean later became part of a cover band in high school. Her first performance with the band was at the Sahara Casino on the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits ...

when she was 15.

Musical career

Jean was signed to

J Records J Records was an American record label owned and operated by Bertelsmann Music Group until it was transferred to Sony Music Entertainment when they acquired all of BMG's record labels in late 2008 at the end of their merger. It was distribut ...

while working on a debut album with Dallas Austin, The Matrix, Max Martin and others. After signing with J,

Clive Davis Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a non-performer, in 2000. From 1967 to 1 ...

, the CEO of Sony Music Entertainment said, "You eagerly wait for a multi-talented new artist to come along like BC Jean. We're all really delighted that BC has chosen us as her musical home." It was later announced on October 7, 2011, that the

RCA Music Group RCA Music Group was an umbrella group of labels distributed by Sony Music Entertainment that existed between March 2004 and 2009, and for a short period of time between July 2011 and October 2011 as all RCA Music Group labels were merged with RCA ...

was disbanding a dozen labels including

. All of the artists from those labels, including Jean would move and release future material through

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

. Jean released her debut single, "Just a Guy", on September 14, 2010. She also starred in the web-series ''Talent'' produced by Alloy TV on YouTube as Harper, a musician who travels to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in search of fame. Two seasons have aired.

Alexander Jean

Alexander Jean is a duo with BC Jean & Mark Ballas. They began performing as a pop rock duo in 2015. Their debut single was "Roses and Violets", which reached the Top 20 on Billboard's Hot 100 "Bubbling Under" chart. They had success with "Waiting for You" and were nominated to be

Elvis Duran's Artist of the Month Since 2013, ''Elvis Duran's Artist of the Month'' is a regular ''Today Show'' feature fronted by American radio broadcaster Elvis Duran in which he chooses an upcoming solo singer, and at times duos and groups, to spotlight them each month as "Artis ...

in November 2018.

Personal life

Jean currently lives in Los Angeles. Her grandparents, who were also music artists, were signed to

for more than 30 years. Her grandfather performed with

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...

and both grandparents with

Fred Waring Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, choral director, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to ...

. Since 2012, she has been in a relationship with ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'' professional dancer Mark Ballas. They were engaged on November 25, 2015. Exactly a year later, on November 25, 2016, the couple married in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

. They welcomed a son on November 5, 2023.

Discography

(For discography as part of duo with Mark Ballas, see Alexander Jean)

Singles

Featured Songs:

References

External links

* Alexander Jean website * BC Jean on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

* BC Jean on Twitter
BC Jean
at

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jean, Bc 1987 births Living people American women singer-songwriters American pop musicians Singer-songwriters from California Musicians from San Diego RCA Records artists American women pop singers 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters Ballas family