Brittany Jean Carlson (born April 22, 1987), better known by her stage name BC Jean, is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for writing and singing the song "

If I Were a Boy "If I Were a Boy" is a song written by BC Jean and Toby Gad and originally performed by Jean in 2008. The song gained international attention the same year in a version by the American singer Beyoncé, from her third studio album '' I Am... ...

" with which 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 Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

to mother Lori Carlson, a talent manager and a stockbroker father that played trumpet and piano. She has lived in Ramona, Valley Center, and Carmel Valley, California. She plays piano and began songwriting at 14 inspired by the works of performers including

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

, and Aerosmith. Jean later became part of a cover band in high school. Her first performance with the band was at the

Sahara Casino Sahara Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Meruelo Group. The hotel has 1,616 rooms, and the casino contains . The Sahara anchors the northern end of the Las Vegas ...

on the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South 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 cit ...

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. It was distributed through the RCA Music Gro ...

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 19 ...

, 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 currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

. 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 ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

in search of fame. Two seasons have aired.

Alexander Jean

Alexander Jean is a duo with BC Jean &

Mark Ballas Mark Alexander Ballas Jr. (born May 24, 1986) is an American dancer, choreographer, singer-songwriter, musician, and actor. Ballas is a professional ballroom dancer on the ABC program ''Dancing with the Stars''. He began competing on the show ...

. 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 "Art ...

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 Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signi ...

and both grandparents with

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

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

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series ''Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

'' professional dancer

. They were engaged on November 25, 2015. Exactly a year later, on November 25, 2016, the couple married in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Mali ...

Discography

(For discography as part of duo with

, see

Alexander Jean Alexander Jean is an American music duo made up of singers Mark Ballas and BC Jean. The name for the duo is a combination of their two middle names. Ballas and Jean first met in 2012. Ballas was performing in a band while Jean was performing her ...

)

Singles

*"Just a Guy" (2010) *"I'll Survive You" (2011) *"Anyone" (2011) *"Stand Up" (2011) Featured songs *"Not My Revolution" (2014) (with Itch) *"So Alone" and "Die Without You" (2014) (with

tyDi TyDi (; born Tyson Illingworth, 31 May 1987) is an Australian songwriter, record producer and DJ specializing in electronic dance music. Originally from Queensland, TyDi was signed by Armin van Buuren's Armada label at 17 and was ranked at No ...

) *"Happy Holidaze" (2014) (with Astro Safari USA) *"Torn In Two" (2012) (with It Boys!)

References

External links

* Alexander Jean website * BC Jean on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

* BC Jean on Twitter
BC Jean
at MySpace * {{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 singers Ballas family