Kelsea Ballerini was born on September 12, 1993 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Growing up with a father who was a former sales manager for a country radio station, Kelsea had been familiar with music since childhood. She was involved in a church choir and joined a glee club in her school. She also took several dance lessons before stopping at 13 years old, when she started writing songs. It was not until she was fifteen that she began learning how to play guitar.

She later moved to Nashville to seriously pursue her dream of being a professional singer and songwriter. Four years later, she signed a deal with Black River Entertainment and released her debut single "Love Me Like You Mean It" in 2014 before releasing her debut album "The First Time" in 2015. The song arrived at No. 60 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart.

On February 14, 2015, Kelsea made her debut performance at the Grand Ole Opry, where she sang "Love It Like You Mean It". Later in the same year, the song reached No. 1 on Country Airplay chart, making Kelsea the first solo female country music artist to score a number one hit with her debut single since Carrie Underwood did so with "Jesus, Take the Wheel" in 2006. Her success didn't stop there. She won Rising Star Award at Billboard's Women in Music in the same year.

In September 2016, the third track off her album, "Peter Pan" reached No. 1 on both Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs, making her the first solo female country music artist to top two country charts at the same time. Her career aside, Kelsea announced that she had been engaged to her beau, an Australian country music singer Morgan Evans, on Christmas day.

In early 2017, Kelsea was included in Forbes' "30 under 30" list, which is filled with young people who use their fame to make a difference and a fortune. Kelsea and Maddie & Tae were the only country stars who made it into the list. It wasn't the only achievement that Kelsea got in that year. The country singer also took home Gene Weed Milestone Award at ACM Awards and Best New Country Artist Award at iHeartRadio Music Awards. On June 7, she released a new song "Legends", which served as the lead track off her second studio album "Unapologetically".