Rachel Platten Biography

news-detailsRachel Platten was born Rachel Ashley Platten on May 20, 1981. Growing up in Newton Centre, Massachusetts, she began learning classical piano at the age of 5 and started playing guitar in high school. She attended Buckingham Browne and Nichols for high school, and sang in the school's singing group.

After graduating high school, she entered Trinity College and became a member of the school's all-female a capella group, the Trinitones. As a part of a study abroad program, she went to Trinidad to do an internship at a diplomat's office and at a record label. While she was there, she sang back up for a friend's band in front of over 80,000 people at the International Soca Monarch finals in 2002. According to Platten, from that moment on she knew she had to pursue music full time.

She graduated from Trinity College with a degree in international relations in 2003. In the same year, she self-released an R&B album titled "Trust in Me". In 2006, she moved to New York City's Greenwich village where she played with a Prince and the Sly and the Family Stone cover band called Dayz of Wild.

She performed her solo music around the village and eventually began touring the country. Along the way, she began to land licensing deals for advertising and TV series, and her song "Seven Weeks" appeared in the 2009 romantic comedy "The Good Guy".

In 2011, her second album "Be Here" was finally released via Rock Ridge Music. The single "1,000 Ships" hit number 24 on Billboard's Adult Pop Songs chart. She embarked on a tour to support the album for the next two years.

Meanwhile, ABC Family's "Jane by Design" (2011-2012) used her song "Work of Art" as its theme. Some of her songs appeared on other TV shows including "Pretty Little Liars" and VH1's "Basketball Wives" before she signed with Columbia Records in early 2015 and released "Fight Song" in February that year as a single from her EP of the same title.

The song, also featured in another episode of "Pretty Little Liars", became Platten's biggest hit to date, having reached No. 5 on Billboard Hot 100.