Who is Brandi Carlile? Meet Grammy Award-winning singer who started singing at 8 and came out as lesbian at 15
If you remember the 2019 Grammys, then you must definitely remember Brandi Carlile. The singer-songwriter was the most nominated woman at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, receiving six nominations (out of which she won three) including those for Album of the Year ('By the Way, 'I Forgive You'), Record of the Year and Song of the Year (‘The Joke’).
As of 2021, Carlile had been riding a wave of success since the pandemic hit in early 2020, following which she decided to slow down, spend some family time and work on other projects. One of these is a new book. Her memoir ‘Broken Horses’ is set to release in April. She opens up about a life shaped by music in this candid, heartfelt and intimate story.
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— Brandi Carlile (@brandicarlile) December 3, 2020
A limited number of signed copies of "Broken Horses" now available for international shipping!
Head to https://t.co/esOqe57uKn to get yours before they run out! pic.twitter.com/Ms8ADg9WD0
Here’s what to know about the Grammy winner, producer and budding author.
Who is Brandi Carlile?
Growing up in the only house for miles in the rural town of Ravensdale, Washington, Carlile taught herself to sing and started performing on stage at the age of eight. She began playing the guitar, writing songs and became a backup singer for an Elvis impersonator. She eventually dropped out of high school to pursue a career in music, teaching herself piano and guitar.
Carlile’s humble beginnings took a turn for a famous future when Columbia Records signed her in 2004 on the strength of songs she had been recording periodically at home. As of 2020, Carlile has released six studio albums and earned 11 Grammy Award nominations.
She joined the supergroup The Highwomen, an all-female quartet with Amanda Shires, Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby, to record a debut album that has been quite successful in a matter of a couple of years.
Um, completely floored and trying to process the news of this. Thank you so much @AmericanaFest 🤯 pic.twitter.com/acCGXQ3JFE
— The Highwomen (@TheHighwomen) December 15, 2020
Coming out and marriage
Carlile came out as a lesbian at the age of 15 when she was in high school. “I can assure you that I was never invited to any parties. I never got to attend a dance,” Brandi said in a Los Angeles Times report. “To be embraced by this enduring and loving community has been the dance of a lifetime. Thanks for being my island.”
Brandi met Catherine Shepherd, a charity coordinator for Paul McCartney. They spoke over email and later met backstage at her show when Shepherd came to New York City for work.
“We met through our activism and interest in charity,” Brandi said in a 2019 interview with Rolling Stone. “we communicated for about a year, and the entire time I thought I was talking to somebody who was 65. It was an interesting way to fall in love.” The couple got married in 2012. They have two daughters, Evangeline and Elijah.
When Catherine and I got married in 2012, DOMA was still in place and same sex marriage was still illegal in the United States of America. pic.twitter.com/F8iO5JlIT0
— Brandi Carlile (@brandicarlile) June 28, 2020
What is Brandi Carlile's net worth?
While recording the end-credits song for Disney/Pixar’s ‘Onward’, which is about two brothers and their magical quest to visit their long-dead father one day, Brandi said she didn’t turn to her kids for inspiration, and instead dwelt on grief and the mother trying to raise the boys on her own.
“I’m glad I didn’t think of my kids because I probably would have projected. They would have called me: ‘This is Pixar. This really sounds like a lesbian melodrama’,” she says in a Los Angeles Times report with a jolly laugh.
If the net worth aggregator Wealthy Genius is to be believed, her fortune was estimated at around $2 million. Moreover, Celeb Net Worth claims she earns $600,000 per year.