Kaci Lyn Battaglia (born October 3, 1987,
Clearwater,
Florida) also known as
Kaci ( ), is a singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and professional
kickboxing instructor.
Early life
Kaci Battaglia was born and raised in
Clearwater,
Florida, part of the
Tampa Bay region. She is of
Italian-American and
German-American ancestry. Battaglia's mother Donna remarried after a previous divorce to her stepfather Chuck Stanmore. They split up in 2005. Battaglia began singing when she was three years old and soon began attending various performance camps around
Florida.
Music career
1998–2000: Musical beginnings
At age 11, Battaglia independently released
A Thousand Stars, an album that was produced by her mother, Donna. A portion of the proceeds from
A Thousand Stars went to help a housing project for the less fortunate. Battaglia began looking for a
recording contract when she was eleven years old, due to the success of her independent album. She caught the eye of record producer
Joel Diamond after Battaglia's mom called and asked Diamond to audition her daughter. Diamond put up his own money to record her. After being turned down by over 20 record labels with his demo, "Paradise", for her, it was
Mike Curb who called Diamond months after receiving the recording and told him that he wanted to sign Battaglia to Curb Records.
2001–03: Paradise and I'm Not Anybody's Girl
Her debut single "Paradise", a cover of the theme song originally sung by Phoebe Cates...
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