KAYLEE FEDERMANN
ARTIST BIO
A storyteller at heart, and a singer-songwriter by trade, when Kaylee was just 10 years old she found her father’s old guitar in their basement. After expressing interest in learning the instrument, he refurbished it and taught her a few chords. Little did they know that two short years later her father would tragically pass away from cancer and that Kaylee – coping with his loss – would begin to teach herself using his old guitar books. She even started writing songs about him to keep his memory close to her. Does it come as any surprise that 10 years later, Kaylee is still telling stories and connecting with people through music? After all, what is a songwriter but an author with theme music?
The death of Kaylee’s father is not the only thing that influenced her passion for all things storytelling and music. In high school, Kaylee was diagnosed with Dyslexia, and once again she found songwriting as a tool to help her overcome the challenge. Kaylee explains, “In school, there are so many rules and barriers when it comes to language and it created a fear of not wanting to write or do homework because of how I would be graded. When I started putting words into melodies, I found my own control over the language, instead of the language controlling me.” Whether it was at home or even while sitting in class, Kaylee found herself constantly writing music. “I loved the idea of breaking down those rules and barriers. I’m able to do that by song-writing and there’s nothing more fun to me than turning words into a story."
Kaylee describes herself as someone who loves connecting with other people and believes in living “in the now” so, when life ground to a halt in 2020 due to the pandemic, the initial impact hit hard - both personally and professionally. Like most people across the globe, Kaylee found herself spending a lot of her time in various stages of isolation where she passed the hours by weaving her newest stories together.
Despite the odds, Kaylee found fresh joy in being able to continue to connect with people online through her music despite not being able to gather in person. Unable to perform to live audiences, Kaylee found herself turning to social media more than usual to showcase her music and engage with fans. In the final days of 2020, Kaylee shared a demo of a song she had recorded earlier in the year on her TikTok page. To her surprise and delight, the post garnered over half a million views. Although it wasn’t Kaylee’s original intention to release the track, she decided to take a cue from her fans, and on February 26, she will release it as her latest single titled “Her Song.”
Now 20, Kaylee currently attends the world-renowned Berklee College of Music. Over the past year, Kaylee had the chance to write new music as well as release two singles called “I’ll Follow” and “Hero,” the latter of which was dedicated to the first responders and front-line workers of the pandemic. The new music led her to secure a nomination for Pop Artist of the Year and New Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards. Later this year, Kaylee will release her first full-length EP, where she worked with notable producers including Bleu (Demi Lovato, Michelle Branch) and Steven Martinez (insert credits).
Whether she’s writing her own songs, working with other artists, toplining, or demoing – at the end of the day, Kaylee is in the business of telling stories. What story will she tell next? Stick around to find out.
