Kellie Pickler

Her first single, "Red High Heels", debuted on September 13, 2006, and its music video was officially released on October 20, 2006. It received a nomination for the CMT Video Awards for "Breakthrough Video of the Year".[7][8]

Her debut album, Small Town Girl, released on October 31, 2006, topped Billboard's Top Country Albums and landed at number nine on the Billboard 200 selling over 79,000 copies in its first week, making Pickler the highest-selling first-week sales for a new artist in 2006. The album includes five songs that Pickler co-wrote with songwriters Chris Lindsey, Aimee Mayo, and Karyn Rochelle.[9][10][11]

On January 18, 2007, Pickler co-hosted The View and was presented with a gold record by Rosie O'Donnell, certifying that her album has reached the 500,000 sales mark. She also performed her second single, "I Wonder", which is a personal song about her absent relationship with her mother, Cynthia Morton. It was the first performance of the song on national television.[12][13]

Pickler was nominated for "Top New Female Vocalist" for the 42nd Academy of Country Music Awards.[14]

She was also part of Brad Paisley's "Bonfires & Amplifiers" concert tour from April 2007 through October as one of the opening acts. The tour was booked in at least 37 cities across North America including a couple of stops in Canada.[15][16]

Pickler appeared in country music artist Brad Paisley's music video "Online" in 2007.[17]

In September 2007, Pickler released a version of "Santa Baby" for a Christmas country compilation. A month later, at the ASCAP Awards in Nashville, Tennessee, Pickler received a songwriter award for co-writing "Red High Heels". She performed "I Wonder", at the 2007 CMA Awards. During the performance, she was visibly overcome with emotion and struggled to even finish the song before bursting into tears. The performance received a standing ovation. She was also nominated for the Horizon Award. The performance led her to receive 3 CMT awards the following April.

While "Things That Never Cross a Man's Mind" was climbing the country charts (it eventually reached number sixteen), Pickler returned to the studio to record her second studio album for 19 Recordings/BNA Records. She performed the debut single, "Don't You Know You're Beautiful" at the ACM Awards on May 18, 2008, and received a good response from the audience. She was nominated for "Top New Female Vocalist", but the award went to Taylor Swift.

"Don't You Know You're Beautiful" was released to radio in June 2008 and was a Top 25 hit for Pickler, peaking eventually at number twenty-one. Her second album, Kellie Pickler, was released on September 30, 2008, and debuted at the top of the country chart, as well as number nine on the Billboard 200, selling over 43,000 copies in its first week. It matched the debuting spots of her first album, Small Town Girl.

On November 12, 2008, Pickler performed the second single from her album Best Days of Your Life at the CMA Awards. She was also nominated for "New Artist of the Year" for the second year in a row, but lost to Lady Antebellum. "Best Days of Your Life" made its radio debut in November 2008, and debuted at number 56. The song climbed very slowly up the chart, but ended up becoming Pickler's first Top 10 hit on the Hot Country Songs chart. After nearly 40 weeks on the chart, the song peaked at number nine in August 2009. A music video was made by Roman White, featuring Taylor Swift, who co-wrote and sang background harmony vocals on the song.

Pickler was nominated for "Female Video of the Year" at the 2009 CMT Music Awards for "Don't You Know You're Beautiful". She lost once again to Swift. She also presented the award for "USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year" with Idol judge Randy Jackson.

Pickler accompanied Swift on the first leg of her Fearless Tour 2009. In June, she launched her first ever headline concert tour in promotion of her self-titled album. On October 8, it was announced that Pickler would be part of the second leg of Fearless Tour.[18]

"Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You", a re-recording from Pickler's first album Small Town Girl, was released as the album's third single on August 30, 2009. The song debuted at number 55 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and became her fifth Top 20 hit, peaking at number fourteen in February 2010.

On October 26, Pickler won the title of Country Weekly's poll of most beautiful woman in country music for the second year in a row. Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood were the second and third places, respectively.[19]

"Makin' Me Fall in Love Again" was released as the album's fourth single on April 19, 2010. It debuted at number 53 and peaked at number 30.

It was announced that Pickler's third album would be produced by Frank Liddell, known for producing country artist Miranda Lambert's albums.[20] "Tough" was released on June 13, 2011, as the lead-off single to Pickler's third album, 100 Proof, which was released on January 24, 2012. The album debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 and at number two on the Top Country Albums chart. "Tough" reached a peak of number 30 on the Hot Country Songs chart, while the album's title track, which was released as the second single in April 2012, peaked at number 50 on the same chart.

On June 27, 2012, ABC News Radio reported that Pickler parted ways with Sony Nashville. Pickler's manager told ABC News Radio, "Kellie's contract with Sony came to an end and they mutually decided not to renew it".[21] On July 10, 2012, she sang "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch at the 2012 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. On October 8, 2012, CMT reported Pickler had signed with the independent record label Black River Entertainment.[22]

Pickler's first single with Black River Entertainment, "Someone Somewhere Tonight," was released on May 14, 2013.[23] After eight weeks, it reached a peak of number 49 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart in July 2013, and served as the lead-off single to Pickler's fourth album, The Woman I Am, which was released on November 11, 2013. Pickler wrote the title track with her husband, songwriter Kyle Jacobs.[24]

"Little Bit Gypsy" and "Closer to Nowhere" were released as the album's second and third singles and reached peaks of number 50 and number 59 on the Country Airplay chart, respectively. A promotional single, "Feeling Tonight," was made available as a digital download on June 2, 2015, but never received an official radio release. It was later announced in June 2016, that Pickler had parted ways with Black River.[25]

On May 21, 2013, Pickler and Derek Hough were announced the winners of the sixteenth season of Dancing with the Stars. She performed a well received super sized freestyle, which scored a perfect 30 and garnered effusive praise from the dance judges.[26] She performed "Little Bit Gypsy" on November 25, 2013, episode in the seventeenth season.

In 2013, Pickler starred as Mirabelle in the fiftieth VeggieTales video, Beauty and the Beet released on October 14, 2014. In February 2022, Pickler began work as a DJ on SiriusXM's country music station, The Highway.[27]

Pickler in Jacksonville, Florida, November 6, 2008

Pickler actively supports St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where she helps raise funds and gives kids special visits. She also participates in charitable events to help raise funds for various organizations. She has performed to help raise funds for the "N.C. Children's PROMISE" to benefit the Children's Hospital on November 12, 2006,[42] to help refurbish the Hurricane Katrina-damaged NFL Youth Education Towns Boys & Girls Club of New Orleans on December 16, 2006,[43] visited St. Jude Children's Research Hospital on January 12, 2007,[44] and visited Pennington Elementary School on February 1, 2007.[45] "When you're able to give back to your communities and organizations like St. Jude, it's a great thing," Pickler said. "It's been a great experience, and I encourage anyone and everyone to help."[46]

Pickler participated with other country artists in an online auction for charity by Mario Magro: Kiss for a Cause Foundation Celebrity Auction held June 15–25, 2007, in support of orphaned and abandoned children. The event auctioned off celebrity lip prints and signatures pressed on the inside of Mario Magro Crystal Le Coop handbags at the 42nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.[47] In November 2007, Pickler appeared on a celebrity edition of the quiz show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, playing for the charities of her choice, American Red Cross and the AARP's Grandparenting Program.[48][49] During the show, she was asked to name the European country for which Budapest is the capital, to which she responded "...I thought Europe was a country ...I know they speak French there. Is France a country?" She chose the copy cheat, allowing her to go along with the 3rd grader's correct response of Hungary.[50]

Pickler has participated in three tours on behalf of United Service Organizations. The first, in late 2007 and early 2008, took her to Iraq;[51][52] the second, in December 2008, included stops in Germany, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, and England.[53] In January 2010, Pickler made stops in Iraq and Kuwait on a 10-day tour with Randy Houser and Jamey Johnson. The three country stars "played remote bases on the front lines of the war zone, and the sound of gun fire became their frequent companion at night."[54]

In early August 2009, Pickler participated in ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's rebuilding of James Terpenning's family home in Beavercreek, Ohio. Pickler performed a free concert at the home, and helped during reconstruction.[55]

On June 26, 2016, on an episode of Celebrity Family Feud, Pickler and her team won $25,000 for her charity, USO.[56]