While most music fans weren’t aware of Jillian Jacqueline until she released her single “Overdue” in 2014, she already had an impressive career in show business before she was old enough to enroll in junior high. Jacqueline was born in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, and spent most of her childhood there, before moving to New York City in her early teens. A precocious talent inspired by the music playing on the family’s stereo — including Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, the Dixie Chicks, Carole King, James Taylor, and Patty Loveless — Jacqueline began singing at an early age, and was performing at local coffee shops when she was only seven years of age. When she was eight, Jacqueline recorded an album in her guitar player’s home studio. A year later, Jacqueline became part of the cast of Christmas from the Heart, a Yuletide revue starring Kenny Rogers that ran for three months on Broadway. Jacqueline spent the next several years as part of Rogers’ touring show, and through Rogers she was introduced to Billy Dean and Suzy Bogguss, who invited the young vocalist to join them on a duet single, “Keep Mom and Dad in Love,” in 2001.
Around this time, Jacqueline formed a group with her sisters known as the Little Women Band; the act toured extensively, but Jillian dropped out when she began to burn out on touring life and wanted to pursue a more traditional education. During her time off, Jacqueline pondered the notion of a solo career, and after completing her studies at Philadelphia University in 2010, she relocated to Nashville and began making a name for herself as a singer and a songwriter. In 2013 Jacqueline cut six songs with songwriter and producer Richard Marx, and in 2014 Marx produced a single for her, “Overdue,” featuring harmony vocals from Vince Gill. The tune became a major online success, racking up over a million streaming plays. Jacqueline followed “Overdue” with the Jillian Jacqueline EP in 2016. After signing with Big Loud Records, she released the single “Reasons,” a song she co-wrote with Sarah Buxton, in spring 2017. ~Mark Deming
