Vanessa Lee Carlton

Biography

Vanessa Lee Carlton (born August 16, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress. Her 2002 debut single "A Thousand Miles" spent 41 weeks on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and earned three Grammy Award nominations, becoming her signature song. It preceded her debut studio album, Be Not Nobody, released by A&M Records that same year and reaching No. 5 on the Billboard 200. It further produced the singles "Ordinary Day" and "Pretty Baby". Her next studio album, Harmonium (2004), experienced similar success; its troubled production led Carlton to depart A&M in 2005.

Carlton released her third studio album, Heroes & Thieves (2007) on The Inc. Records, to minimal chart success but critical praise. She independently released her next two studio albums, Rabbits on the Run (2011) and Liberman (2015), both of which were acclaimed for its personal subject matter and musical shift. Her sixth studio album, Love Is an Art, was released in 2020. In 2025, Billboard ranked Carlton among the best female artists of the 21st century. She released her most recent studio album, Veils, in 2026.

Outside of music, Carlton made her Broadway debut with a leading role in the jukebox musical Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (2019).

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