Spotlight: Rachel Platten

As a teenager, pop singer/songwriter Rachel Platten gravitated toward, and began to become affected by, hip-hop and female singer/songwriters. Platten dreamt of a career in music but never really thought it could happen. However, the electricity she felt onstage while studying abroad in college, performing in front of 80,000 at the International Soca Monarch Finals in Trinidad, inspired the artist to start chasing what she once thought was an impossible dream. After college, Platten immediately set out for New York City where she took up residence in the very Greenwich Village apartment building where Bob Dylan once lived. Naturally, she found a band on Craigslist and started performing in clubs around the city. Platten would find her first big spark with “Fight Song,” which took her two years to complete. “Fight Song” was, without a doubt, the inspirational song of 2015, topping iTunes and radio charts, and reaching three-times platinum status in the United States alone. The fire that “Fight Song” ignited has connected not only with music fans but also Columbia Records. Platten’s major-label debut, Wildfire, was released Jan. 1, 2016. Currently in the midst of a U.S. tour, the GRAMMY Museum welcomes Platten to the Clive Davis Theater for an intimate conversation on her new album and rising career, hosted by Scott Goldman, Vice President of the GRAMMY Foundation and MusiCares. The discussion will be followed by a special performance.