Sara Bareilles is a singer-songwriter and actress known for her peppy 2007 single “Love Song.” “Love Song” hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, catapulting Bareilles to fame. On April 23, 2013, Bareilles digitally released her new single “Brave” to build anticipation for her upcoming album, The Blessed Unrest.

Bareilles has been a longtime ally of the LGBTQ community, and her single “Brave” was inspired by Bareilles’s friend’s experience of coming out of the closet. “Brave” hit #23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Bareilles is not only active in the pop genre – she is also known for her work in musical theater.She composed music and wrote lyrics for the Broadway musical Waitress, for which she earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score in 2016, and a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theatre Album.

In April 2018, Bareilles received acclaim for her portrayal of Mary Magdalene in NBC's adaptation of a classic Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, for which she was nominated for the 2018 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.

Bareilles attended college at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), where she majored in Communication Studies. While a student there, Bareilles was a member of co-ed acapella group, Awaken a Cappella.

She also performed in UCLA’s annual Spring Sing student concert, which she won twice. Bareilles, who has known Maroon 5 since they were known as Kara’s Flowers, taught herself to play piano and guitar.

Bareilles describes her music as “piano-based pop soul” and looks up to the music of Etta James and Sam Cooke. In 2015, Bareilles released a memoir, “Sounds Like Me: My Life (So Far) in Song,” which was named a New York Times bestseller.