Rachel Platten

**Rachel Ashley Platten** (born May 20th, 1981) is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her 2015 single Fight Song.

## Early Life

Rachel Platten was born on May 20th, 1981 to Pamela and Paul Platten. She grew up in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. She studied classical piano since age 5 and took up guitar in high school. She attended Buckingham Browne and Nichols for high school where she sang in the school's singing group. Platten graduated from Trinity College with a degree in international relations in 2003. At Trinity, she was a member of the Trinitonlege's all-female a cappella group. As a part of a study abroad program, she went to Trinidad to do an internship at a diplomat's office and at a record label. While she was there, she sang back up for a friend's band in front of over 80,000 people at the International Soca Monarch finals in 2002. According to Platten, from that moment on she knew she had to pursue music full time. She then moved to New York City's Greenwich village where she cut her teeth playing with a Prince and Sly and the Family Stone cover band called Dayz of Wild. In 2012, it was reported she married Kevin Lazan in a Jewish ceremony. She performed her solo music around the village and eventually began touring the country. She has worked with numerous charities, Musicians on Call (where she sings bedside to hospital patients) and she is an ambassador for Music Unites. She also works with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation and was an ambassador for Below the Line (a call to end world poverty).

## Career

### 2003-14: Trust In Me And Be Here

She released her debut studio album Trust in Me in 2003 - which she has called, a collection of demos. Her second album, Be Here, was released from Rock Ridge Music in 2011. Her 2011 single "1,000 Ships" peaked at number 24 on the US Billboard Adult Top 40 chart. An earlier song, "Seven Weeks", was used for the film The Good Guy. The theme song for ABC Family's, Jane by Design, "Work of Art" was performed by Platten on hire. Her song "Begin Again" was used in the hit ABC Family TV show Pretty Little Liars 100th episode "Miss Me x100". Her song "Don't Care What Time It Is" was used in VH1's Basketball Wives. Her song "You're Safe" was used in MTV's Finding Carter in September 2014. On June 27, 2014 Rachel first debuted Fight Song on We Heart It as part of an artist spotlight.

### 2015–present

She is now signed to Columbia Records, and in the spring of 2015 released the single "Fight Song" (co-written by Platten and Dave Bassett) from her upcoming album and already-released EP "Fight Song", which is number 21 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The song is a midtempo anthemic pop song, a self-affirmation song whose music is stylistically in the vein of such top pop artists as Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Swift. The song was used in the Christmas episode of Pretty Little Liars‍ '​ fifth season and in promos for the fourth season of Revenge on the Seven Network in Australia. She released the news to her fans through a Facebook post that read, "To every single person that's ever believed in me, to every mile that I've driven across the country, you made this moment that much sweeter. Proud to have just signed to Columbia Records. Time to spread the love." The song was also featured in the trailer[16] for the upcoming CBS show Supergirl in May 2015 and is also being used in a commercial for Ford cars.

"Fight Song" has reached number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number 1 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart for 3 weeks, number 5 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, number 3 on the Billboard digital singles chart (and #1 on the iTunes digital singles chart, where it was the best selling single in the USA for the week ending July 4, 2015), number 6 on the Billboard Radio Songs chart, number 8 on their Pop Songs chart, and number 11 on Billboard's Songs of The Summer chart. It also reached number 2 on the Australian Singles Chart, number 8 in New Zealand, number 9 on the Billboard Canadian chart, and number 5 on the Billboard Canadian digital sales chart. It has also reached platinum sales in the US, selling over a million copies in her native land. Platten's 2015 "Fight Song" EP reached number 20 on Billboard Top 200 Albums chart.

She served as a support act on Alex & Sierra and Andy Grammer's joint tour The Good Guys & A Girl Tour. She is currently touring with Colbie Caillat and Christina Perri on their The Girls Night Out, Boys Can Come Too Tour.