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Michigan born Jana Rae Kramer graduated from Rochester Adams
High School in 2002 before she went on to chase both her Hollywood and her Nashville
dreams.
She made her acting debut in the low-budget independent
horror film Dead/Undead (2002). She also played a bartender at Alvin’s
in The Passage (2003) and had a role
in Blood Games (2003) shortly before
moving to New York where she landed a bit part on the soap opera All My Children (2003). Jana then
followed her dream to Los Angeles, California. Jana trained in “Scene Study”
courses in acting with Stephen Black of The
Talent Group.
Slowly, Jana landed parts in movies; Blue Demon (2004), Return of
the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005), Click
(2006), Boxboarders! (2007), Bar Starz (2008), Prom Night (2008), The Poker
Club (2008), Spring Breakdown
(2009) and Laid To Rest (2009) while
also making appearances on TV shows; CSI:
Crime Scene Investigation (2006), CSI:
NY (2006), Friday Night Lights (2007-2008),
Grey’s Anatomy (2006), 90210 (2008-2009), Private Practice (2009), Entourage
(2009) and One Tree Hill (2009-2012).
Jana always had a love for country music. Collaborating with
a friend, Deanna Dozier, Jana formed a country side project called Moonshine. Production shut down on Friday Night Lights during the 2007
Hollywood writers’ strike. Moonshine
received a call from the show Can You
Duet (2008) whom was interested in casting them on their first season. Can You Duet is a duet-themed music
competition reality based TV show in which contestants compete as part of a
duo. She made the cut however Deanna did not. Not wanting to do the show
without her friend, Jana left during the next episode.
Musically, her first big break came with One Tree Hill. The show’s producers
wrote her musical talents into her character, Alex Dupre. Jana moved to
Nashville, Tennessee to be closer to the filming of One Tree Hill and to help her in pursuing a career in country
music. Jana released four songs on the show; Whiskey, I Won’t Give Up,
Why Ya’ Wanna and What I Love About Your Love. Jana would
end up releasing these songs later on her debut album. She set up showcases
with all of the labels in town and garnered the attention of John Esposito, the
head of Warner Nashville.
In February 2011, Jana signed a recording contract with
Elektra Records. Scott Hendricks (famed producer for Alan Jackson, Brooks &
Dunn, Trace Adkins, Faith Hill, John Michael Montgomery and Blake Shelton, as
well as many others) produced the majority of the album. Jana released I Won’t Give Up and Whiskey as singles through iTunes while working on her debut album.
Both of these songs placed in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart on digital sales
alone. Jana was also asked to record her version of the Deniece Williams
classic Let’s Hear It For The Boy to
be included on the soundtrack for the Footloose (2011) remake.
On January 16th, 2012 Jana released her official
debut single, Why Ya’ Wanna. The song
peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and 52 on the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart with sales of more than 730,000. She released her debut
Self-Titled album through Elektra Nashville on June 5th, 2012. The
album hit number 4 on the Country Albums chart and 19 on the US Billboard 200.
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Why Ya’ Wanna
became a Top 5, gold-certified hit selling over one million to date and went on
to break Taylor Swift’s record on the MEDIABASE Country singles chart in
October 2012. Whiskey, her second
single, has also had strong sales selling over 150,000 digital copies to date. Including
a third single, I Hope It Rains, Jana
has had over 1.4 million tracks sold to date making her the most digital
singles sold from a debut female in the past 5 years!
Jana received three ACM (American Country Award) nominations
last year, and won the 2013 ACM for New Female Vocalist of the year. She is the
highest charting female debut in Country Aircheck History which was previously
held by Taylor Swift. She was the only female selected for CRS (Country Radio
Seminar) New Faces 2013.
Jana continues to act and has recently starred in two
movies; Approaching Midnight (2013)
and Heart of the Country (2013). She
also filmed a commercial for Nationwide Insurance and sings the jingle: “Nationwide is on your side”.
In September 2013, Jana started work on her second album.
She is currently on the road headlining the “Country Deep Tour presented by
AT&T U-verse”, which made a pit stop at the Crofoot in Pontiac, Michigan on
February 27th, 2014.
Contributing photographer Thom Seling was on hand at the
Crofoot to catch her act in front of a near sold-out crowd.
More photos can be seen at Thom’s Facebook page: