Katelyn Tarver
Quick Facts
Biography
Katelyn Tarver (born November 2, 1989) is an American actress and singer. She is known for her recurring roles as Jo Taylor on the Nickelodeon series Big Time Rush, Natalie on the ABC series No Ordinary Family, and Mercedes on ABC Family The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
Career
Music
In 2003, Tarver took part in the reality television program American Juniors. On August 12, 2003, Tarver was eliminated from the competition for a spot in the five-member band.
Tarver released her debut album, Wonderful Crazy, featured songs written and produced by Mattias Gustafsson (Backstreet Boys) and Kevin Savigar (Josh Gracin, Rod Stewart), as well as Christian recording artist Scott Krippayne who wrote the title track.
On June 14, 2011, Tarver independently released her A Little More Free EP, produced by Matt Grabe. She was Honor Society's opening act on their June–July 2011 "Wherever You Are" tour. Tarver also toured alongside the bands The Cab and Parachute during the summer of 2012. She co-wrote Cheryl Cole's 2014 single "Crazy Stupid Love".
Two new tracks, "Weekend Millionaires" and "Nobody Like You" were released on the streaming platform SoundCloud in 2015. "Weekend Millionaires" was re-released on iTunes, Spotify, and other digital retailers on July 28, 2016. Another new track, "What Do We Know Now", was released in October, followed shortly by the BURNS-produced "Hate To Tell You" the following month.
Tarver also released a cover of Jeremih's song "Planez". She was also featured on the Lost Kings track "You", which was released by Spinnin' Records as a single off their EP The Bad.
Tarver's second EP, Tired Eyes, was released on March 10, 2017.
Tarver was the winning songwriter on the Old Dominion episode of Songland, with her song "Young" being featured in a Jeep commercial, in which Tarver also starred.
Acting
Using motion capture, Tarver acted as the title character in the direct-to-video movie The Barbie Diaries, released in 2006. Sensors recorded her movements so they could control the movements of the animated Mattel's Barbie figure.
She also appeared in the video for Mitchel Musso's single "The In-Crowd" and duetted with him on "Us Against The World". He had arrived early to his recording session as she was in the studio working on her track "Fastlane"; when it was Mitchel's turn, his father Sam suggested trying it as a duet with Katelyn.
On January 29, 2010, she made her acting debut on Big Time Rush as Jo Taylor, a girl the boys admire. Her debut episode was "Big Time Love Song" which aired on February 5, 2010. She developed feelings for Kendall Knight (Kendall Schmidt) and they started dating. But the world tour changed everything: Jo became a television star and Kendall became a pop star. On "Big Time Break-Up" which aired on June 25, 2011, she landed a role in a movie in New Zealand which would keep her and Kendall apart for 3 years. She returned in season 3's episode "Big Time Surprise", which aired on September 22, 2012.
From 2010 to 2011, Tarver appeared as Natalie Poston in 5 episodes of the ABC series No Ordinary Family.
Personal life
Tarver married David Blaise on July 19, 2014.
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Wonderful Crazy |
|
| Brand New Day |
|
Extended plays
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Chasing Echoes |
|
| A Little More Free |
|
| Tired Eyes |
|
| Kool Aid |
|
| Kool Aid: Sugar Free (Acoustic) |
|
Music videos
- As lead artist
| Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | "Weekend Millionaires" | Chuck Willis |
| "Planez" | Chuck Willis | |
| 2017 | "Hate To Tell You" | Alejandro Reyes-Knight |
| "You Don't Know" | Chuck Willis | |
| 2018 | "Never Fade" | Luca Venter |
| "Labels" | Nathan Presley | |
| "Kool Aid" | Luca Venter | |
| 2019 | "Sinking In" Feat. Jake Scott | Nathan Presley |
| "Cynical" | Se Oh | |
| "Somebody Else" | Se Oh | |
| 2020 | "Heaven" |
- As featured artist
| Year | Title | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | "You" | Lost Kings |
| Year | Title | Artist | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | "The In Crowd" | Mitchel Musso |
Songwriting credits
| Year | Song | Artist(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | "Crazy Stupid Love" | Cheryl | Only Human |
| 2018 | "Young" | Old Dominion |
