Biography

Actor and country-pop singer and songwriter Jana Kramer rose to fame on television, where she joined the cast of One Tree Hill as Alex for its final three seasons. Her first few releases as a country artist were featured on episodes of the series, helping her 2012 eponymous debut album into the Top 20 of the Billboard 200. The follow-up, 2015's Thirty One, reached the Top Ten. She finished out the decade with appearances on Dancing with the Stars and in several TV movies alongside a series of non-album singles. The self-doubting "Voices" saw release in 2021. Born and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, Jana Rae Kramer grew up on country music and would eventually pursue a recording career, but she began her professional life as an actor, making her onscreen debut in the 2002 indie horror film Dead/Undead while still in her teens. Guest spots on shows such as All My Children and CSI: NY followed over the next few years until she landed the recurring part of Noelle Davenport on NBC's Friday Night Lights during the show's second season (2007-2008). Kramer went to appear as Portia Ranson on 90210 (2008-2009) and Brooke Manning on Entourage (2009) before joining the cast of the CW's One Tree Hill as Alex Dupré in 2009, where she stayed until partway through the series' final season in 2012. During her run on the show, Kramer signed a recording contract with Elektra Records and debuted the contemporary country love song "I Won't Give Up" on a 2011 episode of One Tree Hill. The track later appeared on her full-length debut, Jana Kramer, in mid-2012. It landed in the Top Five of the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Focusing on her music career thereafter without retiring from acting, she appeared in films such as Heart of the Country (2013) and Country Crush (2016) that would appeal to her music fanbase. Kramer released her second album, Thirty One, on Warner Music Nashville in October 2015. With help from the Top Five country hit "I Got the Boy" and a duet with Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, it fared even better, reaching number three on the country albums chart and number ten on the Billboard 200. Beginning in September 2016, her two-month stay on the 23rd season of Dancing with the Stars ended in a fourth-place finish. That year, she also had an adult contemporary hit with "Feels Like Christmas" featuring Straight No Chaser. Kramer followed up her Top Ten sophomore LP with stand-alone songs including 2017's "I've Done Love," which hit the country Top 40. Among her later singles were 2019's "Good Enough" and 2021's "Voices." In the meantime, she starred in a series of movies for the Lifetime cable network, including The Holiday Fix Up (2021). ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi