Cam - Think Country

Home / Features / Cam

Cam

Annette Gibbons 16th September 2015 0 comments 5617 view

Artist Profile: Cam

NAME: Camaron Marvel Ochs

DATE OF BIRTH: Unknown

HOMETOWN: Huntingdon Beach, California

SOUND: Pop country with folky undertones.

BIOGRAPHY: Born and raised in Southern California, Cam saw the huge variety of American styles and cultures all represented in her home state, but she felt most at home on her grandparents’ ranch where she grew up listening to traditional country. Think Patsy Cline, Bonnie Raitt and Willie Nelson, with the backdrop of palm trees, horses, a barn and tractor. A picturesque setting that provided the inspiration for Cam to go into music, weaving her love of classic country with learning to sing in multiple languages and starting an a capella group in college. Studying in the Netherlands for a time, she learned to play the guitar while out there, soaking up the culture.

After college, Cam moved to Los Angeles and met Tyler Johnson, who would go on to be her regular collaborator. Together they recorded some demos to attract the attention of Faith Hill, but instead she was found by Tim McGraw’s manager Scott Siman. From there, her song ‘Fall Madly In Love With You’ was recorded by Maggie Rose on her album ‘Cut To Impress’, while ‘Maybe You’re Right’ landed on Miley Cyrus’ huge comeback album ‘Bangerz’. Cam decided to move to Nashville, but despite starting to write songs for other artists, she felt that a publishing deal was not right for her, and she turned it down so she could be her own artist. In 2013, the same year as her two high-profile cuts, she launched a Kickstarter campaign alongside Tyler Johnson and producer Jeff Bhasker, the latter of which has worked with the likes of Beyonce, fun, Bruno Mars, The Rolling Stones, and Pink. The idea was to record a 10-song album, and in the end 6 tracks were available for free on her website (Untamed, Down This Road, Burning House, Country Ain’t Never Been Pretty, Mayday). Cam also toured in Denmark and Sweden that year, supporting Helsingborg band Karavan.

Late in 2014 Cam signed with Arista Nashville, a division of Sony, and went straight out on tour with Dan + Shay on the Where It All Began Tour. Her signage was announced in January 2015, while her debut single ‘My Mistake’ shipped to radio the following month, and she started an extensive radio tour. Cam’s 4-song debut EP ‘Welcome To Cam Country’ hit Spotify in March, and in less than a month all four songs had received nearly 5 million streams. After ‘My Mistake’ peaked inside the top 60 at radio, the label acted on early buzz for ‘Burning House’ and decided to release it in June. Aided by support from The Bobby Bones Show, the powerful track was a huge sales hit (currently at 272k) and is on the cusp of breaking the top 20 on radio, with plenty of momentum left. Cam is currently working on her debut album with Arista Nashville, alongside longtime producers Tyler Johnson and Jeff Bhasker.

ALBUMS: Heartforward (2010), Welcome To Cam Country EP (2015).

KEY TRACKS: Burning House (2015), My Mistake (2015), Half Broke Heart (2015), Runaway Train (2015).