Artist

Gloriana is a four-member vocal group featuring brothers Tom and Mike Gossin along with Rachel Reinert and Cheyenne Kimball. The Gossin brothers grew up in Utica, N.Y., and moved to Nashville in 2007 after performing extensively in clubs in North Carolina. Both took classical piano lessons by the time they were 5 years old. At age 10, Tom began studying with a local jazz musician at 10 and picked up the guitar at 12. He had his own band in high school and moved to Wilmington, N.C., with two bandmates after graduation. He was a guitar major at the University of North Carolina Wilmington until a teacher encouraged his dream of songwriting and performing. He dropped out and began playing music 200-250 nights a year, making independent records to sell at gigs. Mike, who began playing drums at 8 and guitar at 12, had his own group in high school, too, and later moved to Wilmington to join Tom. He fronted his own band, then joined a group with Tom and their older brother Steve, filming a short-lived reality series. When Steve went his own way, Tom and Mike formed a duo and eventually decided to relocate to Nashville, where they met Reinert through her MySpace page.

Born in Sarasota, Fla., Reinert spent her early years in Marietta, Ga., and attended high school in Santa Ana, Calif. She went to a performing arts school beginning in seventh grade, then began playing the guitar and turning her poetry into songs. A teacher who recognized her potential helped her record demos, and a friend with a Nashville connection opened doors that led to a publishing deal when she was just 15. After commuting back and forth to Nashville, she finally moved to Nashville and began honing her skills as a songwriter while performing at writers’ nights until joining forces with the Gossins.

Kimball was born in Jacksonville, N.C., but spent much of her childhood in Frisco, Texas. She was performing in the Dallas area at age 10 and entered NBC’s America’s Most Talented Kid when she was 12, winning the national competition. She signed a record deal at 13, released an album, toured nationally and had her own MTV reality show. During an early trip to Nashville, she met and wrote songs with John Rich. She moved to Nashville permanently at 17. Kimball approached the Gossin brothers and Reinert following a gig at a Nashville nightclub. Once the four musicians decided to start working together, they embarked on an intense period of songwriting and live performances.

The band sent a demo to Emblem Music Group, a new label founded by Matt Serletic, known for his work with Willie Nelson and Matchbox Twenty, among many others. Emblem is described as an evolution of Melisma Records, Serletic’s award-winning label which has sold more than 50 million albums.

To prepare for Gloriana’s first album, Serletic began writing with one of Nashville’s finest songwriters, Jeffrey Steele, who has written hits for Rascal Flatts, Trace Adkins, Tim McGraw, Diamond Rio and others. At the same time, Gloriana was writing with and being pitched songs by such noteworthy songwriters as Brett James, Trey Bruce, Stephanie Bentley, Aimee Mayo, Wayne Kirkparick, Chris Tompkins, Josh Kear, Chris Lindsley, Danny Myrick, Chuck Jones, Kevin Kadish, Kyle Cook and Ben Glover.

The band members moved in together and secluded themselves to begin working on the songs and musical arrangements. To test the material and their performance abilities, Gloriana took a weekly gig at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, Calif. By the time they began recording their album, they had formed a strong musical identity based on powerful four-part vocal harmonies.

Gloriana’s self-titled debut album for Emblem was mixed by Justin Niebank at John and Martina McBride’s Blackbird Studios in Nashville. They released their first single, “Wild at Heart,” in early 2009.