Kaitlin Jones, 21, knew since she was young that she wanted to someday be a famous singer. It was not until she was eight years old that she told her mother she wanted to perform.

Originally from Brookfield, Wisconsin, Kaitlin Jones now resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with her parents and her older brother. Jones is a music major at Arizona State University.

Her career began at the young age of eight when she landed the spot in the Mefisofele Opera. Because of her performance in the show, Jones was asked to sing with her very own idol, Celine Dion, in Milwaukee as a member of the children’s chorus.

“I was one out of 12 kids that got to perform with her live on stage,” Jones said. “I wasn’t nervous, but excited!” Her early career had taken off. Following the performance with Dion, Jones was getting calls right and left.

At the age of ten, Jones traveled to Chicago where she played the role of Samantha in the American Girl musical theater production.

“It was a big deal, thousands of girls auditioned for the play,” Jones noted. “I had to be able to act, sing and dance and I barely made it to the audition, being the very last one to tryout.”

At the age of 13, Jones auditioned for Star Search with Ed McMan where she won second place. “Star Search was a lot of fun and because of that I was asked to sing the national anthem for the Arizona Diamondbacks,” Jones recalled.
Since then, she has performed the national anthem for many professional sports teams, including the Milwaukee Bucks, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Vikings, Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Coyotes.

“Who ever gets the chance to enjoy their daughter singing on the same field as their favorite NFL players?” Father John Jones said.

At the age of 13, Jones performed in the musical Ruthless, where she was named “The best child actress to emerge in Milwaukee area in the last 25 years,” by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel theater critic, Damien Jake.
“I was told not to look at what critics said about me because everyone said they were always harsh, so I was surprised when I heard that,” Jones said.

When Jones was 13, her family decided to pick up and move to Arizona. “I had to start over in Arizona after I had already established many connections,” Jones noted.

Mother, Kay, found out about the Desert Stages Theaters in Scottsdale where Kaitlin landed the role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

Jones attended Chaparral High School where she refused to get involved in choir. “I just never liked choir, I think it’s because I never really had good teachers,” Jones remarked. Instead of choir, Kaitlin joined the cheerleading squad where she could be on the sidelines while older brother Jonathan played quarterback on the field.

“My brother and I were always very supportive of each other. He would always come to my shows and never felt jealous of what I was doing,” Jones said.

Jones found the International Model and Talent Association (IMTA) who sent her to New York where she was discovered by Chamber Stevens who coaches all the Nickelodeon child stars.

“Back when I was building my resume, I had never done any sort of acting, just singing, so Stevens coached me and introduced me to my manager at the time, Merna Lieberman.”

At age 15, Jones and her mother moved to Los Angeles for six months during pilot season. That is the time when people audition for shows that haven’t come out yet. “I was still going to school. My teachers were very understanding and would send my homework to me so I wouldn’t fall behind,” Jones said. Jones auditioned for several Disney pilots along side of starts like Hilary Duff and Raven Simone.

It wasn’t long after the show American Idol came out that Jones knew that was something she had to try out for.At age 18, Jones flew to California where she auditioned with 20,000 others at the Rose Bowl. She made it all the way to the top 100 to Hollywood where she was told by Simon Cowell himself that she had a beautiful voice. It was just the way she sang the song that caused her to get cut from the final round. “I worked my butt off so I was very upset when I got cut and I came home very disappointed, but I know that you need to be very head strong to be in this business and I will hear a million ‘no’s’ before hearing that one ‘yes’,” Jones said.

After the American Idol let down, Jones focused on school and wanted to maintain a normal life aside from her uprising fame.
In 2008 Kaitlin won the Hot Pipes Singing Competition at the Estate House in Scottsdale. In 2009, Kaitlin Jones auditioned for the Fox 10 Arizona Idol competition for the third time where she won.
“It looked like I jumped out of my own skin when I found out I won, I was so excited,” Jones said. “I thought third times a charm and it goes to show you never give up, and it was always my dream to become Arizona Idol.”

Jones won a brand new Ford Fusion and the interest of Wade Martin, the President of JWM Studios in Phoenix.

“Since winning Arizona Idol, projects have been thrown my way like singing for the mayor at Constitution Day and I got asked to sing at the opening of Barney’s in Scottsdale Fashion Square,” Jones said. “Kaitlin’s experience has been unbelievable and has brought a lot of enjoyment to the family and has been full of memories I’ll never forget,” Kay Jones said.

There are big things on the horizon for Kaitlin Jones, and only time will tell how far her star will rise.
When asked what Kaitlin saw for herself in her future, she responded with, “I see myself singing on stage doing what I love to do in front of thousands of people and have my fans singing with me.”