Meghan Trainor

Trainor is about to make her Epic Records debut but, believe it or not, it will be her fourth album. The multi-instrumentalist put out three discs by the age of 17 and, by 20, she had written songs for Rascal Flatts, Hunter Hayes, Common Kings, and Hot Chelle Rae singer Ryan Follese.

But let’s face it: it’s all about that bass. It took just one song for Trainor to become one of the biggest names in 2014 pop music.

Epic released Trainor’s four-song EP as Pollstar went to press.  Her album doesn’t come out until January. And yet, “All About That Bass” hit 227 million views on YouTube and counting. At eight weeks in the No. 1 singles slot at press time, the song was the longest-running No. 1 hit in the label’s history, besting a song called “Billy Jean” by an Epic artist named Michael Jackson.

“All About That Bass” beats Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” which had the No. 1 slot for seven weeks.  If the song remains at No. 1 for nine weeks, she ties Lorde’s “Royals” and, by 10 weeks, ties Pharrell’s “Happy.”

“Meghan is truly a special artist,” Jeffrey Azoff, her agent at CAA, told Pollstar. “Not only is she an incredible writer and producer, she also is an amazing singer and instrumentalist.   This tour is the first step in building a life-long touring career.”

She grew up on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket with her church organist dad who raised her on James Brown and Ray Charles, and an uncle, recording artist Burton Toney, who fused soca with R&B. Writing her first song when she was 7 years old, Trainor went on to learn piano, guitar, and ukulele.

She won best female artist at the 2009 International Acoustic Music Awards and the grand prize at the 2010 New Orleans Songwriters festival. She eventually turned down a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music to spend her late teens collaborating with producers and artists in Los Angeles.

Trainor’s first headlining tour launches Feb. 11 at Vogue Theatre in Vancouver and winds up at The Cannery in Nashville March 20. That’s convenient, considering Trainor lives there.