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Most peoples' college experiences involve an abundance of beer and Ramen noodles. For Nicolette Hart, however, the experience was a bit different. She created her own major at the University of Buffalo, which was set to be a five-year program. But Hart, an honors student on scholarship, was intent on moving to New York City and launching her career sooner than that. She loaded up on credits (28 in just one semester) and graduated in three and a half years, all while maintaining a 3.8 GPA. During this time, she spent most of her nights shuttling between Buffalo and Rochester in order to make rehearsals at Blackfriars, a local community theatre where she would go on to play several lead roles, beginning with Lies and Legends: The Musical Stories of Harry Chapin.

After college graduation, Nicolette accepted what would be her only 9-5 job at a local modeling agency in order to save money for her move to New York. But rather than returning home after a long day at the office, Nicolette drove straight to Blackfriars, where she was starring as Mary Jane in Big River. It was at this point that she was contacted by a songwriter who had been looking for a female vocalist with a country sound to record a few of his demos. Having grown up listening to the music of Patsy Cline, Pam Tillis, and Laurie Morgan, Nicolette was thrilled to accept this unique opportunity.

Shortly after she recorded the tracks, the songwriter mentioned her to a friend who worked as a director at Kodak's headquarters in her hometown of Rochester. It turned out that Kodak was looking to make a video in order to test out a new product. After meeting Nicolette, they decided to make a music video instead.

Armed with both a demo and her own music video (made on Kodak film of course), Nicolette and the songwriter traveled to Nashville to check out the city's legendary music scene. They spent the week knocking on doors (literally) before returning to upstate New York, where Nicolette received a call from a Nashville producer who had heard the demo and wanted to hear more. Hart spent the following year traveling between Rochester and Nashville, meeting with publishers, managers and producers, and honing her skills both onstage and in the recording studio.

One year after her first visit, Nicolette relocated to Nashville in order to devote all of her energy towards a career in country music. Although she had been working with several prominent producers and was closing in on a record deal, Nicolette grew exhausted by the politics of the industry and pined for the thrill of performing in front of a live audience again. "I missed performing desperately, and needed to get back on a stage. Plus, I had growing to do. I knew I had to get my ass kicked and my heart torn up a bit before I would have a strong point of view as a songwriter and singer."

Just as she began to seriously consider leaving Nashville, Nicolette was called in to audition for a role in the national tour of The Civil War. "I vowed that if I booked it, I would move to New York," she explains. She did book it – but as the tour came to a close, she was handed a script for Stand By Your Man: The Tammy Wynette Story. "As soon as I heard her, I knew right away she was the one," explains Wynette's widow, George Richey. "She just had that magical thing we were looking for." Nicolette won the starring role and for almost two years, she performed to rave reviews at Nashville's legendary Ryman Auditorium.

When Stand By Your Manwrapped, Nicolette headed straight to New York and within a month, she landed both an agent and her first off-Broadway show. But before Hart could even get paint on the walls of her postage stamp of an apartment, she was invited to sing backup for Bette Midler on the Kiss My Brass tour. Sharing a stage with the legendary icon whose songs she grew up belting into a hairbrush was a dream come true for Nicolette. "I'll never forget the first day of tour," she smiles. "We girls wanted to give Bette crap for the number of suitcases she had - until we realized they were full of books. Talk about your role models, both professionally and personally."

After touring both the US and Australia for 18 months as one of Midler's Harlettes, Nicolette returned to New York and made her Broadway debut playing Mark's mom in the cultural landmark RENT. She left the show to join the original cast of The Wedding Singer, but would return to RENT just one week after The Wedding Singer's eight-month run on Broadway ended. This time, however, Nicolette would be playing the coveted role of Maureen. After nearly two incredible years, Hart was faced with her most difficult decision - be a part of the historic closing of the show that had become such a part of her, or move into a new home with a new family in order to play fitness guru Brooke Wyndham in Legally Blonde. After much contemplation, she took the "leap of faith" and left RENT.

In the summer of 2008, Hart was belting out songs by Pat Benatar and Joan Jett in a showcase for the musical Rock Of Ages. After one performance, a manager that had been sitting in the audience approached Nicolette in an encounter that she remembers fondly. "She just said, 'Who are you, why haven't I met you and why aren't you signed to a record label?'" The two began working together, and despite a grueling theatre schedule and blossoming TV and film career, Nicolette officially ended her long hiatus as a recording artist and entered the studio with industry heavyweights Russ DeSalvo (Celine Dion, Lionel Richie) and Arnie Roman (Cher, Marc Anthony). "In the months leading up to that initial meeting, I'd been finding myself starting to write more," she explains. "So this was very coincidental timing, although I dont really believe in coincidences. We had our first writing appointment and it was all so clear. From that moment on, we became a solid writing team. It's been incredible."

As she began to make progress in the studio, Hart received a call inviting her to reprise her role as Maureen in the unprecedented national tour of RENT. There was no hesitation - she signed on. "There is no score, no story, no family, and certainly no group of fans like that of RENT," she explains. "I have been blessed and humbled to have been a continuing part of the beautiful life that is RENT." For the next several months, Nicolette will be traveling from city to city on tour with the show, all while working on her music, which she hopes listeners will truly connect with. "If my music can have even just a slice of the impact that RENT has had, then I will be doing my job as an artist," she says. Judging by the way she lights up the stage as Maureen, Nicolette Hart should have no problem lighting up the stage as herself.