Hayden Panettiere, the actress and singer best known for her roles in Heroes, Scream and Nashville, died Sunday at age 36. While Panettiere sculpted an enduring acting career beginning as a child, her work in music was an equally memorable part of her legacy — particularly through her role as country star Juliette Barnes on Nashville.
As Juliette, Panettiere performed dozens of songs throughout the ABC musical drama’s six-season run, many of which were released commercially through the show’s soundtrack albums. Her performances weren’t simply incidental to the series. Panettiere’s recordings made their way onto Billboard‘s country charts, giving the actress a legitimate chart history of her own. Her rendition of “Telescope,” for example, became one of the best-known songs associated with her Nashville character, while recordings including “Undermine,” “Wrong Song” and “Don’t Put Dirt on My Grave Just Yet” also charted.
Panettiere’s relationship with music began long before she stepped into Juliette Barnes’ boots. As a child, she contributed vocals to several film and television projects and recorded songs for movies including Ice Princess and Bridge to Terabithia. In 2008, she released “Wake Up Call,” her first single not tied to an acting role, demonstrating that a career in music was something she could pursue separate from her work onscreen.
Remarkably, Panettiere had already reached one of the music industry’s biggest stages before she was even a teenager. Her voice work on the A Bug’s Life Read-Along earned her a nomination for best spoken word album for children at the 42nd annual Grammy Awards in 2000, making her one of the youngest Grammy nominees in history. The Recording Academy lists Panettiere as a one-time Grammy nominee, with the nomination coming when she was just 10 years old.
From a childhood Grammy nod to country songs appearing on Billboard‘s charts, Panettiere’s music career stretched far beyond what her résumé as an actress might suggest. Here are five things to know about Panettiere’s music career.
She Earned a Grammy Nomination at Just 10 Years Old
Long before Panettiere became a charting singer on Nashville, she was already a Grammy nominee. In 2000, the then-10-year-old actress received a nomination for best spoken word album for children at the 42nd annual Grammy Awards for A Bug’s Life Read-Along, a companion audio recording based on the 1998 Pixar film. The Recording Academy lists Panettiere as a credited performer on the project, making her a Grammy nominee before she had even reached her teenage years.
She Was Pursuing a Pop Career Before Nashville
Panettiere’s music career didn’t begin with Nashville. Years before she was even cast as country-pop star Juliette Barnes, Panettiere had already been recording music for film and television, including “I Fly” for Disney’s Ice Princess and “Try” for the movie Bridge to Terabithia. She also recorded songs for Tiger Cruise, The Dust Factory, Cinderella III: A Twist in Time and other projects.
In 2008, however, Panettiere took a step toward establishing herself as a recording artist outside of her onscreen career. She released “Wake Up Call,” a reggae-infused pop song, as her first single that wasn’t connected to an acting role. The song was released digitally in August 2008 through Hollywood Records, which was also planning a debut album for Panettiere. Billboard covered the launch at the time, noting that the Heroes star was being promoted through a major marketing campaign with Candie’s shoe and clothing brand, which helped fund the song’s music video and promoted it through a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign.
Though the planned album never came to be, “Wake Up Call” was a sign of what Panettiere was capable of in music.
She Landed 11 Songs on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs Chart
Panettiere didn’t just sing country songs for Nashville. Her recordings as Juliette Barnes actually made an impact on the Billboard charts. During the show’s duration, Panettiere landed 11 songs on the Hot Country Songs chart, including “Love Like Mine,” “Undermine” with Charles Esten, “Wrong Song” with Connie Britton, “For Your Glory,” “Boys and Buses,” “I’m a Girl,” “Consider Me” and “Don’t Put Dirt on My Grave Just Yet.”
Nashville blurred the line between its fictional Music City and the real country-music industry, with its cast recordings and releasing songs commercially throughout the show’s six-season run. For Panettiere, that meant her portrayal of Juliette became a genuine musical aspect of her career, and one that left behind a substantial Billboard chart history.
“Telescope” Became Her Signature Country Hit
If there’s one song that best represents Panettiere’s musical legacy, it’s “Telescope.” Released in 2012 as the first single from The Music of Nashville: Season 1, Volume 1, the country-pop track was performed by Panettiere as Juliette Barnes. Written by real-life Nashville hitmakers Hillary Lindsey and Cary Barlowe and produced by Dann Huff, “Telescope” quickly became one of the most recognizable songs associated with the series.
The song peaked on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart at No. 36 in December 2012, giving Panettiere one of the strongest chart placements of her music career. At the time, the song’s success was notable because Nashville was doing something relatively unusual for a television series. The episodic show was treating its fictional musicians’ recordings like legitimate commercial releases. Billboard reported in October 2012 that Panettiere had already debuted on the Country Digital Songs chart with “Love Like Mine,” while “Telescope” was publicized as the show’s first official single.
The Nashville Soundtracks Became a Major Success
The show’s music became a commercial success in its own right, with the first The Music of Nashville: Season 1, Volume 1 soundtrack debuting at No. 14 on the Billboard 200 and No. 4 on Top Country Albums in 2012, selling 56,000 copies in its first week.
Panettiere’s vocals continued to appear across the show’s subsequent soundtrack releases throughout its six-season run, giving fans the opportunity to hear her evolve musically alongside her role as Juliette. Though Juliette was a fictional character, the songs Panettiere performed reached real audiences and the actual Billboard charts.
