Lari Michele White is an American country music artist and actress. She first gained national attention in 1992 as a winner on You Can Be a Star, a talent competition which aired on The Nashville Network. A recording contract with RCA Records Nashville followed a year later, producing three studio albums, a greatest hits package, and several chart singles. A fourth studio album was released in 1998 on Lyric Street Records, followed by two more releases on White's own label, Skinny White Girl.

Life and career:

Born and raised in Dunedin, FL, Lari White began performing when she was a child, singing in a gospel group with her parents and brother. The group, called the White Family Singers, sang at local church and community gathering. After a while, the children began working pop music into the act, most notably Elvis Presley. As a teenager, Lari sang show tunes at talent contests and sang with a local rock & roll band. She earned a scholarship to the University of Miami, where she studied vocals and music engineering. After a while, she began writing her own songs, singing in local clubs at night and taking professional singing jobs. Upon graduating from college, she travelled around the United States, looking at various local music scenes. In 1988, she decided to move to Nashville and try to become a professional.

Later in 1988, she appeared on the Nashville Network's You Can Be a Star and won the first prize. The award led to a record contract with Capitol. Before the end of the year, she had released a single on Capitol, "Flying Above the Rain," which became a regional hit in the South but failed to break into the big time. Later that same year, she joined Ronnie Milsap's publishing house and began taking acting lessons. For the next few years, White continued in this vein, choosing to hone her talent, sing in local dinner theaters and wait for another break