Nelly Joy was born in Abilene, Texas and was raised in Chesterfield, Virginia and Amarillo, Texas. She literally "fell into music" at the age of 17 when she broke her wrist in a pole-vaulting accident and had to take a break from all of her athletic endeavors. During recovery, she learned how to play guitar and immediately fell in love with writing. Two years later she won the "Got Milk" songwriting contest!

After graduating from ACU with her degree in Psychology, Nelly moved to Nashville in January of 2005 to chase her songwriting dream. She became known as one half of the country duo, the JaneDear Girls. Nelly co-wrote 10 songs on the JaneDear Girls' first album that debuted at 10 on the Billboard Top Country Charts. She also co-wrote the ABC promo song "Good Girls Gone Bad" for the new TV show G.C.B. The ACM and CMT nominated duo opened for Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton and also played on Jimmy Kimmel, CMA Fest, and the CMT Awards.

Nelly is now a writer with Sony ATV and cowrote "That's Why I Pray" by Big & Rich. (Highest debut by a duo in the Nielsen BDS era, at No. 24 with the Hot Shot Debut), as well as "The Sun Will Rise" by Kelly Clarkson (Which became the promo song for ABC TV show "Bunheads"). She also wrote five songs on Jason Reeves' album "The Lovesick" which debuted at #5 on iTunes' pop charts, including "No Lies" which is a duet featuring Colbie Caillat.

Nelly Joy and Jason Reeves are High Dive Heart!