Who is Bonnie McKee, Hollywood’s ‘Best Secret Weapon’?

Bonnie McKee has some serious Hollywood connections — and she’s not afraid to flaunt them in her new music video, American Girl.

But, how does a little-known singer have so many friends in high places? Although you may not have realized it, Bonnie is the creative mind behind many of the past few years’ pop hits. In the past few years alone, Bonnie has co-written eight No. 1 singles and worked with nearly all of the top pop music players. In 2011, Rolling Stone even named her Hollywood’s Best Secret Weapon.

“It kept going up step by step by step where the names kept getting bigger and the sessions started getting more real,” Bonnie told Hollywood Reporter earlier this year.

Still, Bonnie’s road to success hasn’t always been paved with gold. She first came to Los Angeles at the age of 16 to pursue her own singing career. In 2004, she released her first album, “Trouble,” which led to mentions in major magazines and appearances on talk shows.

She also participated in this awesome video, where she talked about what causes her trouble…

Nonetheless, the album was commercially unsuccessful. Following that, Bonnie turned her attention to acting and landed roles in August Rush, CSI: New York and American Dreams. She also began working with Dr. Luke and Max Martin to develop songs for Katy Perry’s second album.

“We wrote California Gurls and we thought, ‘Well, maybe this will work; maybe it won’t,'” Bonnie told Hollywood Reporter. “And then when it came on the radio I was, like, ‘Wow I did that a couple months ago and I can’t believe it’s actually on the radio and it actually worked!’ When that started playing a lot I was just in shock. I couldn’t believe it… I think California Gurls is the first one that really showed me that.”

Because of the wild success of Katy’s album, Bonnie went from getting by without a cell phone or hot water to winning international awards. Now she is splitting time between collaborating with other artists and pursuing her own singing career. Although getting back into solo artistry is still a risk, Bonnie claims to have learned a lot since her first album.

“I’ve learned through my time in the songwriting trenches, that when I write something ballsy, a lot of the labels will be like ‘Oh, so-and-so would never say that’ or It’s too smart,'” she told Indie Fashion in 2011. “I tend to simplify and sweeten a majority of the things I write for other people, I like to take risk on my own stuff, go a little bit left field.”

You can download American Girl for free on Bonnie’s site!