Life and music
Estelle was born in West London in 1980 (after which her autobiographical first single was named). She is one of eight children, born to a Senegalese mother and a father from Grenada. Estelle runs her own record label, Stellar Ents, and has released her own material through this - including the two "Da Heat" mixtapes Part 1 and 2, the album The 18th Day and the singles "1980", "Free" and "Go Gone". She featured on Natasha Bedingfield's song "Drop Me In The Middle" for Natasha's U.S. release of Unwritten.
In 2005 Estelle revealed to great humour on the popular Sky Sports show Soccer AM that her birth name is actually "Fanta".
H-Boogie. Real Name: Haidara Swaray is Estelle's sister, featured on the dance track; The Love Is Gone
In 2006, Estelle appeared at the London School Harris City Technology College for a Post 16 Year Of Achievement Night, and she could also be seen in the video for John Legend's single "Save Room". Also in 2006, Estelle joined rapper Kardinal Offishall's Black Jays International, and was eventually signed to singer John Legend's Homeschool Records through Atlantic Records
According to her official Blogspot, she had a photo-shoot on the week of July 2, 2007, for her new album. Estelle has been critical of the music industry's perceived double standards of preferring white women over black women.
The forthcoming album will feature production from the likes of Will.I.Am, Wyclef Jean, Mark Ronson, Cee-Lo, Swizz Beatz, and John Legend.
Kanye West also features on the album, on a track called "American Boy" which reached number one in the UK singles chart on March 23, 2008. Estelle will be touring with Wyclef Jean with the tour dates soon to be announced.
Estelle was recently sighted on the streets of Oxford advertising the Body Shop's HIV awareness campaign.
Most recently she has got into controversy claiming racist attitudes in the U.K. music industry promote white artists over black artists performing the same style of music.
(wikipedia.com)
4 comments:
GRENADA!!!!! -_-
It sux that we don't get more exposure to artists in the UK and Canada becuz there really is some great talent coming out of there. Many of the Canadian rappers are from the Caribbean too so they have a West Indies twist on their hip hop...like Kardinal Official, Saukrates, etc. Seems like she had a lot of good people behind this upcoming project. I hope she gets the exposure she derserves and really takes off. We need more and more talented sisters in this industry (to replace the tripe that they're putting out lately).
I listen to yahoo radio at work and they play whatever's "hot" at the moment on the Today's Big Hits station and they spin Estelle's American Boy often so that's a good sign. I think she has the potential to be successful here. She just might get boxed as neo-soul but I mean if she doesnt mind then cool.
Estelle's music is dope. Me likey..
very informative post also.
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