| Estelle | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Estelle Fanta Swaray |
| Born | 18 January 1980 |
| Origin | Hammersmith, London, England |
| Genres | R&B, soul, hip hop, hip hop soul, reggae |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, model |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | V2, Atlantic |
| Associated acts | David Guetta, Kanye West, |
| Website | www.estellemusic.com |
Estelle Fanta Swaray (born 18 January 1980[1][2]) commonly known as Estelle, and formerly as Est'elle, is an English Grammy Award winning R&B singer-songwriter, rapper and record producer. Estelle was born in London. After meeting John Legend, Estelle signed a record deal with V2 and Atlantic Records.
In 2004 Estelle released her debut album The 18th Day, which peaked with in the top 40 of the official UK charts. The album released three singles "1980", "Free" ,and "Go Gone" which all charted with in the top 40 also of the UK charts. In 2008 Estelle released her second studio album Shine which was certified Gold in the UK. The lead single "Wait A Minute" failed to chart anywhere. The second single "American Boy" peaked at number one in the UK and also became Estelle's first song to chart in the US at a position of nine. The album released a further three singles. In 2012 Estelle released her third album All of Me. The lead single "Break My Heart" featured American rap artist Rick Ross, the single charted at number 30 on the US R&B Chart. The second single "Thankyou" peaked at 120 on the US Billboard and 22 on the US R&B chart and the third single "Back to Love" was released.
Estelle's work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including one BET award, 2 MOBO awards, one UMA award, a World Music Award and also one Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "American Boy".[citation needed]
Contents |
Biography [link]
Early life and career beginnings [link]
Estelle Fanta Swaray was born 18 January 1980 in Hammersmith, London, England. Born of a Senegalese mother and a Grenadian father, Estelle grew up in West London in a large family of eight brothers and sisters and an extended family of cousins. During childbirth, Estelle’s mother had a near death experience, which influenced Estelle's choice for her first album title, The 18th Day.[3] Her mother was a huge reggae fan and her father built home-made speaker cabinets. She spent her childhood listening to her parent’s reggae records and her aunt’s soul collection. Estelle's parents were very religious when she was growing up and secular music was not allowed in the family's home. Instead, spiritual music — particularly American gospel and traditional African music — were what Estelle grew up listening to.[4] Then she discovered hip hop. "I got into hip hop from my uncle, he was always playing us Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane; he was a bad boy and my mum wasn’t really happy that I was hanging out with him."[3] Estelle got her break from Deal Real as her co-workers encouraged her to sing on-stage. Her performance led to gigs[5]
Her career got a jump-start in the early 2000s when she happened to see Kanye West sitting in a restaurant while on a trip to Los Angeles. Estelle approached Kanye, introduced herself and asked for an introduction to John Legend. She eventually got that introduction, and Legend eventually helped produce two songs on her debut album.[4]
[edit] 2004–10: The 18th Day and Shine
In 2004 she broke into the charts with "1980" and "Free" and won a MOBO Award for Best Newcomer. Both of the videos were directed by Andy Hylton[6] and received much airplay on music channels. "Free" was written by Estelle and produced by Jimmy Hogarth. Her first album, The 18th Day charted at number 35 in the UK Albums Chart.[7] Estelle teamed up with short lived pop band 3SL for their single "Touch Me Tease Me".
Shine is the second album by hip hop singer Estelle. The album was released on 31 March 2008 with the lead single, "Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)", released in November 2007. The second single, "American Boy" featuring Kanye West reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on downloads alone and was released physically on 24 March. In 2008, Estelle rose to fame with her collaboration with rapper Kanye West, titled "American Boy". This song reached the top 10 in many countries worldwide, including the United States and Canada, as well as achieving number-one status on the UK Singles Chart[7][8] and in Belgium[9] and Israel. The song won many awards worldwide, including Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. It was also nominated for Song of the Year at the 51st Grammy Awards. "American Boy" was Number 7 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008.[10] Shine was released following the single on John Legend's HomeSchool label, reaching the albums chart in most countries worldwide, including number 6 in the UK.[7] Shine sold enough copies to be certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry, and was shortlisted for the prestigious 2008 Mercury Music Prize. Shine has been certified Gold in the UK, denoting 100,000 copies sold. The album has sold 233,000 copies in the United States as of January 2012.[11] Shine was one of the twelve nominees for the 2008 Mercury Prize.
Estelle has also released a new single with American rapper Busta Rhymes called "World Go Round", from his album Back on My B.S., which was released on 19 May 2009. In February 2009, the song "Star" was released; it is also used for Crystal Light commercials. In 2009, Estelle started working on her upcoming third studio album, All of Me. On 21 August it was confirmed that Estelle was working with David Guetta on the upcoming album.[12] Estelle recently made a cameo appearance in the video for new star Mr Hudson for his single "Supernova". Estelle made an appearance on 11 August 2009 episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. She performed the song "Good Girls Go Bad" with Cobra Starship in Leighton Meester's absence. Estelle also appears on the song "Rollacoasta", co-written by her and American singer-songwriter Robin Thicke, with whom the song appears on his album, Sex Therapy.
[edit] 2011–present: All of Me
Estelle confirmed her third album would be entitled All of Me. The album was originally led by the single "Freak" featuring Kardinal Offishall and produced by David Guetta. The video premiered on her website on 26 February 2010.[13] The original second single from the album was announced as being "Fall in Love", which featured versions featuring Nas and John Legend. Due to the underperformance of both "Freak" and "Fall in Love", both songs were ultimately left off the final track listing for All of Me.[14] However, "Freak" was featured on both the Step Up 3D soundtrack and the reissue of David Guetta's album One Love, entitled One More Love. In 2010, Estelle also modelled at Naomi Campbell's Fashion For Relief runway show for The White Ribbon Alliance to raise funds for mothers in Haiti. She was also featured on Reflection Eternal's new album with the song Midnight Hour and last track of Gucci Mane's album The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted.
In 2011, it was announced that "Break My Heart", featuring Rick Ross would be released as the new lead single from All of Me. It was released for download on 26 April 2011 and released to US urban radio stations on 17 May 2011.[15][16] The song peaked at 33 on the U.S. Hip-Hop/R&B, the week of 2 July 2011.[17] The following week the song rose to 37.[18] Dual second singles were released in the US and UK. In the US, the second single was announced as being "Thank You" whereas "Back to Love" was issued in the UK. Estelle subsequently confirmed on Twitter that All of Me will be released on 28 February 2012 in the US.[19] In the UK, All of Me will be released on 12 March 2012.[14] The last single on the album featuring Trey Songz and Chris Brown is Track No. 2 on the album and is a close version of what was American Boy on her last album.
Artistry [link]
Influences [link]
Estelle's taste in music ranges from Kanye West, Nas, Jill Scott and Jay-Z. Her main female musical influences are Mary J. Blige and Missy Elliot saying in a interview "I like female artists who show that women don't have to strip off or compromise themselves to be recognized as musicians."[20]
Discography [link]
- Studio albums
- The 18th Day (2004)
- Shine (2008)
- All of Me (2012)
Awards [link]
| Year | Ceremony | Award | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | BET Awards | Best New Artist | Herself | Nominated |
| BET J Virtual Awards | Female Artist of the Year | Nominated | ||
| Soul Approved – Best New Artist | Won | |||
| Song of the Year | "American Boy" | Nominated | ||
| Mercury Music Prize | Shine | Shortlisted | ||
| MOBO Awards | Best UK Female | Herself | Won[21] | |
| Best Song | "American Boy" | Won[21] | ||
| Best Video | Nominated | |||
| Best Album | Shine | Nominated | ||
| Best R&B Act | Herself | Nominated | ||
| MTV Video Music Awards | Best UK Video | "American Boy" | Nominated | |
| UMA Awards | Best Album | Shine | Nominated | |
| Best Collaboration | Herself | Won | ||
| Best Crossover Chart Act | "American Boy" | Nominated | ||
| Best R&B Act | Herself | Nominated | ||
| World Music Awards | World's Best New Artist | Nominated | ||
| Best New R&B Act | Won | |||
| Vodafone Live Music Awards | Best Female | Nominated | ||
| The 02 Silver Clef Awards | Download of the Year | "American Boy" | Won | |
| 2009 | BRIT Awards | British Female Solo | Herself | Nominated |
| British Single | "American Boy" | Nominated | ||
| Grammy Awards | Song of the Year | Nominated | ||
| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration | Won | |||
| Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical | will.i.am; "American Boy" | Nominated | ||
References [link]
- ^ Estelle MTV UK
- ^ "How Estelle headed to the US and scored her first No. 1". Daily Mirror. 5 June 2008. https://www.mirror.co.uk/showbiz/entertainment/music/2008/06/05/how-estelle-headed-to-the-us-and-scored-her-first-no-1-89520-20596225/. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
- ^ a b "Low-Life – UK Hip Hop Story – Est'elle – Biography". Ukhh.com. https://www.ukhh.com/bhh/artists/estelle-biog.htm. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
- ^ a b "Estelle bio". Randb.about.com. https://randb.about.com/od/g1/p/Estelle-Swaray.htm. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
- ^ "Estelle Biography". Metrolyrics.com. https://www.metrolyrics.com/estelle-biography.html. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
- ^ "Andy Hylton". Andy Hylton. https://www.andyhylton.com. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ^ a b c "Estelle UK Chart Positions and Trajectories". chartstats.com. https://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=218. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
- ^ "Estelle & Kanye West hold on to Number One spot". New Musical Express. https://www.nme.com/news/estelle/35520. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
- ^ "Estelle feat. Kanye West – American Boy Belgian Charts/Worldwide". Ultratop/ultratop.be. https://www.ultratop.be/en/showitem.asp?interpret=Estelle+feat%2E+Kanye+West&titel=American+Boy&cat=s. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
- ^ "The 100 Best Songs of 2007" Rolling Stone (25 December 2008) Retrieved 25 December 2008
- ^ "Upcoming Releases". HITS Daily Double. https://www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/sales_ur.cgi. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
- ^ David Guetta : the story about "One Love" feat. Estelle YouTube
- ^ 3 March 2010 – this was posted in our Music Video Section (3 March 2010). "Music Video: Estelle ft Kardinal Offishall – Freak – TheNext2Shine:Exclusive RNB Music Downloads". Blog.thenext2shine.com. https://blog.thenext2shine.com/2010/music-video-estelle-ft-kardinal-offishall-freak. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ^ a b "Play.com – Buy Estelle – All Of Me online". Play.com. https://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/8922097/-/Product.html. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
- ^ "hmvdigital UK – Break My Heart by Estelle". HMV Digital. https://www.hmvdigital.com/artist/estelle/break-my-heart. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
- ^ "Urban/UAC Future Releases – R&B, Hip Hop, Release Schedule and Street Dates". Allaccess.com. https://www.allaccess.com/urban/future-releases. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
- ^ https://www.billboard.com/#/artist/estelle-featuring-rick-ross/656852
- ^ https://www.billboard.com/#/charts/r-b-hip-hop-songs?begin=31&order=position
- ^ https://twitter.com/#!/EstelleDarlings/status/144142671500419072
- ^ "Low-Life | UK Hip Hop Story | Est'elle :: Biography". Ukhh.com. https://www.ukhh.com/bhh/artists/estelle-biog.htm. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
- ^ a b "Estelle picks up two gongs at the MOBO Awards 2008". mirror.co.uk Celebs. https://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/2008/10/16/estelle-picks-up-two-gongs-at-the-mobo-awards-2008-115875-20807834/. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
External links [link]
 |
Book: Estelle |
| Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print. | |
- Official website
- Estelle interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' March 2008
- Interview with Estelle on Holy Moly
- Interview at britishhiphop.co.uk, June 2008
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https://wn.com/Estelle_(musician)
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of tonality, rhythm, the use of sustained tones and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung without accompaniment or with accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in a group of other musicians, such as in a choir of singers with different voice ranges, or in an ensemble with instrumentalists, such as a rock group or baroque ensemble. Singers may also perform as soloist with accompaniment from a piano (as in art song and in some jazz styles) or with a symphony orchestra or big band. There are a range of different singing styles, including art music styles such as opera and Chinese opera, religious music styles such as Gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues and popular music styles such as pop and rock.
Singing can be formal or informal, arranged or improvised. It may be done for religious devotion, as a hobby, as a source of pleasure, comfort, or ritual, as part of music education, or as a profession. Excellence in singing requires time, dedication, instruction, and regular practice. If practice is done on a regular basis then the sounds can become more clear and strong. Professional singers usually build their careers around one specific musical genre, such as classical or rock, although there are singers with crossover success (singing in more than one genre). They typically take voice training provided by voice teachers or vocal coaches throughout their careers.
Singer Motors
Singer Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturing business, originally a bicycle manufacturer founded as Singer & Co by George Singer, in 1874 in Coventry, England. Singer & Co's bicycle manufacture continued. From 1901 George Singer's Singer Motor Co made cars and commercial vehicles.
Singer Motor Co was the first motor manufacturer to make a small economy car that was a replica of a large car, showing a small car was a practical proposition. It was much more sturdily built than otherwise similar cyclecars. With its four-cylinder ten horsepower engine the Singer Ten was launched at the 1912 Cycle and Motor Cycle Show at Olympia. William Rootes, Singer apprentice at the time of its development and consummate car-salesman, contracted to buy 50, the entire first year's supply. It became a best-seller. Ultimately Singer's business was acquired by his Rootes Group in 1956, which continued the brand until 1970, a few years following Rootes' acquisition by the American Chrysler corporation.
Singer (naval mine)
The Singer was a naval mine made and deployed by the Confederacy during the American Civil War. It was a manually laid moored contact mine.
Development
During the American Civil War, Matthew Fontaine Maury, a Confederate government official established the Torpedo Bureau and the Torpedo Corps in Richmond, Virginia to oversee the development and deployment of new types of naval mines. Maury was convinced that the only way to defend the coastlines against Union assaults was through the widespread use of naval mines. Mines were inexpensive and easily produced on a large scale. The low cost and large volume of mines produced would supplement the small naval forces of the Confederacy and make it possible to defend against the superior fleet of the Union navy. The efforts of the Torpedo Bureau and the Torpedo Corps proved to be worth the investment of the Confederacy. For the relative low cost of the mines they did a tremendous amount of damage to the Union forces, sinking a total of 27 Union naval vessels.
Estelle
Estelle may refer to:
Places
Ships
People
- Estelle (musician) (born 1980), British singer/rapper
- Princess Estelle, Duchess of Östergötland (born 2012), daughter and heiress apparent of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden
Estelle (Arrigas)
Estelle is a hamlet in the Cévennes region of France in the peripheral zone of a national park. It has a population of around twenty permanent residents and twenty holiday homes. Estelle is old French for "star". The village belongs to the commune of Arrigas. The closest sizeable town is Le Vigan, capital town of Cévennes.
Estelle (given name)
Estelle is a female given name of French derivation of the Occitan word Estèla (Star) usually interpreted as meaning "star" via equation with "estoile" the Old French form of the modern French "etoile" whose Latin root is "stella".Saint Estelle is the name of a third-century Occitan martyr: the older form of her name Eustalia indicates a derivation from the Greek "eustales" i.e. well-groomed. The name Estelle was brought by the Normans to Great Britain, where it likely absorbed the Anglo-Saxon name Estrilde derived from Easter, either referencing the Christian festival or the dawn goddess whose name defaulted to that feast, combined with the element "hilde" meaning "warrior".
Obsolete in English usage after the Middle Ages, Estelle was revived in the Victorian era after Charles Dickens gave the variant form Estella to a character in his novel Great Expectations (1860–61). Estelle and Estella remained popular from roughly 1880 to 1930, with a marked decline in usage since 1960. Estelle is also used as an alternative form of Esther.
