Estelle

Estelle Fanta Swaray (born 18 January 1980) is a British singer from West London. She is known for her eclectic mix of various musical genres including R&B, soul, reggae, grime, hip hop, and dance. She has collaborated with artists including John Legend, Robin Thicke, Rick Ross, Chris Brown, will.i.am, Kanye West, Pete Rock, David Guetta and Tyler, The Creator. After signing with V2 Records, Estelle released her debut album The 18th Day (2004), which reached number 35 on the UK Albums Chart. Her next album, Shine (2008), which was released through the Atlantic Record Label, charted internationally and helped her significant mainstream success. The album included the single "American Boy" featuring West, which reached number 1 in the United Kingdom and earned her several accolades, including a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Her last album released with the Atlantic label would be All of Me (2012); the single "Thank You" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Performance. Estelle has provided both the speaking and singing voice for the fictional character Garnet in the animated series Steven Universe (2013–2019), a role she reprised in Steven Universe: The Movie (2019) and Steven Universe Future (2019–2020). She made cameo appearances in the films Beyond the Lights (2014) and Girls Trip (2017), and appeared as Linda in the Netflix original film Fatal Affair (2020). Estelle hosts and presents her own show called The Estelle Show on Apple Music and has done over 500 episodes. Early life Estelle Swaray was born and raised in Hammersmith, London, England. Her mother's family came from Dakar, Senegal, and her father is West Indian. She was the second born of nine children. 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 West African music were what Estelle grew up listening to. However, she would sometimes listen to hip hop when not at home.