Estelle

Estelle (born Estelle Fanta Swaray, 18.1.1980. Previously known as Est'elle)

Estelle is a British R&B singer and rapper, whose steady career growth was propelled when she won a Grammy award for her collaboration with Kanye West, 'American Boy'.

Music Career

Estelle's breakthrough single was '1980', released in 2004, followed by 'Free'. As a result of these releases, Estelle won the Best Newcomer MOBO Award and the music videos for both tracks - directed by Andy Hylton - received a great deal of airplay.

Estelle's debut album The 18th Day reached number 35 in the UK music charts. She then went on release a single with the pop band 3SL, named 'Touch Me Tease Me'.

Estelle's career took a step up when, in 2008, she collaborated with Kanye West on 'American Boy'. The track was a number on hit in a number of countries, including the UK, US and Canada. 'American Boy' was also listed at number seven in Rolling Stone magazine's end of year 'Best Of' list.

Following the release of the single, Estelle's net album Shine was released on the HomeSchool label, which is run by John Legend. Shine sold significantly better than its predecessor and reached number six in the UK chart, selling enough copies to earn a Gold certification. Shine was also shortlisted for 2008's Mercury Music Prize but lost out to Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid.

The following year, Estelle released a track with the rapper Busta Rhymes, entitled 'World Go Round', from his Back on My B.S.

In 2009, Estelle confirmed that she was working with the renowned DJ David Guetta on her next album, to be entitled All of Me. She also made a cameo appearance in the music video for Mr. Hudson's 'Supernova' music video.

In August of that year, Estelle performed 'Good Girls Go Bad' on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, as well as co-writing and performing 'Rollacoaster' on Robin Thicke's album Sex Therapy.

In February 2010, Estelle's website aired the premier of her video for 'Freak', featuring Kardinal Offishall.

Estelle: Charity Work

Estelle was one of the celebrities modeling at Naomi Campbell's Fashion for Relief catwalk show, raising money for victims of the Haiti earthquake disaster.