Celeste (singer)
Celeste Epiphany Waite, known by the mononym Celeste, is an English singer and songwriter. She began her career in 2014 providing vocals for electronic producers such as Avicii, Tieks and Real Lies, while also self-publishing music onto SoundCloud on the side. She made her solo debut via Lily Allen's vanity label Bank Holiday Records with the EP The Milk & the Honey, and then released her second EP Lately after signing with Polydor Records in 2018.
In 2019, Celeste topped the BBC's annual Sound of... poll and won the Rising Star Award at the Brit Awards. Her debut album Not Your Muse was released in 2021 and debuted atop the UK Albums Chart. It earned her nominations for Album of the Year, Best Female Solo Artist and Best New Artist at the 2021 Brit Awards, as well as the 2021 Mercury Prize. In the same year, Celeste was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for co-writing her song "Hear My Voice" from the film The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Early life and education
Celeste Epiphany Waite was born in Culver City, California, on 5 May 1994, to an English mother and a Jamaican father. Her mother had been working as a make-up artist in the U.S., after graduating from beauty school in London. Her father had moved to the U.S. from Jamaica to be with his mother while she studied at university. Following her parents' separation, Celeste moved to her mother's native United Kingdom, settling in Dagenham at the age of three, before moving to the village of Saltdean on the outskirts of Brighton at the age of five, where she spent most of her early years.At the age of 10, Celeste spent a year doing ballet at a performing arts school. She recalls becoming interested in music through discovering Aretha Franklin, whose music was played throughout her family home, before discovering her own music from names such as Thelonious Monk, Koko Taylor through YouTube and iTunes at the age of 14. Celeste recalls singing hymns at church in Brighton as one of her earliest musical memories. When Celeste was 16, her father died of lung cancer, aged 49.
As a teenager, Celeste would write music and perform in bands. She "accidentally" wrote her first song, "Sirens", with her former bandmates at the age of 16. The song was inspired by the death of her father and was published to YouTube where it got the attention of her current manager. Her manager arranged studio sessions for her at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, where the crew would give her more time in the studio. At 18, she started working in the studio after she graduated and began taking her music career seriously, while playing her first gigs in and around Brighton. Celeste studied Music Technology at Varndean College for her sixth form education.
Celeste told Annie Mac that while her friends asked for driving lessons as their 18th birthday gift, she asked for a MacBook laptop which she would later use to begin recording herself on GarageBand. Celeste published her first SoundCloud song, "Born Again" to the platform in July 2014. The song, which was produced by Tev'n, was described by Jim Carroll of The Irish Times as "a striking blast of soulful, seductive vocals backed by a ghostly electronic r'n'b groove." Throughout 2014, Celeste published more songs such as "DEVIL" and "What's Your Poison?", the latter of which is the only 2014 song that remains on her SoundCloud account. In November 2014, she compiled those three songs into a four-track self-titled EP to the platform. The EP which was described by Vice as a "combination of melancholic pop and glitchy electronic tracks." Celeste also started her BBC musical journey when she uploaded her song "North Circular" onto the BBC Music Introducing website in 2014, where it gained support from DJs on BBC Radio 1. She featured on British dance producer Tieks' 2014 debut single "Sing That Song" which reached No. 90 on the UK Singles Chart. She also featured on Swedish musician Avicii's song "Touch Me" in 2015, prior to making her solo mononymous debut. It was during this time that Celeste assisted electronic duo Real Lies as a vocalist while they toured with Foals in 2015.
Celeste completed her GCE Advanced Levels in Music and Textiles in 2016 before working at the local pub in Rottingdean.
Career
2016–2017: ''The Milk and The Honey''
Celeste released her debut single "Daydreaming" under Lily Allen's record label, Bank Holiday Records, in October 2016. The song was produced by London-based producer J. D. Reid and Tev'n. She wrote the song while working in her local Black Horse pub in Rottingdean. She told i-D: "I couldn't wait to leave! I was pulling pints and listening to Shirley Bassey imagining I was in Carnegie Hall doing a performance in floor length fur." Celeste made her radio debut in December 2016 when BBC Radio 1 presenter Annie Mac played "Daydreaming" after announcing Celeste as one of her "New Names". The song was added to the BBC Radio 1Xtra playlist in February 2017.Celeste released her debut EP, The Milk & the Honey, under Bank Holiday Records in March 2017. The 3-track EP includes the tracks "Milk & Honey", "Chocolate" and "Daydreaming". Celeste told The Line of Best Fit that the song "Milk & Honey" is about "finding some sort of Nirvana". She continued by saying that the song "touches upon aspirations of wealth and love and visions had dreams about, and reminisces on times of melancholy." Eugenie Johnson of DIY compared Celeste's vocals on "Chocolate" to that of Billie Holiday. The EP also received support from Beats 1 presenter Julie Adenuga.
Following the EP's release, Celeste completed a month-long residency at a venue named Laylow in Ladbroke Grove. It was here where Celeste began performing for celebrities such as Riz Ahmed and Idris Elba. "Spike Lee picked up one of my records and I signed it for him, which I never ever expected," Celeste told NME. She embarked on her second-ever UK tour as a supporting act, this time with Rae Morris in September 2017.
Celeste released the promotional single "Not For Me" in October 2017. Celeste described the single as "a song about unrequited love and falling out of love with the city that grew up in, London." She originally wanted the song to be on her first EP, The Milk & the Honey, but lost it on the digital file system. She released it as an independent single after finding it a few months later. Celeste embarked on her third-ever supporting tour of the UK and Europe with the band Skinny Living in October 2017. She played her last show supporting Roy Ayers at The Jazz Café in London in late November 2017.
2018–2019: ''Lately''
Celeste signed to Polydor Records where she caught the attention of singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka, who was already on the label. Throughout 2018, Celeste released the singles "Lately" as well as a live version of the song "Both Sides of the Moon". The two songs were recorded by UK production collective Gotts Street Park and were released ahead of Celeste's second EP, Lately which was to be released in March 2019. In January 2020, Celeste told NME that "Both Sides of the Moon" was her favourite song to write and record, stating "It was the first song at the time that I felt used all of the lyrics and imagery that I'd wanted to for so long in a song, but also had a sonic that I'd been trying to achieve for a while". Celeste signed to Warner Chappell Music publishing company in December 2018, before releasing the single "Father's Son", a "heartbreaking examination of absent fathers", in January 2019. She saw support when "Father's Son" was promoted on BBC Radio 6 Music by Tom Robinson in March 2019, as well as when "Both Sides of the Moon" was played on BBC Radio 1 by Annie Mac and Huw Stephens in October 2019, "Both Sides of the Moon" was also played on Beats 1 by Elton John, who noted: "Celeste is quite something else...watch out for her." The song was also picked for Apple Music's Best of 2018 playlist.Celeste released her second extended play titled Lately in March 2019. The five-track EP features "Both Sides of the Moon ", "Lately", "Father's Son", "Summer " and "Ugly Thoughts". The EP charted on the British, German, French and Spanish iTunes charts. Shannon Mahanty of The Guardian wrote, "Proving Celeste's deft ability to sever a heartstring, moves from the soul-tinged jazz of the title track, to sultry toxic love ballad 'Both Sides of the Moon', via 'Father's Son'". Celeste performed a showcase at SXSW under BBC Radio 1 in March 2019, as well as a BBC Music Introducing session at Maida Vale Studios in April 2019. Celeste supported Neneh Cherry at the Brighton Festival in May 2019, and performed on the BBC Music Introducing stage at Glastonbury Festival as well as at Field Day in June 2019. Gemma Samways from NME described Celeste's debut Primavera Sound set in June 2019 as "spellbinding", noting that "next year she'll be on a much, much bigger stage."
In the latter half of 2019, Celeste released 4 singles, namely "Coco Blood", "She's My Sunshine" and both a studio and live version of "Strange". "Coco Blood" was described by Savannah Sicurella of Paste as a "warm coming-of-age song" that references Celeste's British-Jamaican heritage. Celeste ventured to Jamaica to film the music video which was directed by Akinola Davids, also known as Crack Stevens. Celeste collaborated with Mulberry in June 2019 when she performed at the inaugural #MulberryMyLocal event in London. She provided the theme song for the acclaimed BBC documentary programme Black Hollywood: They Gotta Have Us in July 2019. In October 2019, Celeste supported Janelle Monáe for a night at Columbiahalle in Berlin. She made her television debut when she performed "Strange" on an episode of Later... with Jools Holland on 24 October 2019.
In November 2019, Elton John added "Strange" and "She's My Sunshine" to his personal Apple Music playlist. Celeste gained support from English television personality James Corden after he tweeted "I cannot stop listening to this is her song Strange. It's sensational. I dare you not to love her. I dare you x" Celeste sold out a three-night residency at Omeara in London, before embarking on a tour supporting Michael Kiwanuka in November 2019. On 3 December 2019, Celeste won the BBC Music Award for BBC Music Introducing Artist of the Year. Following this, she appeared on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour segment where she talked about her musical upbringing.
On 6 December 2019, the British Phonographic Industry announced that Celeste was the winner of the Rising Star Award at the 2020 Brit Awards and that she would be receiving the award and performing at the ceremony in February 2020. This was followed by the release of Compilation 1.1, a collection of Celeste's "best singles so far". The project is a re-issue of the EP Lately, with "Strange" and "Coco Blood" as additional songs. Celeste took to Twitter to promote the project, saying: "All of my releases so far in one place, Compilation 1.1 is available to stream now". Celeste was later longlisted in the annual poll of 170 music critics, Sound of 2020 by BBC, who admired her for her "Timeless soul to tug at your heartstrings" and specifically noted her as "the one to beat" following her previous accolades from the Brit Awards and BBC Music Introducing.
While in Paris, Celeste made her French television debut when she performed "Strange" after actors Timothée Chalamet, Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh promoted their film Little Women on an episode of the French talk show C à vous in December 2019. She also later performed the song on the New Year's special of Top of the Pops on BBC One.