Emily King


Emily King is an American singer and songwriter. She started her career in 2004 and her first album East Side Story was released in August 2007. In December 2007, she was a Grammy Award nominee for Best Contemporary R&B Album. In 2019, she was nominated for Best R&B Song for "Look at Me Now" and her album Scenery was nominated for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. In 2020, King was nominated again, for Best R&B Performance with her song "See Me".

Biography

Born in 1985 in New York City, King grew up in a small apartment on the Lower East Side. Her parents, Marion Cowings and Kim Kalesti, were a singing duo who performed and traveled regularly taking her and her older brother with them. At the age of 16, King left high school after earning her GED to pursue her music career. She began playing shows in restaurants and venues around New York City, including CBGB and The Bitter End.

Career

In 2012, King was awarded the Holly Prize from The Songwriters Hall of Fame for recognition of the "all-in songwriter" whose work exhibits the qualities of Holly’s music: true, great and original. In the fall, King was invited by Emeli Sandé to open for her UK tour playing sold out shows in five cities including at The Royal Albert Hall in London. King collaborated with José James on his album No Beginning No End in 2013 and can be heard on the tracks "Heaven on the Ground" and the acoustic version of "Come to My Door". In 2014, King performed as an opening act for Sara Bareilles' Little Black Dress tour.
King's second studio album, The Switch, was self-released by her own label, Making Music Records, on June 26, 2015. The Wall Street Journal remarked that the album is "a tasteful collection of eleven songs that showcase King’s distinctive voice".
She signed with the independent label ATO Records in 2017 and with them released her third studio album, Scenery, on 1 February 2019.
In late 2019, King once again performed as an opening act for Sara Bareilles in her Amidst The Chaos Tour.
In 2019, King helped to compose "Being Human", the ending theme song for the Cartoon Network animated series Steven Universe Future, which she sang. Her song "Can't Hold Me" was also used in an episode of the series.
King released her fourth studio album, Sides, on January 17, 2020. The album features acoustic takes on her previous songs, and includes a guest appearance by Sara Bareilles on the track "Teach You." In response to racial unrest in the summer of 2020, King released the song "See Me" in August. The song was nominated for Best R&B Performance in the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
King appeared on stream with Marc Rebillet on March 21, 2021, as his first ever guest performer.
King's Tiny Desk Concert went online on November 3, 2025. The set list: "Distance", "Georgia", "Down", "This Year". and "Special Occasion".

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Instrumental albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Guest appearances

Awards and nominations

Tours

Headlining