Features
Kiesza
Artists who can hold a note and dance are a dime a dozen. But an artist who can sing, aspired to become a prima ballerina, joined the Canadian navy at 17, trained as a sniper, taught herself to play guitar and then earned a scholarship to Boston’s Berklee College of Music might just be one in a million.
Kiesza Rae Ellestad, who goes simply by Kiesza, took on songwriting gigs for artists including Rihanna, Kylie Minogue, and Icona Pop after graduation.
She continued to develop her own sound, working with music producer Rami Samir Afuni. That’s where the single “Hideaway,” an electro-pop number evoking ’90s house music from the likes of CeCe Peniston, was born.
Photo: Joel Ryan/Invision/AP
Afuni passed some tracks along to WME’s Sam Kirby, who said she was first blown away by the music, then blown away by what a complete person Kiesza is.
Kirby, with WME’s Rodney Brown and Saul Parker, got to work booking pop-up appearances for Kiesza in small dance and gay clubs.
“She’s really kind of seeding and working the underground, which is where she comes from, – the real creative club kids – as well as simultaneously working the pop angle,” Kirby said.
Photo: Julia Weeks/AP Photo
Kiesza’s Sound Of A Woman dropped in October and she’s booked for a number of Jingle Ball performances this winter where audiences will likely see everything from the Brazilian martial arts-style dance Capoeira, which Kiesza practices, to multiple percussionists, a keyboard, a DJ and even acapella numbers.
“I think people love it,” Kirby said. “It just shows she’s not manufactured. She’s a 100 percent authentic artist who really can sing.”
Touring plans in the works for Kiesza in 2015 include the Australia festival circuit, U.S. festivals next summer and headlining and co-headlining dates in between.