It's Sunday and you know that what means: it's time for "Hey, It's That Voice!" Today, we round out the core Crystal Gems with the everyone's favorite square-haired mom, Garnet!
Garnet is easily a fan favorite for a number of reasons. It could be that she was the stone-faced leader at the beginning of the series and she slowly opened up. It might be the fact that she is a fusion of two adorable little gems. Or it might be that she, to quote my friend, "can punch you to the moon, and just might do that if she feels you deserve it". But regardless of the reasons, we love Garnet and we love the amazing voice behind her: Estelle.
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| Crusin' down the street in my six-fo.... |
Estelle, birth name Estelle Fanta Swaray, was born January 18, 1980 in West London, England. Second born of eight children, she came from a very musical family, being raised with gospel and reggae music from her father and mother respectively. In her early twenties, she got a job at a record store and, at the encouragement of her co-workers, she took a chance with signing. By 2003, she had recorded her first single , "Excuse Me", and appeared on a few albums as a guest.
After a chance meeting with Kanye West and John Legend in Los Angeles, Estelle's career got a jump-start and her first album was released in 2004, 'The 18th Day', with Legend producing and appearing on two of the tracks on the album. Three singles were released from the album; "Free", "Go Gone", and "1980" (my personal favorite). In her home of England, Estelle had gotten a foothold with her soulful hip-hop.
Three years later, John Legend announced that Estelle would be the first signee to his own new music label, Homeschool. The next year, Estelle's released her second album, the Grammy-nominated 'Shine' The 2008 album was well-received by critics and featured guest collaborators such as will.i.am, Kardinal Offishall, CeeLo Green, and Kanye West. Quickly, her collaboration Kanye West, "American Boy", rose to the top 10 in over 20 countries and won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. The album was certified Gold in the United Kingdom.
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| It's such a great album that even Greg has a copy of it. |
In 2012, Estelle released her third album, 'All of Me', and her fourth album in 2015, 'True Romance'. The album cover of 'True Romance' was actually drawn by Rebecca Sugar for Estelle:
Now, this is a brief summary of Estelle's musical career. But what about her actor and voiceover work? Well, that is something a little bit different: Steven Universe is Estelle's first venture into acting.
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| How can Estelle say no to such a cute face? |
Sure, Estelle has been on television as herself on a number of shows such as Top of the Pops, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Later... with Jools Holland, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and various others, these were all shows in which she was just herself or a performer.
In fact, Steven Universe, opened the door for more acting roles for Estelle. In 2015, Estelle guest starred as Delphine in the Fox TV soap opera Empire, where she performed a duet with Jussie Smollett, her song "Conqueror".
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| Estelle and Jussie Smollett performing together |
And lastly, but not least if you ask me, Estelle did lend her musical talents to the fellow Cartoon Network show, We Bare Bears. She sings the opening song, "We'll Be There".
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| Does this mean we can get Estelle to voice a character on We Bare Bears? Please? |
I'm sure we are going see plenty more of Estelle in the future, whether it be in music, acting, or even something else. I know I can't wait to see what she has coming up!
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| It seems Garnet can't wait either. |
That will do it for this week's edition of "Hey, It's That Voice!" Join me next time when we look at the voice of the greatest dad in the universe!
