Estelle Fanta Swaray (born 18 January 1980) is a British singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actress from Hammersmith, West London, England who is known for her eclectic mix of various musical genres including R&B, soul, reggae, grime, hip hop and dance. She has collaborated with artists including John Legend, Robin Thicke, Rick Ross, Chris Brown, will.i.am, Kanye West, and De La Soul.
After singing with V2 Records, Estelle released her debut album The 18th Day (2004), which reached number 35 on the UK Albums Chart. Her next album, Shine (2008), which was released through the Atlantic Record Label, charted internationally and helped her significant mainstream success. The album included the single “American Boy” featuring Kanye West, which reached number 1 in the United Kingdom and earned her several accolades, including a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Her last album released with the Atlantic label would be All of Me (2012); the single “Thank You” received a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Performance.
Estelle has provided both the speaking and singing voice for the fictional character Garnet in the animated series Steven Universe (2013-2020), a role she reprised in Steven Universe: The Movie (2019) and Steven Universe Future (2019-2020). She made cameo appearances in the films Beyond the Lights (2014) and Girls Trip (2017), and appeared as Linda in the Netflix original film Fatal Affair (2020).