Her story will interest many. Kiesza is an ambitious, well-known singer and multi-instrumentalist from Calgary. Despite a past trauma and a forced break for several years, she has returned. More about Kiesza’s story is told on calgaryski.net.
Life in Calgary
Kiesza was born and raised in Calgary. It is her hometown. The surname Ellestad is Norwegian on her father’s side. It is known that her grandfather comes from Fagernes in Norway.
At 13, the girl became interested in sailing, so she started attending relevant classes at a summer camp. This passion did not fade but grew into something more. At 16, she participated in the Sea Cadet program. This is a non-profit Christian organization that was founded in 1974. In 2007, the girl became a sailing instructor at the Glenmore Sailing School. It is worth noting that this sailing club is the most active in Alberta. It is located on the south shore in Glenmore Park, which is the centre of sailing in Calgary.
First Song
In 2008, she and her brother joined the Royal Canadian Navy. The girl became a naval communicator. These were good times; the crew had a tradition of singing together. At that time, she learned to play the guitar.
In 2009, she took part in the “Miss Universe Canada” beauty pageant. She was a girl in the navy but started training and learning various things for the beauty pageant.
Later, she took part in another competition, “Young Canadians.” It was there that she learned jazz, tap, and theatre.
At 18, she wrote her first song, and the source of inspiration was her parents’ divorce. This is a difficult event, but everyone experiences these feelings differently. Kiesza was able to express them through a song she played on her mother’s old guitar. An interesting fact is that she heard her song on the radio that same year. Since then, writing and performing musical works has become the main passion of the Calgary native.
Rapid Development
In 2017, the musician from Calgary experienced three years of rapid development. Her debut single “Hideaway” became a hit in 2014. Before that, she wrote songs for other artists, such as Kylie Minogue and Rihanna. According to some sources, Mariah Carey wanted to buy the song “Hideaway,” but Kiesza asked her team to keep it for her.
The Canadian musician released her debut single “Hideaway” on April 11, 2014. The co-author was Rami Samir Afuni, Kiesza’s producer. This is a deep house song inspired by a passion for 1990s dance music. Modern music critics positively rated this work.
Kiesza’s music was heard everywhere, and later she fulfilled her dream—she performed at London’s Wembley Stadium. The music video for this composition has collected over 322 million views.
Juno Award Winner
Kiesza received this award in 2015 as Breakthrough Artist of the Year. The award ceremony was held in Hamilton, Ontario. Interestingly, the singer also received awards for Dance Recording of the Year and Video of the Year.
Career ‘on Pause’
The singer’s career was rapidly going up, and everything was fine, but one event forced her to rethink her life. In 2017, she was in a car accident that led to a traumatic brain injury. She was in the back seat of an Uber when another car crashed into it.
The singer began to suffer from unbearable headaches. She lost balance on the left side of her body, and her arms felt like they were on fire. She could not digest most food and lost the ability to get enough sleep. She could sleep for 18 hours and then wake up with the feeling that she had not slept at all. In one of the interviews, she admitted that she was ready to lose everything because her cognition had died.
After six months, tests showed that the singer’s condition began to worsen. The next two years were supposed to be difficult, and they were.
The negative feelings were reinforced by the fact that her best friend and her album producer died that year. It was the most difficult period in the singer’s life. It took a year and a half to make progress in her recovery. This time is difficult to remember, but she cried a lot. Kiesza said that it helped her emotionally reboot. After that, she began to release music through her own label, Zebra Spirit Tribe.
New Breath
After the traumatic events, Kiesza released the mini-album “Dancing and Crying: Vol. 1.” The singer combined the house and dance music of Hideaway with Kiesza’s roots as a folk singer and songwriter.
In 2020, the singer’s second album, “Crave,” was released, which received a lot of positive reviews from critics and views from fans. This further strengthened her musical status.
2024 marked 10 years since the release of the debut song “Hideaway.” At that time, it was a worldwide hit that topped the charts and launched the debut album “Sound of a Woman.” It’s nice that this event was a powerful impetus. In 2024, the singer debuted with “I Go Dance” at the Electronic Dance Music Awards (EDMAs) in Miami. According to Kiesza, it’s a fun work. Overall, everything in this album is related to the way of returning inspiration and revealing who each of us is.
