Celeste (singer)

1994–2015: Early years and career beginnings[edit]

Celeste Epiphany Waite was born in Culver City, California, on 5 May 1994 to an English mother and a Jamaican father.^{[6][8][9][10]} Her mother had been working as a make-up artist in the U.S., having initially worked in Hong Kong after graduating from beauty school in London.^[11][12] Her father had moved to the U.S. from Jamaica to be with his mother while she studied at university.^[11] Following her parents' separation, Celeste moved to her mother's native United Kingdom, settling in Dagenham at the age of three,^[9] before moving to the village of Saltdean on the outskirts of Brighton at the age of five, where she spent most of her early years.^[13][14]


At the age of 10, Celeste spent a year doing ballet at a performing arts school where teachers had offered her a scholarship.^[15] She recalls becoming interested in music through discovering Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, whose music was played throughout her family home, before discovering her own music from names such as Thelonious Monk, Koko Taylor and Sun Ra through YouTube and iTunes at the age of 14.^[16][17][14] Celeste recalls singing hymns at church in Brighton as one of her earliest musical memories.^[18] When Celeste was 16, her father died of lung cancer, aged 49.^[10]