facts Birth Name Jenny Bea Christina Englishman Birthday December 23, 1978 Age 30 Star Sign Sagittarius/Capricorn Cusp Stage Name Esthero (which means, "If I am the hero, then I cannot fly from darkness") Full Stage Name Lil' Dukes Up Tha Peachcup Pink Pirate Estherofaerie Nicknames/Monickers Bratticus, E, JBooty, Jen-Booty, Miss E, and Ms. Sissie Born In Stratford, ON, Canada Resides In Los Angeles, CA, USA Siblings 2 brothers, Jason and Pete Englishman 2005 reprise biography Esthero was much more than a one-night stand. 1998's Breath From Another was the catalyst that sparked a love movement in which the years that followed were spent waiting and longing for her return. Blessing us with gifts such as "Country Livin' (The World I Know)," "Swallow Me" and "That Girl," she was indeed "Heaven Sent." Esthero was our breath of fresh air. Her voice - often imitated, never duplicated - reached a part of our souls that had previously remained dormant. She was our beacon of light. A sacred blend of jazz, hip-hop, soul, funk, and rock, Esthero became our best-kept secret. Then just like that, she was gone. Our drug resurfaced throughout her absence, instilling her magic onto soundtracks [Go, Boiler Room, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Slam, Down With Love, Felicity, and Dawson's Creek] and collaborations [Black Eyed Peas, Mos Def, Goodie Mob, Sugar Ray, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and DJ Krush]. The fix wasn't enough though. While good popular music hit a record low, it was time to let the secret out. Thankfully, Esthero was eager to return. Her emotional/spiritual journey, living life and perfecting her already perfect voice finally brought her back to us. The world is now anxiously awaiting the homecoming LP Wikked Lil' Grrrls from the regenerated Esthero. Her vision has never been clearer, and she's on a mission to change what she sees. It's time to start the ReVoLuTIoN. After all, they don't call her "Lil' Dukes Up" for nothing. Esthero emerged from the womb with headphones on, and from the moment she learned to press play, she and her stereo were inseparable. It was apparent from childhood that one day she would emerge as the pink pirate, luring the 5 senses towards a euphoric state, fulfilling music's destiny. Her divine sound was birthed in a small town in southern Ontario, but cultivated in the musical mecca known as Toronto. A 16-year old Esthero, accompanied by her guitar, left home and placed the first brick in the path that would ultimately lead her to us. Too young, too pure and too driven to let any downward spiral drain her boundless energy, Esthero found all the strength she needed in her music. She held several jobs, including a merchandise seller for local rock bands. Constantly penning lyrics, she shared her indescribable voice through coffee houses, bars, and open mics. Esthero was discovered within two years of meeting her manager and released her first LP in 1998. Breath From Another was categorically described as trip-hop, but the liquid beats ignited with Esthero's fiery vocals reflected much more from the then 18-year old songstress. The most impressive factor that distinguished Esthero from most musicians was that her live sets were as flawless as the studio cuts. Performances blended a multiple-piece orchestra, complete with turntables and the most essential instrument: that voice. From hip-hop purists to jazz enthusiasts, Esthero's sound was the thread that wove multiple styles together effortlessly. Following the release of Breath From Another, Esthero joined the Reprise family and took time to exhale while her audio disciples held their collective breath. Esthero spent her hiatus gathering emotional ammo to blaze her forthcoming projects. She returned with the release of "O.G. Bitch," a Track & Field production that immediately claimed the number one spot on the Billboard Dance Chart. Following "O.G. Bitch" came We R In Need Of A Musical ReVoLuTIoN , a six-song EP that serves as a precursor to her upcoming April LP release Wikked Lil' Grrrls. Featuring three tracks from the album and three b-sides, the EP provides a first glimpse into the future with collaborations by Sean Lennon and Cee-Lo Green. The stage is now set for Esthero's long-awaited LP, Wikked Lil' Grrls. Wikked Lil' Grrrls is an in-depth look into the core of Esthero. In the past, she was the vocal instrument whose words and music blended into a trance that blanketed her in mystery. Wikked Lil' Grrrls presents a more soulful, still ethereal woman who has been loved, lost, and liberated through self-discovery. Bratty yet balanced, Esthero takes the reigns where many female artists have fallen short in exposing their brazen side. Musically, the LP incorporates the many loves of Esthero, who served as both an Executive Producer and Co-Producer on the album. She is joined by guest producers [Adam 12, Camara Cambon, Spookey Ruben, James Robertson, Track and Field, Sean Lennon and Keith Crouch] with appearances by Shakari Nite, Cee-Lo Green, Jemeni, Jeleestone and Andre3000 of Outkast. Esthero creates a perfect world where samba meets soul and jazz unites with rock. Her vocals are graciously magnified this time, and accompanied by pianos, horns and basslines. This masterpiece surely sets the standard for the new school fusion of genres. Wikked Lil' Grrrls reflects an evolved Esthero but still a lyrical genius. Potent yet fragile and haughty yet humble, Wikked Lil' Grrrls lets us witness the pink pirate as a rebel, friend, daughter, and lover. Esthero is our mystical faerie, who proves that magic is still present in music, love, and life. It's her boldness and passion that reminds us of what we've been missing for so very long. She inhales the purest pleasure and pain from reality and exhales fantasy hymns with which all of life's emotions are gracefully enhanced. It was Breath From Another that enlightened us, and perhaps it will take another breath from Esthero to revive us. 2005 all music guide biography Vocalist Esthero was born Jen-Bea Englishman on December 23, 1978, in Ontario, Canada. She moved to Toronto in 1996, and quickly became a fixture at the city's open mikes. There she met Doc (real name: Martin McKinney), an engineer and producer, and the two began working on a demo featuring his programming and her vocals. Sony eventually took interest, and suddenly Esthero went from a fledgling idea to a duo with Esthero's name as their own and a record, Breath from Another, issued in spring 1998 on the label's Work imprint. Breath's mix of beats, lush vocals, and fractured bits of programmed samples caught on perfectly with the trip-hop trend of the time, and Esthero had success with singles like Heaven Sent and the hip-hop-flavored title track. However, it would take nearly seven years for a follow-up to appear. In the interim Esthero parted ways with Doc and struck out on her own, contributing vocals to projects like Black Eyed Peas' "Weekends" (2000). Signing with Reprise, she began work on new material, and returned officially in summer 2004 with the club single O.G. Bitch. Esthero followed the single in November of that year with We R in Need of a Musical Revolution, an EP that found her collaborating with Sean Lennon, Cee-Lo, and producer James Robertson (Skye Sweetnam) on a 21st century version of Breath's assemblage sound. The EP set up a full-length entitled Wikked Lil' Girls, which was slated for release in early 2005. 1998 epic biography Maybe it's just a small world. Especially in a music scene like the one in Toronto, Canada. More likely the "six degrees of separation" just caught up with them. Either way, one lucky day, through a friend of a friend, Esthero and Doc met. From that "first cup of tea," the avalanche that became the debut album "Breath From Another" started snow-balling one note at a time into reality. We all know what opposites do to one another and these two polar opposites couldn't seem to stop themselves. From two musical worlds in conflict, they became one and created an entire universe inhabited only by the unique sounds that are Esthero. Leaving the security of her family in a smaller than small southern Ontario town at the age of 16, Esthero always kept her flaming red-head together despite her struggles to support herself in Toronto. Too young, too pure and too driven to allow any downward spiral to suck out her boundless energy, Esthero found all the strength she needed in her music. To quote the girl herself: "Music was the lamb that made a lion out of me." Esthero spent much of her time dreaming, sneaking into clubs, scribbling out her lyrics and sharing her indescribable voice with any willing ear. Until meeting Doc, the apex of her musical career was open-mic night at a local folk club. Yin to Yang, partner Doc's destiny flowed along the Mississippi and on the St. Paul side of the Twin Cities. Following the path of another local boy (often referred to by a symbol), Doc fell hard for the guitar and was riffing his funky brains out in local bands from the age of 15. Studio obsessed and a perfectionist to a fault, Doc swallowed knowledge at an alarming rate and became a proficient engineer and programming wizard. Accidents will happen; the boy won a free trip to the Great White North to see the World Series and fell in love with Toronto. In no time Doc finagled his dual citizenship into a complete relocation. He plunged head-long into a music community where "urban music" means a jumbled blur of hiphop, triphop, acid jazz, r&b, reggae and ska. A musical home at last! Who knows how we choose who we choose. With little in common and less to lose, a new union was born from their first meeting. Esthero pushed her agenda of structureless, shoe-gazer, U.K. lo-fi, anti-hero pop. Doc formed order from chaos, married beats to chords they never imagined loving and with the patience of a saint, tamed the fire-breathing Esthero's passion. They formed a new synergy where violence is vulnerability, reason is abstraction, a lover's caress hides a knife, alienation bears the seeds of unity and the soothing song of a woman-child is carried aloft on the wings of a madman's music. The album, recorded primarily in Doc's studio (apartment, that is), started down an "indie" road and traveled one song at a time. The sounds that became "Breath From Another" were invented as a dialogue with each new track a conversation with the last and each new lyric an effort to get in the last word. The duo's diverse musical friends came together to round out the ensemble. The boundaries were pushed further back as modern rock-heads discovered their common language with the hiphop nation. Esthero is a gift. They are two artists that were not satisfied with pushing the proverbial envelope. They have ripped the lid off a Pandora's box and loosed a truly "new music" on the world. It whispers in your ear as it screams your name. "Breath From Another" - the time has finally come.