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Kesha
Kesha in Schladming, Austria, December 2010
Background information
Birth name Kesha Rose Sebert
Born March 1, 1987 (1987-03-01) (age 24)
Los Angeles, California
Origin Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Genres Electropop, dance-pop
Occupations Singer, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, piano, guitar
Years active 2005–present
Labels RCA, Kemosabe
Associated acts Flo Rida
Website http://www.keshasparty.com/
Kesha Rose Sebert (born March 1, 1987), better known mononymously as Kesha (pronunciation: /'k???/ kesh-?, stylized Ke$ha), is an American singer-songwriter and rapper. In 2005, at 18, Kesha was signed to Dr. Luke's record label, Kemosabe Entertainment, and publishing company. Although an active musician since then, singing background vocals and writing songs for other artists, her breakthrough only came in early 2009 after appearing on Flo Rida's number one single, "Right Round." Kesha's debut single "Tik Tok", released in late 2009, reached number one in 11 countries. Her debut album, Animal, was released in January 2010 and debuted at number one in the U.S., Canada and Greece. By September, Kesha had sold two million albums worldwide and released three more top ten singles from Animal. The album was re-released with a companion extended play, Cannibal, in November, preceded by the chart-topping lead single "We R Who We R".
Contents
1 Life and career
1.1 1987–2004: Childhood and youth
1.2 2005–09: Career beginnings
1.3 2009–present: Animal and Cannibal
2 Musical style and influences
3 Discography
4 Filmography
5 Tours
6 Awards and nominations
Life and career1987–2004: Childhood and youthKesha was born in Los Angeles, California on March 1, 1987. Her mother, Pebe Sebert, is a singer-songwriter who co-wrote the 1978 single "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You" with Hugh Moffatt for Joe Sun. Pebe, a single mother, struggled financially while supporting herself, Kesha and her older brother, Lagan, at the time. They had to rely on welfare payments and food stamps to get by. When Kesha was an infant, Pebe would often have to look after her onstage while performing. Pebe moved the family to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1991 after securing a new publishing deal for her songwriting. Kesha's younger brother Louis was born shortly after. She claims to have not fit in in school in the Brentwood suburb of Nashville which she called the "Bible Belt", explaining that her unconventional dress sense including homemade purple velvet pants and purple hair did not warm her to other students. The Seberts were featured in an episode of The Simple Life as the host family to Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie in 2005. Kesha attended Franklin High School and Brentwood High School. She played the trumpet and later the saxophone in the marching band in school and described herself in an interview with NPR as being a diligent student.
Pebe frequently brought Kesha and her brothers along to recording studios and encouraged Kesha to sing when she noticed Kesha's vocal talent. Pebe also taught Kesha how to write songs, and they would often write together when she returned home from high school. Kesha began recording demos and sending them to labels and was in a punk band with Lagan. Kesha and Pebe co-wrote the song "Stephen" together when Kesha was 16, Kesha then tracked down David Gamson, a producer that she admired, from Scritti Politti who agreed to produce the song. She dropped out of school at 17, after being convinced by Dr. Luke and Max Martin to return to Los Angeles to pursue a music career, and earned her GED after. Luke and Martin had received one of Kesha's demo after Pebe passed it to Samantha Cox, senior director of writer/publisher relations at Broadcast Music Incorporated, and were impressed. Two of the demos were described in a cover story for Billboard, the first "a gorgeously sung, self-penned country ballad" and the second "a gobsmackingly awful trip-hop track" where Kesha raps ad lib for a minute when she runs out of lyrics near the end. Dr. Luke stated in an interview for the story that it was the latter track that caught his attention, saying "when you're listening to 100 CDs, that kind of bravado and chutzpah stand out."
2005–09: Career beginningsIn 2005, at 18, Kesha was signed to Dr. Luke's label, Kemosabe Entertainment, and his music publishing company, Prescription Songs. Kesha later sang background vocals for Paris Hilton's single, "Nothing in This World". Dr. Luke became preoccupied with other incoming projects, having enjoyed success writing and producing for Kelly Clarkson's album, Breakaway. Kesha then signed with David Sonenberg's management company, DAS Communications Inc., in 2006, hardly interacting with Dr. Luke after that. DAS was tasked with obtaining a major label record deal for Kesha in a year’s time in exchange for 20 percent of her music income, with her having the option of ending the relationship if they failed. She worked with several writers and producers while at the company and ended up co-writing The Veronicas' single, "This Love" alongside Toby Gad. While furthering her career in studio, Kesha earned her living as a waitress. She appeared in the video for Katy Perry's single, "I Kissed a Girl" and sang background vocals for the Dr. Luke produced song, "Lace and Leather" by Britney Spears in 2008. DAS soon attracted the attention of Kara DioGuardi, who wanted to sign Kesha to Warner Bros. Records. The deal fell through due to her existing contract with Dr. Luke's label. Soon after, she terminated her contract with DAS, reuniting with Dr. Luke.
I was so happy being broke. And I’m happy not being broke. It doesn’t really affect me either way. I care about taking care of people that have taken care of me – that’s important to me. But to be honest, I’m kind of repulsed by the gluttony and excesses of a lot of people in the limelight.
Kesha explaining that the dollar sign in her stage name is meant to be ironic.Kesha gained exposure in the mainstream media in early 2009 after appearing on Flo Rida's number one single, "Right Round". The collaboration happened by accident; she had walked into a recording session for the song with Flo Rida and Dr. Luke. Flo Rida wanted a female voice for the song; Dr. Luke then suggested Kesha for the part. Flo Rida liked the end result so much that they did two more tracks. However, she is not credited for her feature on the US release of "Right Round" and did not collect any money for the part. She also refused to appear in the video; she explained to the New York Times that, "if you want to be a legitimate artist, it’s more important what you say no to. I knew he would want me to be some sexpot, shake my booty, and whatever."
2009–present: Animal and CannibalSoon after, Kesha signed a multi-album deal with RCA Records through Dr. Luke's imprint, after negotiations with Lava Records and Flo Rida's record label, Atlantic Records as well. Having spent the previous six years working on material for her debut album, she began putting finishing touches to the album with Luke and Max Martin. The album mainly chronicles the four years she spent in Los Angeles as a struggling singer-songwriter. She had accumulated over 200 songs which forced her to increase the tracklisting from the intended twelve songs to fourteen. The album was executively produced by Luke, who produced the majority of the songs with combinations of Martin, Benny Blanco and Ammo. The album is primarily of the dance-pop genre with electropop beats and synths, marking a shift in sound for Luke from his signature pop-rock productions, which he attributed to Kesha who was adamant that there be no guitars used on the record.
Kesha at a French radio station in June 2010.Kesha's debut single, "Tik Tok", was a commercial success, topping the charts in eleven countries; performing best in the US where it set the weekly record for the most digital downloads of a female artist and became the second best-selling single in a week, after "Right Round", by shifting 610,000 copies. RCA had noticed her strong following on social media when negotiating her contract and thus relied on viral marketing to build a following for her single, offering it for free a month before releasing it for digital download. "Tik Tok" was released for digital download in August 2009 and reached number one on iTunes in New Zealand without radio airplay. Radio stations soon began expressing interest in the song, but RCA/Jive Label Group chairman/CEO Barry Weiss decided to delay its shipping to radio by a month, to October, to let the song continue to build viral support digitally and good word of mouth.
While "Tik Tok"'s airplay was not stellar right out of the gates, it soon gained enough momentum to give RCA the go ahead to release Animal in January 2010. Finance executives had pushed for a Christmas release to capitalize on the usual strong sales during that time period, but Weiss thought that the album would be lost in the shuffle among the many other releases released at that time. RCA were also aware that Kesha could possibly only be able to sell singles and not albums and thus decided to price the album at $6.99 on iTunes to attract younger buyers. Animal debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, usurping Susan Boyle's album which had spent five consecutive weeks at the top, receiving three quarters of its sales from digital sales. Animal received mixed reviews from music critics; Rolling Stone summed the album up as "repulsive, obnoxious and ridiculously catchy." Kesha would go on to sell two million albums by September. "Blah Blah Blah", "Your Love Is My Drug" and "Take It Off" were released as the album's second, third and fourth singles, respectively. All three songs achieved similar commercial success each reaching the top ten in Australia, Canada, and the US. By June 2011, she had accumulated almost 21 million digital single downloads in the US alone.
Kesha performing live on tour in October 2010.Kesha featured on two top ten singles by Taio Cruz and 3OH!3, through recommendations by Dr. Luke, in May. Kesha's former managers from DAS Communications Inc. filed a lawsuit later that month, seeking $14 million from Kesha and $12 million from Luke for commissions on her RCA Records deal, alleging that she had extended the deadline for them to get her a major record label contract and squeezed them out of her career under pressure from Dr. Luke. Kesha launched her own lawsuit in October, citing the Talent Agencies Act, asking the California Labor Commissioner to declare her contract with DAS void because it had acted as an unlicensed talent agent while procuring work for her in California, where only licensed agents can do so. Kesha held a benefit concert on June 16, 2010 where all proceeds went to aid victims of the May 2010 Tennessee floods from her hometown Nashville. She raised close to $70,000 from the event. She also donated 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of dog food to a local animal shelter for pets abandoned in the flood. She was a supporting act on the summer North American leg of Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth Tour and was awarded Best New Act at the 2010 MTV Europe Music Awards in November.
Desiring to have enough songs to extend her one hour sets to two hours, Kesha decided to release a collection of new songs. Animal was re-released with a companion extended play, Cannibal, in November. Lead single, "We R Who We R" became only the 17th song to debut at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, three weeks before the album's release. Second single, "Blow" also charted in the top ten on the Hot 100 in early 2011. Kesha embarked on her first headlining world tour, Get Sleazy, in the spring. She told Billboard that she would be demonstrating a different side to her musicianship that audiences had not seen, playing multiple instruments including synthesizers, guitars, keytars and a theremin. Entertainment Weekly commented that the show was "unexpectedly awesome". The tour was later expanded with a summer leg due to the first leg selling out. Kesha co-wrote Britney Spears' top ten single, "Till the World Ends" and was featured on the official remix along with Spears and Nicki Minaj, which charted at number three in the US in April.
Musical style and influences "Tik Tok" (2009)
Kesha's debut single and one of many songs in which she raps and uses Auto-Tune.
Kesha co-wrote every song on her first two albums and considers herself a songwriter primarily, writing for artists including Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus. She prefers to tailor songs specifically for the artist by getting into their frame of mind, instead of giving them songs about her own experiences. Having previously done country, pop-rock and hard electro, she had a clear idea of the electropop sound that she wanted for her debut album. Both of her albums are of the genre with catchy hooks and colorful productions, incorporating elements from other genres as well. Tracks such as "Party at a Rich Dude's House" and "C U Next Tuesday" have 1980s derived backing, and "Stephen" begins with "Kansas-style vocal harmonies". While her voice on the albums was heavily processed with Auto-Tune, leading to questions on vocal talent, she expressed confidence in her abilities, explaining that the Auto-Tune was used for humorous effect. Kesha uses a "talky" rapping style on a number of songs, most notably on her debut single "Tik Tok". Even though the New York Times categorized Kesha as a rapper, she told Billboard that she never set out to rap and did not consider the style to be rapping at first. Most of her lyrics chronicle her relationships and partying and are often intentionally ridiculous and exaggerated. When Animal was released, many critics took issue with these lyrics, which they considered frivolous and crass. Kesha has spoken about the double standard for lyrics by female and male artists, in "Blah Blah Blah" and "Boots and Boys" she objectifies men to poke fun at how male artist can get away with objectifying women and not vice versa. Some songs also have more aspirational themes, such as "We R Who We R" and "Animal", which are intended to inspire people to embrace their individuality.
Kesha performing live at the US Naval Academy in 2010. A wide variety of influences contribute to her stage styling, from Keith Richards to the film, A Clockwork Orange.Kesha described her musical influences as consisting of hip-hop, punk, 1980s pop and dance music and country. She has cited Beck, Queen, Madonna, Johnny Cash, Aaron Neville, Bob Dylan, Beastie Boys, The Damned, Velvet Underground, Blondie and grafitti artist, Banksy as influences. She credits her straightforward story-based lyrics to her love for the honest storytelling style of country music, while the title track from her debut album was created with music from alternative rock bands Flaming Lips and Arcade Fire in mind. She singled out the Beastie Boys as a major influence, telling Newsweek that she had always wanted to be like them and aspired to make "youthful, irreverent anthems" as well. She called her debut album, Animal an homage to the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill and credited the creation of the rap driven "Tik Tok" to her love for the Beastie Boys' rap music. For her first headlining tour, Kesha wanted to emulate the stage theatrics of Iggy Pop's performances. She also taps into diverse influences for her styling, from Keith Richards to Hulk Hogan. She draws inspiration from old films as well, her stage makeup is characterized by dramatic makeup at her right eye, inspired by A Clockwork Orange. The video for "Your Love is My Drug" features animated sequences inspired by the Beatles' film, Yellow Submarine, while the Get Sleazy tour was described as having a "post-apocalyptic Mad Max vibe."
DiscographyMain article: Kesha discography
Animal (2010)
FilmographyYear TV show Episode Role
2011 Victorious Ice Cream for Ke$ha Herself
ToursGet Sleazy Tour (2011)
Awards and nominationsYear Nominated work Event Award Result
2010 Herself American Music Awards Artist of the Year Nominated
Favorite Female Artist Nominated
MTV Europe Music Awards Best New Act Won
Best Push Act Nominated
MTV Video Music Awards Best New Artist Nominated
"Tik Tok" Best Female Video Nominated
Best Pop Video Nominated
"My First Kiss" Best Collaboration Nominated
"Tik Tok" MuchMusic Video Awards International Video of the Year – Artist Nominated
UR FAVE: International Video Nominated
Herself People's Choice Awards Favorite Breakout Artist Nominated
Teen Choice Awards Choice Music: Female Artist Nominated
Choice Music: Breakout Artist – Female Nominated
Choice Summer Music Star: Female Nominated
Animal Choice Music: Album – Pop Nominated
"Your Love Is My Drug" Choice Music: Single Nominated
Choice Summer Music: Song Nominated
Herself World Music Awards Best New Artist Nominated
2011 Echo Awards Most Successful Newcomer of the Year, International Nominated
Animal Juno Awards International Album of the Year Nominated
Billboard Music Awards Top Pop Album Nominated
Herself Top New Artist Nominated
Top Female Artist Nominated
Top Pop Artist Nominated
Top Hot 100 Artist Nominated
Top Digital Songs Artist Nominated
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