在John Legend眼里能說會唱會創作的Estelle最早是倫敦的一家Hip-Hop唱片店起步的，在那里，她的老板鼓勵她努力實現自己唱歌的夢想，于是她開始頻頻出現在當地的俱樂部和酒吧演唱，并因此獲得了在本地Hip-Hop明星Skitz2000年的專輯里演唱的機會。隨后，她與廠牌V2簽約，并在The 57th Dynasty和Blak Twang等組合的專輯里獻唱。2004年，她在V2旗下發行了自己的第一張專輯《The 18th Day》。之后，她被John Legend簽入自己的廠牌Homeschool，2008年發行了新專輯《Shine》。 by David Jeffries Able to rap, sing, and write songs that have everyone from John Legend to Roots Manuva singing her praises, U.K. MC Estelle got her start in London's renowned hip-hop record store Deal Real. Her fellow employees encouraged her to take a chance and get on the mike on-stage; soon she was playing numerous London clubs and appearing with the likes of Manuva and Rodney P. Local hero Skitz asked her to appear on his 2000 album, Countryman, and soon she landed on albums by the likes of the 57th Dynasty and Blak Twang. She made her solo debut in 2003 with the Excuse Me 12" on the Paradise Isle label, but her breakthrough track came in 2004 when 1980 was released by the V2 label. A street-level mixtape series called Da Heat and further 12"s like Free and Go Gone helped build a loyal following, and Estelle gave back to the U.K. hip-hop scene by forming her own Stellarents label to sign new artists. Late in 2004 V2 released her debut album, The 18th Day, which made a big impact in the U.K. In 2007 U.S. R&B singer John Legend announced that Estelle would be the first signee to his Homeschool label, distributed by Atlantic. Her sophomore album, Shine, was released in April 2008.