KeshaKesha Rose Sebert (born March 1, 1987), better known mononymously as Kesha (pronunciation: /ˈkɛʃə/ kesh-ə, 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." Her debut album, Animal and its re-release, Cannibal, were released in 2010. Kesha's irreverent music and image propelled her to immediate commercial success, with Animal debuting at number one in the US and producing two number one hits, "Tik Tok" and "We R Who We R", and a string of top ten hits as well. At the same time, she continued to write songs for other artists, including co-writing "Till the World Ends" for Britney Spears.
1 Life and career
1.1 1987–2004: Childhood and youth
1.2 2005–09: Career beginnings
1.3 2009–2011: Animal and Cannibal
1.4 2011–present: Second studio album
2 Musical style and influences
3 Discography
4 Filmography
5 Tours
6 Awards and nominations
7 References
8 External links
Kesha 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.] Kesha says she has no knowledge of her father's identity.] Two of her maternal great grandparents were immigrants from Szentes, Hungary while her other maternal great grandmother was originally from Poland.] 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 said that she did 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.] In addition to taking songwriting classes,] Kesha was also taught how to write songs by Pebe, and they would often write together when she returned home from high school.]] Kesha began recording demos which Pebe would give to people she knew.] Kesha was also in a 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 from 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 "[w]hen you're listening to 100 CDs, that kind of bravado and chutzpah stand out."
Second studio album
Kesha began writing for her second studio album while on tour. She intends to make a "cock rock" album inspired by 1970s rock and describing her experiences touring the world, a departure from her first two electropop albums where there were few guitars to be found in the production. She explained the rationale to MTV, "I just want to capture some of the true essence of what rock and roll is, and that's just irreverence and sexiness and fun and not giving a f---." While her album will still feature productions from her main collaborators Dr. Luke and Max Martin, she said in an interview that she also wanted to work with other producers and was reaching out to the Dust Brothers.
