Ester Alexandra Crețu (; born 21 July 1993), known professionally as Ester Peony (formerly only Ester), is a Romanian singer and songwriter. She represented Romania in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the 2018 contest with the song " Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broad ...

with the song "

On a Sunday "On a Sunday" is a song recorded by Romanian singer Ester Peony. It was independently released for digital download and streaming as a single on 17 January 2019. Ioana Victoria Badea wrote the lyrics, while Peony composed the music alongside A ...

" after winning the selection show '' Selecția Națională 2019''. However, she failed to qualify for the Grand Final in Tel Aviv. Peony started to compose music for Romanian artists before gaining recognition for posting covers on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

in 2015. Later that year, she attained commercial success in Romania with her single "Sub aripa ta" featuring Vescan.

Early life

Ester Alexandra Crețu was born in

Câmpulung Câmpulung (also spelled ''Cîmpulung'', , german: Langenau, Old Romanian ''Dlăgopole'', ''Длъгополе'' (from Middle Bulgarian)), or ''Câmpulung Muscel'', is a municipality in the Argeș County, Muntenia, Romania. It is situated among t ...

, Romania on 21 July 1993. She and her parents emigrated to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Canada in 2001. There, she showed a particular interest in music and started studying

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singing at the age of eight. Peony relocated to Romania four years later and graduated from the

Dinu Lipatti Constantin "Dinu" Lipatti (; 2 December 1950) was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short by his death from effects related to Hodgkin's disease at age 33. He was elected posthumously to the Romanian Academy. He comp ...

High School of Art in

Pitești Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the river Argeș. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated in the historical re ...

, where she studied classic singing and classic guitar. In 2013, she enrolled at the Music Interpretation Faculty in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

to study jazz.

Career

Peony released her debut single "Cuminte de Crăciun" under her

mononym A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

Ester in late 2014. At the same time, she had been composing music for other Romanian artists. In 2015, she started posting covers on

. The cover videos gained her attention, and she was subsequently offered a record deal with a Romanian label. Later that year, Peony released the song "Sub aripa ta", featuring Romanian rapper Vescan. The song was played on radio and television stations across the country. In 2016, she embarked on her first tour with Vescan. The singer changed her stage name to Ester Peony and independently distributed her debut EP ''Dig It'' in May 2018, for which she was also one of the main composers. In February 2019,

Romanian Television Televiziunea Română (), more commonly referred to as TVR , is the short name for Societatea Română de Televiziune ("Romanian Television Society"; SRTV), the Romanian public television. It operates six channels: TVR1, TVR2, TVR3, TVR Info, T ...

(TVR) announced her as the Romanian representative for the

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, Israel, after she won the selection show ''

Selecția Națională Romania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since its debut in , and has placed in the top ten six times. Its best results were achieved by Luminița Anghel and Sistem in , and by Paula Seling and Ovi in , who both finished ...

'' with her song "

". The announcement was met with mixed reactions from the public. In 2019, TVR were able to spend significant amounts on their Eurovision entry for the first time; they spent about 100,000 euros on the visual and special effects in the performance. Romania failed to qualify for the Eurovision Grand Final as their second consecutive—and second overall—non-qualification, placing 13th with 71 points. During her Eurovision time, Peony had signed a record deal with

Cat Music Cat Music is a record label based in Bucharest, Romania, that holds 30% of the market share and a catalog of more than 8,500 songs. Its YouTube channel is the most popular of a Romanian label, with over 6.2 million subscribers and 6.2 billion views ...

, and is currently working on her debut studio album. She performed at the 2019

Golden Stag Festival The Golden Stag Festival ( ro, Cerbul de Aur) is the most popular Romanian song contest and awards, held annually in the town of Braşov, Romania. History The Golden Stag was first held in 1968, but after 1971 it was banned by the Communist l ...

Influences and personal life

Peony cites Delia,

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

and

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...

as some of her musical inspirations. Her stage name refers to the

peony The peony or paeony is a flowering plant in the genus ''Paeonia'' , the only genus in the family Paeoniaceae . Peonies are native to Asia, Europe and Western North America. Scientists differ on the number of species that can be distinguished, ...

flower. In

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

, "peony" translates to "bujor", which refers to part of her mother's name. The singer has been in a relationship with Alexandru Șerbu since about 2013; Șerbu acted as producer for "On a Sunday". Peony is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peony, Ester 21st-century Romanian singers 21st-century Romanian women singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2019 English-language singers from Romania 1993 births Living people Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Romania Romanian women pop singers Romanian singer-songwriters Romanian expatriates in Canada People from Câmpulung