Born on the Isle of Man, but without a drop of Manx blood; Her mother is half English, half Ghanaian, and her father hails from Ireland. After Santessa’s parents separated, she spent her childhood partly on the Isle Of Man, partly in the rough estate in Manchester where her grandmother lived. They later moved to Barcelona before she came back to London aged 19. She began joining bands, forming a few of her own, trying on different music styles; funk, rock, folk, whatever people around her wanted to play, but finding none that fitted comfortably. Supporting herself with a job in a casino, she took singing classes, studied drama and dance, listened to rare groove and R&B in the clubs, to the bass-heavy dub of Jah Shaka at sound system clashes, to reggae songs by Gregory Isaacs, Black Uhuru, Steel Pulse and David Bowie. Influenced by the sound of Bristol and Bjork she began writing her own material. Meeting Stuart Matthewman of Sade led to the 2000 release of “Delirium” on Sony. In in a style reminiscent of Portishead and Sweetback, Santessa combined trip-hop, downtempo, and 70’s soul to create a sound both new and familiar. During her brief stint in the US her recent works include collaborations with Ayatollah and Anthony Hamilton, admonishing her sound with an upbeat, urban flavor. Santessa was recently featured on BET’s ‘The Next’ and is currently playing live with her band. As Santessa herself puts it, ‘Music is a journey for me, I follow it wherever it leads’. |
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