Biography
Singer/songwriter Emily King, a native New Yorker born in 1985, refined an intricate blend of contemporary pop and classic soul beginning with her 2007 debut East Side Story, an album more firmly rooted in R&B. That project, helmed by Chucky Thompson and released through Clive Davis’ J Records, earned a Grammy nomination and led to an enduring creative alliance with Jeremy Most. After issuing the well-received The Switch on her own Making Music imprint in 2015, King moved to ATO, where her refined songwriting and layered arrangements appeared on Scenery in 2019, the fully acoustic Sides in 2020, and Special Occasion in 2023. Two standout tracks—“Look at Me Now” from Scenery and the independent Black Lives Matter single “See Me”—brought her second and third Grammy nominations.
Exposed early to performance through her parents, the respected jazz vocal duo Kim Kalesti and Marion Cowings, King frequently traveled with them during childhood. At sixteen she obtained her GED, abandoned formal schooling, and began singing and writing while playing such storied Manhattan rooms as CBGB and the Bitter End. A 2004 signing with the Sony subsidiary J Records followed, along with a featured turn on Nas’ Street’s Disciple, an album overseen by the Hitmen production crew of Bad Boy Entertainment renown. One member of that team, Chucky Thompson, later produced East Side Story, which became King’s breakthrough and secured a Grammy nod for Best Contemporary R&B Album.
After her departure from J Records in 2008, King opened for major artists including John Legend, Alicia Keys, and Erykah Badu; leaving the major-label fold also allowed her sound to evolve toward a more nuanced, soul-inflected pop aesthetic. The 2011 EP Seven, recorded with Jeremy Most—who would remain her chief collaborator—marked an early step in that direction, preceding European tours supporting Maroon 5 and Emeli Sandé and the successive singles “Ordinary Heart” in 2012 and “The Distance” in 2014.
King returned to the full-length format in 2015 with The Switch, co-written and co-produced with Most, which crystallized her shift from the polished R&B of her debut toward the elegant pop and soul that followed. After signing with ATO, she issued the 2018 singles “Remind Me” and “Look at Me,” paving the way for Scenery the next year; the album was tracked in a studio the pair constructed inside the garage of their Catskills residence. “Look at Me Now,” drawn from that set, earned a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Song. In 2020 she released the acoustic collection Sides and the standalone BLM single “See Me,” the latter receiving a nomination for Best R&B Performance. Special Occasion arrived in 2023, an emotionally cohesive album written with Most in the wake of a breakup and featuring contributions from labelmate Nick Hakim, Abe Rounds, and Lukas Nelson.
Exposed early to performance through her parents, the respected jazz vocal duo Kim Kalesti and Marion Cowings, King frequently traveled with them during childhood. At sixteen she obtained her GED, abandoned formal schooling, and began singing and writing while playing such storied Manhattan rooms as CBGB and the Bitter End. A 2004 signing with the Sony subsidiary J Records followed, along with a featured turn on Nas’ Street’s Disciple, an album overseen by the Hitmen production crew of Bad Boy Entertainment renown. One member of that team, Chucky Thompson, later produced East Side Story, which became King’s breakthrough and secured a Grammy nod for Best Contemporary R&B Album.
After her departure from J Records in 2008, King opened for major artists including John Legend, Alicia Keys, and Erykah Badu; leaving the major-label fold also allowed her sound to evolve toward a more nuanced, soul-inflected pop aesthetic. The 2011 EP Seven, recorded with Jeremy Most—who would remain her chief collaborator—marked an early step in that direction, preceding European tours supporting Maroon 5 and Emeli Sandé and the successive singles “Ordinary Heart” in 2012 and “The Distance” in 2014.
King returned to the full-length format in 2015 with The Switch, co-written and co-produced with Most, which crystallized her shift from the polished R&B of her debut toward the elegant pop and soul that followed. After signing with ATO, she issued the 2018 singles “Remind Me” and “Look at Me,” paving the way for Scenery the next year; the album was tracked in a studio the pair constructed inside the garage of their Catskills residence. “Look at Me Now,” drawn from that set, earned a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Song. In 2020 she released the acoustic collection Sides and the standalone BLM single “See Me,” the latter receiving a nomination for Best R&B Performance. Special Occasion arrived in 2023, an emotionally cohesive album written with Most in the wake of a breakup and featuring contributions from labelmate Nick Hakim, Abe Rounds, and Lukas Nelson.
Albums
Singles
