Ester Alexandra Crețu, known professionally as Ester Peony (formerly only Ester), is a Romanian-Canadian singer and songwriter.[4] She will represent Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "On a Sunday", after winning the selection show Selecția Națională 2019. Having spent her childhood in Montreal, Canada, Peony started to compose music for Romanian artists before gaining recognition for her YouTube covers in 2015. One year later, she attained commercial success in Romania with her single "Sub aripa ta" featuring Vescan.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Personal life 3 Discography 3.1 Extended plays 3.2 Singles 3.2.1 As lead artist 3.2.2 As featured artist 4 References Early life

Born in Câmpulung, Romania,[2] Ester Alexandra Crețu and her parents emigrated to Montreal, Canada in 2001.[5] There, she showed special interest in music and started studying jazz singing at the age of eight. Peony relocated to Romania four years later and graduated from the Dinu Lipatti High School of Art in Pitești, where she alternately studied classic singing and classic guitar. In 2013, she enrolled at the Music Interpretation Faculty in Bucharest to study jazz. Whilst starting to compose music for Romanian artists,[4][6][7] the singer also released her debut single "Cuminte de Crăciun" under her mononym Ester in the winter of 2014.[8]

In 2015, she started posting covers on YouTube which got her attention and a record deal with a Romanian label.[6] Peony premiered "Sub aripa ta" later that year with Vescan, which was playlisted by native radio and television stations. She would eventually embark on her first tour with Vescan in 2016.[4] The singer changed her stage name to Ester Peony in 2018; "peony" translates to Romanian as "bujor", which is part of her mother's last name.[5] Peony independently distributed her debut extended play (EP) Dig It in May,[9] on which she acted as one of the main composers.[6][10] In February 2019, she was announced as the Romanian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel after winning the selection show Selecția Națională with her song "On a Sunday".[6] Peony's victory was met with mixed reactions from the public.[11] She would soon after sign a record deal with Cat Music.[12] The singer is currently working on her debut studio album, set to be released later in 2019.[4]

Personal life

Peony currently resides in Arad, Romania.[1]

Discography Extended plays Title Details Dig It Released: 12 May 2018[9] Label: Independent Formats: Digital download