Meet Celeste, The Singer Behind The New John Lewis Christmas Advert

13 November 2020, 10:26 | Updated: 13 November 2020, 11:34

Waitrose and John Lewis 'Give A Little Love' Christmas advert

The new John Lewis and Waitrose advert is warming the nation’s hearts, but who sings on the 2020 Christmas advert? Get to know BRIT Award winner Celeste.

John Lewis’ new Christmas advert has opted for a much-needed message for its 2020 campaign, “Give A Little Love”, with a song of a similar title by singer Celeste, 'A Little Love'.

The advert is made up of two joint adverts to encourage people to spread kindness and help raise £4 million for charities Home-Start and FareShare.

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The advert sees animations throughout nine scenes spreading kindness by passing on the campaign’s heart onto the next part of the film.

To complete the message of the advert, John Lewis and Waitrose asked BRIT Award winner Celeste to write and sing the music, instead of an artist covering a tune that’s already well-known.

British soul singer Celeste wrote and recorded ‘A Little Love’ for the campaign, and her record label Polydor will donate 10p to the campaign every time the song is downloaded.

Speaking about her song, Celeste said: “I felt honoured to be asked to take part. I wanted to create something that felt classic but still true to who I am as a writer and performer."

Who is Celeste?

Celeste, full name Celeste Epiphany Wait, is a 26-year-old singer from Brighton, who moved to the UK when she was three after being born in LA.

She is known for her soul-full, jazzy singing style and credits Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald as her inspirations, as well as modern artists such as Frank Ocean, Solange and Kanye West.

The singer won the Rising Star award at the BRITs this year and already has huge songs such as ‘Stop This Flame’, ‘Hear My Voice’ and ‘Strange’ in her back catalogue, but is planning to release her self-titled debut album in 2021.

Celeste rose to fame after starting a YouTube channel at 16 to share her talent and one of her songs caught the attention of a manager who arranged for her to have a session in studio in Notting Hill.

She went on to be given more studio time and started playing local gigs in Brighton, eventually releasing her own EP of four songs and gaining support from BBC Music.

Whilst continuing her songwriting she worked at a local pub and eventually released her debut single ‘Daydreaming’ under Lily Allen’s record label in October 2016, before supporting artists such as Janelle Monae, Michael Kiwanuka and Rae Morris on tour.

She quickly won fans in Elton John and James Corden – who invited her to sing on The Late Late Show – after appearing on Jools Holland, and months later won Rising Star at The BRIT Awards.

Celeste has gone on to work with Billie Eilish’s brother Finneas and later recorded three songs for the soundtrack of Netflix film The Trial of the Chicago Seven, one of which, ‘Hear My Voice’, has been nominated for a 2021 Academy Award for Best Original Song.

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