Ester Peony

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 with the song "On a Sunday" 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 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, Romania on 21 July 1993. She and her parents emigrated to Montreal, Canada in 2001. In 2015, she started posting covers on YouTube. The cover videos gained her attention, and she was subsequently offered a record deal with a Romanian label. for which she was also one of the main composers. 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. She performed at the 2019 Golden Stag Festival.

Influences and personal life Peony cites Delia, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Cher, Queen, Michael Jackson and Ariana Grande as some of her musical inspirations. Her stage name refers to the peony flower. In Romanian, "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.

Discography

Extended plays Title Details Dig It Released: 12 May 2018 "Cuminte de Crăciun" (as Ester featuring Doddy, Vescan and Mahia Beldo) 2014 — "Sub aripa ta" (as Ester featuring Vescan) 2015 32 "Iubire" (as Ester) — "1000 de motive" (as Ester featuring Phelipe) 2016 — "On a Sunday" 2019 —"7 Roses" — "Me pone loca" 2020 — "Dernière danse" (with Scott Rills)2021 — "Tatoué" (with Sasha Lopez) — "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

As featured artist Title Year Peak chart positions Album BEL(WA)Tip "Oameni" (Vescan featuring Ester, Alan and Kepa) 2015 — "Dernière danse" (HIDDN and RudeLies featuring Ester Peony) 2019 16 "—" denotes an item that did not chart or was not released in that territory.