Kiesa Rae Ellestad (born January 16, 1989), known professionally as Kiesza (/ˈkaɪzə/ KY-za), is a Canadian singer and multi-instrumentalist from Calgary.
In 2017, she was involved in a car accident in Toronto, suffering severe injuries that required her to take several years off to recover. To date, she has released the albums Sound of a Woman (2014) and Crave (2020).
Kiesza was born and raised in Calgary. Her last name, Ellestad, is Norwegian from her paternal side and her grandfather is from Fagernes in Norway. In an interview with Metro, Kiesza claimed that she can trace her lineage to someone who fought alongside Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn, elaborating, "There's a lot of Scottish people in Canada. Tons. My grandpa was of Scottish heritage—he was of the black Douglases".
At 13, Kiesza took a sailing class at summer camp, and continued her interest past age 16, when she took part in the Sail and Life Training Society (SALTS) program. She later became a sailing instructor at the Glenmore Sailing School in 2007. A year after, she joined the reserves of the Royal Canadian Navy along with her brother, becoming a NavCom (Naval Communicator). It was while she was at crew singalongs at the Navy that she taught herself to play guitar.

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