Born in New York City in 1985, King grew up in a small apartment on the Lower East Side. Her parents, Marion Cowings and Kim Kalesti, were a singing duo who performed and traveled regularly taking her and her older brother with them. At age 16, King left high school after earning her GED to pursue her music career. She began playing shows in restaurants and venues around New York City including CBGB and The Bitter End.
Career
King signed her first record deal with J Records in 2004 and was appeared on Nas' 2004 albumStreet's Disciple credited as simply "Emily". Her first album East Side Story was released in August 2007. It received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album of the Year. During that time King toured with John Legend and Floetry. She also opened for various artists such as Nas, Alicia Keys, Chaka Khan and Erykah Badu. After leaving the label in 2008, King continued her work independently. She self-recorded her follow-up EP Seven in her home, released in July 2011. In October 2011, she accepted an invitation from Maroon 5 to be the opening act on their European/Scandinavian tour. In 2012, King was awarded the Holly Prize from The Songwriters Hall of Fame for recognition of the "all-in songwriter" whose work exhibits the qualities of Holly’s music: true, great and original. In the fall, King was invited by Emeli Sande to open for her UK tour playing sold out shows in five cities including at The Royal Albert Hall in London. King collaborated with José James on his album No Beginning No End in 2013 and can be heard on the tracks "Heaven on the Ground" and the acoustic version of "Come to My Door". In 2014, King performed as an opening act for Sara Bareilles' Little Black Dress tour. King's second studio album, The Switch, was self-released by her own label, Making Music Records, on 26 June 2015. The Wall Street Journal remarked that the album is "a tasteful collection of eleven songs that showcase King’s distinctive voice". She signed with the independent label ATO Records in 2017 and with them released her third studio album, Scenery, on 1 February 2019. In late 2019, King once again performed as an opening act for Sara Bareilles in her Amidst The Chaos Tour. In 2019, King helped to compose "Being Human", the ending theme song for the Cartoon Networkanimated seriesSteven Universe Future, which she sang. Her song "Can't Hold Me" was also used in an episode of the series.
