Anna-Lynne Williams (born February 8, 1978), better known by the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Lotte Kestner, is an American singer and songwriter. She started her musical career as vocalist for the

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

Trespassers William Trespassers William was an American indie rock band formed in 1997 from Orange County, California. The band released three albums from 1997 to 2006, relocating to the SoDo/Capitol Hill area of Seattle, Washington before their third album ''Having ...

in 1997, and adopted the Lotte Kestner name in 2007 for solo recordings. She was also a member of the duo Ormonde.

Early life

Anna-Lynne Williams was born on February 8, 1978, and grew up in

Laguna Hills, California Laguna Hills (; ''laguna'' being ) is a city in southern Orange County, California, United States. Its name refers to its proximity to Laguna Canyon and the much older Laguna Beach. Other newer cities nearby—Laguna Niguel and Laguna Woods— ...

Career

Williams provided guest vocals on " The Leaving Song Pt. II", the second single from

AFI AFI may refer to: * Actual flip-angle imaging, a type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) * ''Address-family identifier'', a 16 bit field of the Routing Information Protocol * AFI (band), an American rock band ** ''AFI'' (2017 album), the tenth ...

's 2003 album ''

Sing the Sorrow ''Sing the Sorrow'' is the sixth studio album by American rock band AFI. Recorded at Cello Studios in Los Angeles, California between 2002 and 2003, the album was produced by Jerry Finn and Butch Vig. It was the band's final release under the N ...

''. Her parts were recorded in an hour at Hollywood's

Cello Studios United Western Recorders was a two-building recording studio complex in Hollywood that was one of the most successful independent recording studios of the 1960s. The complex merged neighboring studios United Recording Corp. on 6050 Sunset Boul ...

and it was the first time that Williams was asked to do vocal session work. Williams is featured on "Hold Tight London" from

the Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands in Manchester in 1992. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. Originally known as The Dust Brothers, th ...

' 2005 Grammy-winning album, '' Push the Button''. She has collaborated with numerous other artists, including Mark Burgess,

Courtney Marie Andrews Courtney Marie Andrews (born November 7, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter originally from Phoenix, Arizona. She released her first widely distributed and breakthrough studio album, '' Honest Life'', in 2016. From 2010 to 2011, Andrews was a ...

, Robert Deeble,

Damien Jurado Damien Troy Jurado (; born November 12, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter from Seattle, Washington, United States. Over the years, he has released albums on Sub Pop, Secretly Canadian, Loose, and is currently on his own label, Maraqopa Recor ...

Anomie Belle Anomie Belle (an·o·me bel) is an American multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, producer, and '' artivist'' from Seattle. Originally a classically-trained violinist and songwriter, Belle began writing and recording music as a child. Bell ...

Motopony Motopony is a Seattle-based alt-psych band led by singer Daniel Blue. With the success of their previous full-length albums and a recording journey to the iconic Abbey Road Studios, Motopony has toured around the world playing festivals includi ...

and

Rocky Votolato Rocky Votolato (born March 8, 1977, in Dallas, Texas, United States) is an American indie and folk singer-songwriter. He was also a member of the rock group Waxwing. in 2025, he started a new band called Suzzallo with bandmate Rudy Gajadhar on d ...

, Arnar Guðjónsson of

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Delerium Delerium is a Canadian new-age ambient electronic musical duo that formed in 1987, originally as a side project of the influential industrial music act Front Line Assembly. Throughout the band's history, their musical style has encompassed a ...

Minotaur Shock Minotaur Shock is the stage name of David John Edwards, a Bristol-based electronic musician. His 2005 album ''Maritime (album), Maritime'' was his first album released through 4AD Records, having previously released work via the Manchester bas ...

, Tuesday the Sky,

Fieldhead Fieldhead are a British band formed in Leeds, England, in 2008 and led by Paul Elam, a member of The Declining Winter. Paul currently resides in London, whilst violinists Elaine Reynolds and Sarah Kemp (both also of The Declining Winter) resid ...

Sadistik Cody Foster, better known by his stage name Sadistik, is an American alternative hip hop artist from Seattle, Washington. He is not currently signed to a label. Musical career In 2008, he released his debut album ''The Balancing Act'' independ ...

and

Blue Sky Black Death Blue Sky Black Death (abbreviated BSBD) was a production duo with ties to the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle, Washington. It consisted of Ryan Maguire, better known by his stage name Kingston, and Ian Taggart, better known by his stage nam ...

. In 2007, Williams started recording her own music as Lotte Kestner, self-releasing ''China Mountain'' in 2008. In December 2008, American

webzine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to an online only magazine was the computer ...

'' Somewhere Cold'' ranked ''China Mountain'' No. 11 on their ''2008 Somewhere Cold Awards Hall of Fame''. She followed it in 2011 with a covers album, ''Stolen'' (Saint-Loup Records). In 2013, she was back with more of her own material on ''The Bluebird of Happiness'' (Saint Marie Records), for which she wrote all but one track (with the composer credit to Anna-Lynne Williams). An 8-track EP titled ''Until'' was released through Saint-Loup Records on April 16, 2013. A collection of covers called "Covers" was released in 2017 in Japan (Lirico) and Korea (Aulos Media). Her latest album, ''Off White'', was released on Saint Marie Records on September 1, 2017. It was preceded the previous month by a Chris Cunningham-directed music video for "Ghosts". Kestner has also released four download-only collections, generally combining demos, outtakes, and newly recorded material: ''China Mountain B-Sides'' (2009), ''Trespassers William Songs Solo'' (2011), ''All That You Start B-Sides'' (2012), ''Extra Covers Collection'' (2012), and ''Best-of: Requested Cover Songs'' (6 October 2015). She contributed the song "Confession" to the Saint Marie Records sampler ''Static Waves'' (2012). Her cover of

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

's "

Halo HALO, halo, halos or haloes may refer to: Most common meanings * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head * ''Halo'' (franchise), a sci-fi video game series (2001–2021) Arts and en ...

" was prominently featured in an episode of

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's ''

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'' in 2017. She contributed an original composition titled called "In Glass" to the indie film ''Maybe Someday''. She has also published three books of poetry, ''Split Infinitive'', ''In the Night I Go Sailing'', and ''Blind Accidents'', and has recorded two albums with her indie band Ormonde. She starred in the film ''I Cannot Go On As I Am'', which came out in 2014 and which also contains live musical performances. In 2020, Kestner's 2011 cover of

New Order New Order may refer to: Politics * ''L'Ordine Nuovo'' (''The New Order''), a socialist newspaper edited by Antonio Gramsci in the early 1920s * ''New Order in East Asia'', propaganda term for Japanese-dominated East Asia announced by Japanese ...

's 1987 song " True Faith" was itself covered by actress

Ashley Johnson Ashley Suzanne Johnson (born 1983) is an American actress. She became known as a child actor for her role as Chrissy Seaver on the sitcom ''Growing Pains'' (1990–1992). As an adult, her television roles include Amber Ahmed on '' The Killing' ...

(in-character as

Ellie Ellie or Elly is a given name. The name stands on its own or can be a shortened form of any of the numerous female names beginning with the syllable El-, in particular Elizabeth, Eleanor, or Elvira. It can also be a short form of Elaine, Elena ...

) in a trailer for the video game ''

The Last of Us Part II ''The Last of Us Part II'' is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Set four years after '' The Last of Us'' (2013), the game focuses on two playable characters in a post-apo ...

''. Kestner was not mentioned or credited, leading her to tweet that she was "heartbroken". The game's director

Neil Druckmann Neil Druckmann (; born December5, 1978) is an Israeli–American writer, creative director, designer, and programmer. He is the studio head and head of creative of the video game developer Naughty Dog, and is best known for his work on the g ...

apologized and tweeted that this was "due to an oversight on he game studio'send" and that the studio would " ectifythis ASAP". Kestner was subsequently credited in promotional material that used her cover. In 2023, her cover of "True Faith" played over the end credits of " Please Hold to My Hand", an episode of the television adaption of ''The Last of Us''.

Personal life

Williams is a long-time resident of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Albums

Solo

Albums * ''China Mountain'' (5 May 2008) * ''Stolen'' (1 June 2011) * ''The Bluebird of Happiness'' (26 February 2013) * ''Covers'' (January 2017) * ''Off White'' (1 September 2017) * ''Covers, Vol. 2'' (21 February 2020) EPs * ''Until'' EP (16 April 2013) * ''Covering Depeche Mode'' EP (April 2015) Independent/online releases * ''China Mountain B-Sides'' (1 April 2009) * ''Trespassers William Songs Solo'' (28 August 2011) * ''All That You Start B-Sides'' (19 June 2012) * ''Extra Covers Collection'' (5 October 2012) * ''Best-of: Requested Cover Songs'' (6 October 2015)

Ormonde

* ''Machine'' (7 August 2012) * ''Cartographer/Explorer'' (11 November 2014)

Notes

External links

*
Trespassers WilliamLotte Kestner
on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kestner, Lotte Living people American women guitarists American women singer-songwriters Guitarists from California Singer-songwriters from California 1978 births 21st-century American women