After the nominees for the “Best New Artist” category were announced at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards last night, everyone assumed that Justin Bieber or Drake were a shoe-in for the gold. The other nominees in the category were Mumford & Sons, Florence & The Machine and Esperanza Spalding.

To every viewer’s surprise, the unfamiliar Esperanza won the coveted award. But who is this lovely and graceful woman?

As we know, Spalding performed for Prince at the 2010 BET Awards, alongside Janelle Monáe, Alicia Keys and Patti Labelle. However, her musical history goes back further than that. She is well known in the Jazz community. Actually, she’s the first Jazz artist to win a Grammy for Best New Artist. She humbly accepted the award.

“I certainly did not expect to even be considered for that type of nomination,” she said. “Me being a little old jazz musician and everything.”

People wondered, how could Esperanza be nominated for an award, being that she has albums dating back to 2006? [Junjo (2006), Esperanza (2008) and Chamber Music Society (2010).] According to Grammy guidelines, the Best New Artist Award is “For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist.” This isn’t necessarily the first album released by an artist, hence Esperanza’s win.

Esperanaza was raised in a single-parent household, in Portland, Oregon. She describes her diverse ethnic background: “My mom is Welsh, Hispanic, and Native American, and my father is black.” Her mother, who is also musically gifted, heavily influenced Esperanza’s multifarious musical capabilities. She sings, composes music and plays numerous instruments.

Below are some of Esperanza’s most popular songs.

“Fall In”

“Overjoyed”

“Little Fly”

Visit her website to keep up with the rising star.