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Phlo Finister (born Elijah Finister), is the daughter of a half-Portuguese, half-black mother and an Irish father and was raised in her hometown of Oakland up until the age of 11, when she moved to Los Angeles with her mother. As a child, Phlo's upbringing was very reserved and traditional, she attended a small private Christian school where her grandfather was pastor and her grandmother a local English teacher, as well as attending ballet classes at Hawthorn Dance Academy until a late age. Growing up, Phlo was also banned from listening to urban music [1] and discovered her early tastes and passion for music through classical m
Phlo Finister (born Elijah Finister), is the daughter of a half-Portuguese, half-black mother and an Irish father and was raised in her hometown of Oakland up until the age of 11, when she moved to Los Angeles with her mother. As a child, Phlo's upbringing was very reserved and traditional, she attended a small private Christian school where her grandfather was pastor and her grandmother a local English teacher, as well as attending ballet classes at Hawthorn Dance Academy until a late age. Growing up, Phlo was also banned from listening to urban music [1] and discovered her early tastes and passion for music through classical music and gospel music, as well as developing her distinctive vocal style at a young age from her time spent as a singer for the choir at her grandfather's church. This exposure to these styles also helped Phlo develop her taste in music, with some of her earliest influences being Jerry Bock, Mozart and Janis Joplin.
She attended Downtown Magnets High School in Fashion for a single year until her mother relocated to Compton and she was enrolled in Crenshaw High School. Speaking of her time at Crenshaw, Finister described it as "very aggressive... Not mixed or diverse cultures like where I had come from. I got bullied in a rougher part of the streets, and it made me a really real person with a backbone." After getting kicked out for fighting, Finister transferred to Hamilton High School.[2]
When she was fifteen her mother remarried and abandoned Finister, forcing her to leave home and drop out of high school. Finister attributes her music as a major factor that helped her survive this rough time in her life, speaking in 2013 she explained; "The art became a sense of survival. It kept me sane and therapeutically, I could vent about things, things that I couldn’t say to a therapist. I literally would use music as an outlet for me to release the emotions and all the darkness that I had inside of me." [3]
Whilst developing her own sense of self, Finister found herself working with Def Jam Records in the styling of some of their female proteges in her late teens. It was during this time that Finister met a series of industry professionals and producers (Drake, Charlie Walk, Steve Lindsey, Cameron Strang, Jeff Barry, David Baerwald and Diane Warren) who would exert influence on her own musical path over the next few years. However, her time working as a stylist for Def Jam was short lived as she believed lacked the "desperation" necessary to be successful in the profession. In an interview Finister elaborated, "I wasn't gonna ruin my self-esteem to make it happen. Struggling with weight loss, and eating disorders. 'Cause you wanna be the best at that stuff. You're willing to do whatever to get that point". Finister then began her infamous mixtape series, and worked with producers such as Andrew Dawson (The Weeknd , Kanye West, Tyler, The Creator), 4AD’s A$AP Rocky collaborator SpaceGhostPurrp and Island Def Jam’s Benny Cassette.
Moving behind the scenes as a stylist it was here Finister first discovered her fascination with the youthquake movement. Coined by Diana Vreeland in the sixties to define the explosion of teenage influence in music and fashion. The 'youthquake' influence is evident in Finister's unique style and particular fascination with Andy Warhol’s muse Edie Sedgwick.
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