Elle King: The lady with the voice

Elle King in New York City/Leah Cohen

Remember this name: Elle King.

The fashionable 19-year-old Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter’s piercing voice and heartfelt lyrics will captivate you.

“I feel completely at home when I’m performing, and it gives me the biggest rush,” she said. “So, I’ve pretty much always known I wanted to be a performer.”

King is wearing black high-waisted trousers, a silk black tank top and her most treasured possession, a black leather jacket. She’s a fan of designers Jill Stuart, Marc Jacobs and Zac Posen, as well as the lingerie line Agent Provocateur, she said.

“My style is always changing,” King said. “There’s no real category to put it in.”

The striking bleached-blonde shares that she mostly shops in thrift stores, since she finds herself cutting and sewing her own creations.

“I don’t shop that much,” she said. “Somehow, over the years, I have collected so many items of clothing that I couldn’t possibly fit anything else in my little apartment.”

While her style inspirations vary, King loves the way women dressed in the 50s.

“I find myself constantly studying old pinup photographs for their hairstyles,” she added.

King, who was born in Los Angeles “to some crazy, wonderful parents,” moved to New York when she was 11 years old.

“My amazing step-dad was the lead singer in a kick-ass band called Bob City,” she said. “He was from New York, so he moved us with him.”

King, who just finished her “pretty outrageous” first year of college, explained that he was the one who put a guitar in her hands.

“I practiced until my fingers bled and sang until my voice went out,” said King, who has been writing music since she was 13 years old.

She will be rerecording her songs and dropping an album as soon as she can, she said.

In the mean time, fans can check out the video for “No One Can Save You,” a song King wrote after “a really heart wrenching time.” Her friend, filmmaker Jason Druss, created the recording.

“We had a blast,” she said. “[We] made the whole thing in 12 hours.”

Today, King is playing her songs around the New York City area.

“I am so excited to be touring,” she said. “It’s really nice that I used to go to these shows, and now I’m playing them.”

King, who is greatly influenced by soul singer-songwriter Otis Redding and Rachel Nagy of The Detroit Cobras, said she is looking forward to her gigs in Brooklyn’s Goodbye Blue Monday on June 18th and Alphabeta on June 30th.

She is also performing in New Jersey and Philadelphia.

“I would love to come play in Baltimore,” said King, who wants to tour across the county.

“Music brings me happiness, and I want to feel this way forever,” she said. “I think that means that I’ll be singing and performing for a long time.”

Listen to her songs here.