[4][5] While attending Northside High School in Atlanta, a magnet school for the performing arts (now North Atlanta High School), she studied opera, classical music and music theory, developed an appreciation of jazz, was featured in productions in the city including Leonard Bernstein's MASS with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, sang in city and state chorales, attended the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program in Drama, and competed for and won several scholarships in theater through Arts Recognition and Talent Search (now YoungArts), sponsored by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and attended the University of Texas at Austin.

She was the lead vocalist for the funk band Moving Parts, sharing the stage with guitarist Larry Carlton,[6] the Neville Brothers and Crowded House.

They performed events and private parties for Texas luminaries Wendy Russell Reves, Robert Bass and his brothers, and H. Ross Perot and played festivals and regional showcases with The Temptations, Paul Revere and the Raiders and Chuck Berry, amongst others.

Queen Esther's music projects include The Hot Five, The Black Rose of Texas featuring Queen Esther, Kat Edmonson and Synead Cidney Nichols on vocals with Cindy Cashdollar on pedal steel guitar, and various configurations of her Black Americana and jazz collective, which includes drummer Steven Williams, bassist Hilliard Greene, lap steel guitarist Raphael McGregor, guitarist Jeff McLaughlin and multi-string instrumentalist Boo Reiners.

[18] As a vocalist, Queen Esther has performed and/or recorded with Speedball Baby, Mona’s Hot Five, Eyal Vilner Big Band, Burnt Sugar Arkestra, Gordon Webster, The Hot Toddies, Richard Barone (The Bongos), Dusty Wright, JC Hopkins Biggish Band, George Gee Swing Orchestra (formerly known as The Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra), Ron Sunshine and The Smoking Section, Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra, Drew Nugent and the Midnight Society, Dan Levinson's Roof Garden Jass Band, Swingadelic, Dolores "LaLa" Brooks (The Crystals), The New York Jazzharmonic and The Dirtbombs.

[24] A member of the 2023 Joe's Pub Working Group,[25] the 2023 Keychange US Talent Development Program [26] and a 2022 National Arts Club Artist Fellow,[27] Queen Esther received a grant from the 2022 New York City Women's Fund for Media, Music and Theater for her upcoming alt-Americana album Blackbirding.

[28] Theater, Solo Performance and Cabaret In 1996, Queen Esther joined Actor's Equity and SAG-AFTRA when she was cast as an original member of the first national tour of RENT (musical).

[38] In April 2012, the show received a performance residency at The Apollo Theater's Music Cafe and featured The Hot Five with a cast that included Queen Esther, Francesca Harper, Charles L. Wallace and Keith L.

[42] With Hoosegow With 52nd Street Blues Project With J. C. Hopkins Biggish Band With Elliott Sharp and Henry Kaiser With The Harlem Experiment With James Blood Ulmer