J.K. Rowling has released a new little gem over at Pottermore, giving fans more information about Celestina Warbeck, a famous singer in the Potterverse… because it’s her birthday. And with that bio, she has released an actual musical track—one of Celestina’s hits!
The bio (found in the Chamber of Secrets Floo Powder section of the site), details the life of Celestina Warbeck, whose lyrics you might remember pouring through the Weasley abode in the Half-Blood Prince (Molly is a big fan).
It would seem that Celestina was the daughter of a wizard and a failed Muggle actress, and that her mother was most displeased to find out that the wizarding world had no stage schools. Following her daughter’s acceptance to Hogwarts (she was a Gryffindor), her mother flooded the school with requests that they begin a choir and a theater club and so on, to show off her daughter.
Warbeck has a set of backup banshees when she tours, and is known to cause quite the kerfuffle whenever she’s performing—accidents have been reported when fans rush to reach her concerts, and there’s a large scalper market for tickets, making it impossible for Molly Weasley to ever see the woman live.
She has used her voice to fundraise for charitable causes (such as St. Mungo’s Hospital), and has made her political stances vocal when the occasion calls for it (she spoke out against the Ministry when they tried to restrict the wizard population in how they celebrate Halloween). She has been married three times, and has one son with her second husband.
Rowling gives a note at the end of the bio, saying that she imagines Celestina to be a sort of wizarding world Shirley Bassey. It looks as though she’ll be touring at Universal Studios with real-live performances! How can that happen, you might ask? Well, one of her songs “You Stole My Cauldron But You Can’t Have My Heart” is up at Pottermore right now, so it’s likely that a few more of her numbers have been worked out for the Muggle population….
You can wish Celestina a happy birthday using the hashtag #CelestinaWarbeck on Twitter and Facebook. Check here to find out more information about seeing Celestina live!
