Celeste graduated from the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts in 1987. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona and her Master’s of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan in 1998.
She appears on the CD “Classically Blue” from gospel artist Lea Gilmore. She has performed at the National Gallery of Art, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Rock, the Distinguished Artist Series at the Church of the Red Rocks, Colorado College, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Yavapai College, Wagner College and Wayne State University, among many other locations. She has also performed with the Michigan Opera Theatre, the Sedona Repertory Company, the Harlequin Players, the Sedona Arts Center, the Great Lakes Lyric Opera, and many other professional companies.
Ms. Headlee has always been vocal in her support of her grandfather, William Grant Still. She has performed his music in concerts and recitals for more than 15 years in several different states and has given many lectures on his music for high schools and universities. Celeste was also the editor of the second edition of the book, William Grant Still and the Fusion of Cultures in American Music, for which she compiled the first complete thematic catalog of Still’s works. She also sang Still’s “Levee Land” on the CD “Music of Afro-American Composers,” produced by the Northern Arizona University Wind Symphony.