Anouk

Anouk

In 1997, Anouk Teeuwe stormed the Dutch musical world with her single Nobody’s Wife, an explosive rock anthem about independence that stayed high on the Dutch charts for weeks. The Dutch population massively fell for Anouk's powerful, clear voice, and the expression with which she poured out her heart and soul. A rock star was born. The singer from The Hague, then 22 years old, was already well-known in Dutch musical circles. Two years before her big break, she was a student at the Rotterdam School of Music when she came into contact with Golden Earring singer Barry Hay, with whom she sang a few songs live at a festival in The Hague. He was so impressed with her singing that he offered to write material for her, which resulted in a first single: Mood Indigo. A little under a year later Nobody’s Wife was released and everyone in the Netherlands knew who Anouk was.

Now, sixteen years later, Anouk is still one of the most popular performing artists in the Netherlands. No less than seven of the eleven albums she released are high on the Dutch album chart, and thirteen singles made the top ten. Over the years she has received many awards, including an impressive nine Edisons (the Dutch equivalent of the Grammy). In 2001 she won the Pop Award, a prestigious Dutch annual music award that is presented to a performing artist who has made an important contribution to Dutch pop music, and both in 2005 and in 2006 she won an MTV Europe Music Award for Best Dutch Act.

Between 1997 and 2011 Anouk released seven studio albums, resulting in dozens of hits. Initially, the wilful singer from The Hague was mostly known for her explosive rock songs like Nobody’s Wife and R U Kiddin’ Me, but she has also made small and fragile songs like Lost and Michel, and in later albums she has experimented with soul, funk, and hip-hop. But there is always that voice, like a recurrent theme - that voice that stands like a rock. The voice that can flatter, spit fire, touch your heart or blow you away. That is sometimes raw, and at other times fragile. Anouk's often painfully outspoken lyrics strike a chord in her fans, who identify with her personal stories.

Anouk is internationally successful as well. Nobody’s Wife was a great hit in Norway and Sweden, and the singer scored a number one hit in Denmark with Lost. In Albania the single One Word ended up at the top of the chart. Anouk's albums are released in Belgium, Scandinavia, Israel, Turkey and Italy, and she works with reputable international names like Glen Ballard (producer for Michael Jackson, Alanis Morissette, Celine Dion), Reggie Perry (Jay Z, John Legend), and Ryan Lesie (Mary J Blige).

Composers and producers

For her new album ‘Sad Singalong Songs’ Anouk again worked with Martin Gjerstad and Torre Johansson (Franz Ferdinand and The Cardigans). With these Swedish producers she also worked on her albums For Bitter Or Worse and To Get Her Together. Sad Singalong Songs is scheduled for worldwide digital release on 17th of May.

Tore Johansson is a Swedish music producer and songwriter who is mainly known for turning indie-music into commercial success. His productions have sold around 20 million albums around the world and The Cardigans and Franz Ferdinand are among all the most successful. In 1996 the song Lovefool from The Cardigans was the most air played song in the USA. In 2004 he was voted best producer in the UK for Franz Ferdinands debut album.

In 2005 he decided to concentrate more on writing and started a team with Martin Gjerstad called "Instead Of Production". Martin is a classical schooled composer and widened the teams’ sound. Tore and Martin make their own music under the name "Instead Of Gospel". They write for a lot of artists. Since 2009 they have had a close relationship with Anouk, co-writing and producing three albums.