Anneke van Giersbergen

Anneke van Giersbergen
Background information
Birth name	Anneke van Giersbergen
Born	(1973-03-08) 8 March 1973 in Sint-Michielsgestel, Netherlands
Occupations	Vocalist, Singer-Songwriter, vocal coach
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboard
Years active	1994 to present
Associated acts	The Gathering Lawn Agua de Annique Devin Townsend Project Anathema

Anneke van Giersbergen (born 8 March 1973) is a Dutch singer and musician. She is the former lead singer of the Dutch progressive/alternative rock band The Gathering which she departed in August 2007. Since then, she has been involved in a solo project called Agua de Annique which also included her husband & drummer of the band, Rob Snijders. She now performs under her own name with her husband & other members. She has also worked with Lawn, Farmer Boys, Ayreon, Napalm Death, Novembers Doom, Moonspell, Globus, Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Giant Squid, Devin Townsend, Anathema and Within Temptation.

Biography

Van Giersbergen was born in Sint-Michielsgestel, Netherlands. By the age of 7, she participated in soundmix contests, and, at the age of 12, joined her school choir, and later joined her first rock band.

She has played with several bands before becoming part of the duo Bad Breath, who played a mix of blues, jazz, folk and funk. She joined The Gathering in 1994, and she is most notable for her work with them.

In 1998, she sang on the Ayreon album Into the Electric Castle, a concept album telling the tale of an alien entity 'kidnapping' 8 human souls from different times. Anneke portrayed an Egyptian woman from the time of the pharaohs.

In 2006, she appears on the album 2006 Rubicon from Asia band members' John Wetton and Geoffrey Downes on the tracks "To Catch a Thief" and "Tears of Joy". And, also appears on the Smear Campaign by the grindcore-death metal band Napalm Death, on the tracks "Weltschmerz" and "In Deference", contributing spoken rather than sung vocals "for good effect and relevance to the track." In June of that same year, the epic rock band Globus released the album Epicon, which included Anneke's vocal and writing contributions. Anneke co-wrote the lyrics for "Mighty Rivers Run", and sang lead vocal on the track as well as dueting with Christine Navarro on the seminal "Diem Ex Dei".

On 5 June 2007 it was announced that Anneke would be leaving The Gathering in August 2007 to focus on a new project, Agua de Annique, and spend more time with her family. On 24 November 2007 she performed the song "Somewhere" with Within Temptation in Eindhoven. On 7 February 2008 she performed the song "Somewhere" again with Within Temptation at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, and it was featured in the Within Temptation live DVD Black Symphony.

Anneke also sings on the Ayreon album 01011001, released in early 2008. The character she portrays is one of the Forever, an alien being of the same race who kidnapped her character from Into the Electric Castle. She sings on "Scorpion Flower" from the album Night Eternal (2008) from Moonspell. On 3 December 2008, she performed this song live with Moonspell in the 013, Tilburg.

Anneke collaborated with Devin Townsend on his album Addicted in 2009 and sang on most songs in it. She appears as a guest vocalist on the debut album of The Human Experimente, a project which also features Robert Fripp of King Crimson, John Wetton of Asia and King Crimson, Maynard James Keenan of Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, Adrian Belew of Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads and King Crimson, U-G-O with Sean Kingston, and Dann Pursey of Globus and Vantan.

In 2011, Anneke collaborated with Yoav Goren on the song "The Promise", the lead track on Globus second album Break from This World. She co-wrote lyrics as well as being a featured vocalist along with Lisbeth Scott on the track. She performs the track "What Could Have Been" for Death/doom metal band Novembers Doom. Anneke also features on a track in the orchestral re-interpretations album from English progressive rock band Anathema, Falling Deeper, released on 5 September 2011. She has been touring with the band in South America singing the song "Everwake".

She has released a new album, Everything Is Changing, in January 2012 through the Dutch division of PIAS Recordings and under her own name.

Musical roots and influences

Anneke's musical roots are in classical and jazz music, but she enjoys rock and pop the most. Her main influences are Prince, Ella Fitzgerald and Thom Yorke (Radiohead).

Personal

On 20 February 2005 she gave birth to a son named Finn, whom she had with her husband Rob Snijders.

Discography

Anneke Van Giersbergen and Danny Cavanagh, 2010

With The Gathering

• Mandylion (1995)
• Adrenaline / Leaves - EP (1996)
• Nighttime Birds (1997)
• How to measure a planet? (1998)
• if then else (2000)
• Superheat - Live (2000)
• Amity - EP (2001)
• Black Light District - EP (2002)
• In Motion - DVD (2002)
• Souvenirs (2003)
• Sleepy Buildings - A Semi Acoustic Evening - Live (2004)
• Accessories - Rarities and B-Sides - Compilation (2005)
• A Sound Relief - DVD (2005)
• Home (2006)
• A Noise Severe - DVD (2007)

With Agua de Annique/Solo

• Air (2007)
• Day After Yesterday - Single (2007)
• Come Wander With Me - Single (2008)
• Pure Air (2009)
• The Blower's Daughter - Single (2009)
• In Parallel with Danny Cavanagh (2009)
• Hey Okay! - Single (2009)
• In Your Room (2009)
• Sunny Side Up - Single (2010)
• Live In Europe (2010)
• Feel Alive - Single (2011)
• Circles - Singles (2011)
• Everything Is Changing (2012)

As guest vocalist

• Farmer Boys - Countrified (1996) - track #9 "Never Let Me Down Again" (Depeche Mode cover song)
• Ayreon - Into the Electric Castle (1998)
• Anathema - Judgement (1999) - Track #7 "Parisienne Moonlight"
• Lawn - Backspace - Fix (2004)
• Wetton/Downes: ICON II: Rubicon (2006) tracks #4 and #5
• Globus - Epicon (2006) - Track #2 "Mighty Rivers Run", Track #7 "Diem Ex Dei"
• Napalm Death - Smear Campaign (2006) - Tracks 1 & 7, "Weltschmerz", "In Deference"
• Ayreon - 01011001 (2008)
• Moonspell - Night Eternal (2008) - Track #4 "Scorpion Flower"
• Within Temptation - Black Symphony (2008) - Track #10 "Somewhere" (Live Only)
• Giant Squid - The Ichthyologist (2009) - Track #6 "Sevengill"
• The Devin Townsend Project - Addicted (2009)
• Within Temptation - An Acoustic Night at the Theatre (2009) - Track #6 "Somewhere" (Live Only)
• Shane Shu - "Push Me to the Ground" Single (2010) - "Push Me To The Ground" (Acoustic Only) (She also performed an acoustic version of "Push Me to the Ground", live with Shane Shu at the Giel Beelen show)
• Maiden uniteD - Mind the Acoustic Pieces (2010) - Track #9 "To Tame a Land" (duet with Damian Wilson) and "Sun and Steel" (B-side on the single "The Trooper")
• Novembers Doom - Aphotic (2011) - Track #4 "What Could Have Been"
• Anathema - Falling Deeper (2011) - Track #5 "Everwake"
• Globus - Break From This Wold (2011) - Track #1 "The Promise"
• Lorrainville - you may never know what happiness is (2011) - various tracks

External links

• Agua de Annique Official Website

Preceded by Martine van Loon	Vocalist for The Gathering 1994–2007	Succeeded by Silje Wergeland
New title	Vocalist for Agua de Annique since 2007	Incumbent