Caro Emerald
| Caro Emerald | |
|---|---|
 Caro Emerald singing live at the Indian Summer Festival at Broek op Langedijk, Netherlands. |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw |
| Born | 26 April 1981 Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Labels | Grandmono Records |
| Website | www.caroemerald.com |
Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw (born 26 April 1981 in Amsterdam), better known by her stagename Caro Emerald, is a Dutch jazz singer. She debuted on 6 July 2009 with her single "Back It Up". Her debut album Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor set an all time chart record on 20 August 2010 by spending its 30th week at number one on the Dutch album chart, beating the previous record set by Michael Jackson's Thriller by one week.[1] The album has become the biggest selling album of 2010 in the Netherlands, selling over 300,000 copies so far. In total more than a million copies have been sold so far. On 3 October 2010, Van der Leeuw was awarded the Dutch Music Prize "Edison Award" for Best Female Artist.[2]
On 15 January 2011, she won the Popprijs 2010 for best Dutch pop act of 2010.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Caroline van der Leeuw was born 26 April 1981 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She trained as a jazz vocalist at the Amsterdam Conservatory graduating in 2005.
Van der Leeuw is one of the six singers in Les Elles, a close-harmony vocal group from Amsterdam, and sings in the Philharmonic Funk Foundation, a Funk orchestra of 44 people. She also regularly performs background vocals on the Kinderen voor Kinderen (Children for Children) song festival. Caro teaches singing at the singing school of Babette Labeij, one of the vocal coaches on X-Factor and vocal conductor for Kinderen voor Kinderen.
[edit] Music career
In early 2007 Dutch producer Jan van Wieringen invited van der Leeuw to sing the vocal on a demo track he was co-producing with songwriter-producer David Schreurs. The song, "Back It Up", had been written by Schreurs together with Canadian songwriter Vince Degiorgio, and was based on a hip-hop beat created by Jan and Robin Veldman. Recorded in just one take, van der Leeuw's sultry, jazzy vocal style proved to be a perfect match for the new song.[3]
The demo was pitched to various publishers and labels but although the reaction was positive they struggled to imagine it suiting any particular artist and didn't believe it had strong chart potential.[3] In the meantime the song started to receive enthusiastic public attention from around the world. Radio stations began playing it, it was posted on YouTube and Caro Emerald started performing it as part of her own set, even singing it live on local Amsterdam TV channel AT5.
When Degiorgio, Schreurs, van Wieringen and van der Leeuw realised they had hit upon "something special" they set about working on a full album with Caro Emerald as the star in the summer of 2008 and used "Back It Up"'s mix of 40s-50s jazz, easy listening, orchestral Latin, combined with infectious beats as a model.[3] Adopting a sample based approach but with live instrumentation, the writing sessions drew from a wide range of influences including jazz organist Jackie Davis, exotica composer Martin Denny, mambo king Perez Prado, 20s/30s jazz and van der Leeuw's own vocal inspirations of The Andrew Sisters, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan.[3] The usual method would be for Schreurs to produce the backing tracks at home and then get together with top line writer and lyricist Degiorgio to write the song. Van der Leeuw would occasionally pitch in her own melody and lyrical ideas, and Van Wieringen co-created the tracks for "The Other Woman" and "Dr Wanna Do".[3]
"Back It Up" was officially released by Grandmono Records on 6 July 2009. It was listed in the Dutch Top 40 for 12 weeks and reached the 12th position in the charts. Kraak & Smaak made a remix of the song. "Back It Up" was the most played song by radiostation 3FM in 2009 and Caro received the 'Schaal van Rigter' award for this achievement.[4]
On 23 October 2011 Caro starred as the guest singer on the UK show Strictly Come Dancing results show as the weekly headliner guest singer to great applause. The following week her album went back up the UK charts.
in 2011 Emerald recorded a version of Brook Benton's 1963 hit "You're All I Want for Christmas", sampling the original song to produce a duet with Benton, who died in 1988. The song was released in December 2011.[5]
On New Years Eve 2011/2012 Emerald appeared on BBC2 Television on the Jools Holland 'Hootenany' show backed by the Jools Holland Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.
[edit] Debut album
Caro's debut album Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor was released on 29 January 2010 and immediately occupied the number 1 position of the Dutch Album Top 100 charts. The album has been at number one in the Dutch Album Top 100 almost continuously since (except for two weeks when it went down to number two to make way for a new number one). On 20 August 2010, the album grabbed another record by spending its 27th (non-consecutive) week at number 1. The previous record was held by Michael Jackson's album Thriller, which spent 26 weeks at number one in 1983 (although that album still holds the record for most consecutive weeks at number 1, with 23 weeks).[1] The album reached double platinum status in the Netherlands on 5 July 2010.[6] In August 2010 it reached triple platinum.[1] and in November 2010 it reached four times platinum, which means over 200,000 copies sold.[7]
The first new song from the album was "A Night like This". The song was listed in the Dutch Top 40 for 26 weeks and peaked on the number 2 position. The song was selected as the official song of a 2009–2010 Martini ad campaign.[8]
In May 2010 Caro announced she was going on a promotion tour to France. In an interview on the Dutch TV show "X de Leeuw" she announced that her debut album will be released in October in France. After having released her singles and album in France she will try to release it in other European countries.
In August 2010, it was announced that the album would be released in the UK by Dramatico Records, home of Katie Melua. Caro was supposed to support Melua on her upcoming UK tour in October, but the tour was cancelled, because Melua is suffering from exhaustion.
In December 2010, a second single, Riviera Life, was released in the UK. "A Night like This" was released as the third UK single early in 2011. A small number of UK concert appearances are planned for 2011.
[edit] Awards
- 11 April 2010: 3FM Serious Talent Award
- April 15, 2010: Schaal van Rigter
- April 26, 2010: De Eerste Prijs
- Oktober 3, 2010: Edison Best female singer
- MTV EMA Award for best Dutch and Belgian Act.
- January 12, 2011: European Border Breakers Award 2011
- January 15, 2011: 3FM Mega Award 2010
- January 15, 2011: Popprijs 2010
- March 3, 2011: Zilveren Harp 2010
- March 3, 2011: Het Beste Nederlandse lied 2010 (Best song of the year 2010)
- March 14, 2011: 3FM Awards: Best Album and Beste Female Singer
- June 12, 2011: TMF Award for best female
- Februari 4, 2012: Goldene Kamera 2012 Best Music International
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Album Title | Album Details | Peak chart positions[15] | Certifications (sales threshold) |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NLD | AUT [16] |
BEL (FLA) | FRA | GER | GRE [16] |
ITA [17] |
POL | SWI | UK | |||
| Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor | 1 | 3 | 23 | 79 | 5 | 27 | 14 | 3 | 10 | 4 | ||
[edit] Singles
| Year | Song | Peak chart positions[22][23][24][25][26] | Certifications | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NLD Top 40 | NLD Top 100 | ITA | BEL (FLA) | GER | AUT | POL [27] |
SK [28] | ROM [29] |
SWI | UK[30] | ||||
| 2009 | "Back It Up" | 12 | 13 | 11 | 33 | 70 | — | 1 | 53 | — | — | — |
|
Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor |
| "A Night like This" | 2 | 1 | 10 | — | 4 | 1 | 2 | — | 1 | 9 | 65 | |||
| 2010 | "That Man" | 22 | 29 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 84 | ||
| "Stuck" | 6 | 28 | 18 | — | 41 | 70 | 20 | 48 | — | — | — | |||
| 2011 | "Riviera Life" | 18 | 70 | 25 | — | — | — | 36 | — | — | — | — | ||
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Caro Emerald verbreekt record Michael Jackson [Caro Emerald breaks Michael Jackson's record]" (in Dutch). Nu.nl. 2010-08-20. http://www.nu.nl/muziek/2316253/caro-emerald-verbreekt-record-michael-jackson.html. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
- ^ "Caro Emerald wins Edison for Best Female Artist (In Dutch)". 2010-10-25. http://www.edisons.nl/pop/nieuws/winnaars-edisons-bekend.
- ^ a b c d e "Q&A on Caro Emerald with songwriter David Schreurs". HitQuarters. 23 September 2011. http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3?page=intrview/opar/intrview_DSQ_A.html. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
- ^ "Caro Emerald meest gedraaid op 3FM [Caro Emerald most played on 3FM]" (in Dutch). de Volkskrant. 6 april 2010. http://www.volkskrant.nl/kunst/article1366735.ece/Caro_Emerald_meest_gedraaid_op_3FM.
- ^ "Kerstduet Caro Emerald en Brook Benton - Show - Algemeen - Nieuws - bndestem". Bndestem.nl. 2011-12-17. http://www.bndestem.nl/nieuws/algemeen/show/article10079002.ece. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
- ^ "Double Platinum". 2010-07-05. http://www.caroemerald.com/news/double-platinum/.
- ^ "4x Platinum NED". November 2011. http://www.showbiznewz.nl/artikel_12047_caro-emerald-brengt-speciaal-album-uit.html.
- ^ "Vermout voor vero-vrouwen". Emerce.nl. 2010-04-22. http://www.emerce.nl/nieuws.jsp?id=3029097. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
- ^ "Prijzen [Awards]" (in Dutch). http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caro_Emerald#Prijzen.
- ^ "Caro Emerald Best Dutch and Belgian Act" (in Dutch). de Pers. October 8, 2010. http://www.depers.nl/entertainment/517779/Caro-Emerald-Best-Dutch-and-Belgian-Act.html.
- ^ "Winnaars Buma Harpen Gala 2011 bekend!" (in Dutch). Buma Cultuur. October 8, 2010. http://www.bumacultuur.nl/nl/nieuws/292/winnaars-buma-harpen-gala-2011-bekend.
- ^ "De Jeugd, Go Back to the Zoo en Caro winnen 3fm Awards" (in Dutch). nlpop.blog.nl. April 14, 2011. http://nlpop.blog.nl/radio-en-muziekstations/2011/04/14/de-jeugd-go-back-to-the-zoo-en-caro-winnen-3fm-awards#more-7234.
- ^ "Ben Saunders grote winnaar TMF Awards" (in Dutch). Telegraaf. June 12, 2011. http://www.telegraaf.nl/prive/10012475/__Ben_Saunders_grote_winnaar_TMF_Awards__.html?sn=prive.
- ^ "Preisträger der 47. GOLDENEN KAMERA - Caro Emerald" (in German). goldene-kamera.de. January 25, 2012. http://www.goldene-kamera.de/de/2012preistraeger_emerald.
- ^ "Peak positions Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor". 2010-10-25. http://acharts.us/album/53278.
- ^ a b "Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor at 40 in Austrian Album Chart". Hung Medien. 2011-03-18. http://www.austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Caro+Emerald&titel=Deleted+Scenes+From+The+Cutting+Room+Floor&cat=a.
- ^ "Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor at 14 in Italian Album Chart". 2010-10-26. http://www.fimi.it/classifiche_result_artisti.php?anno=2011&mese=07&id=383.
- ^ a b "Album Caro Emerald 1.000.000 keer verkocht". caroemerald.com. 2011-12-06. http://caroemerald.com/news/album-caro-emerald-1000000-keer-verkocht. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
- ^ zpav.pl/rankingi/wyroznienia/platynowe/index.php
- ^ "Bundesverband Musikindustrie: Gold-/Platin-Datenbank". Musikindustrie.de. http://www.musikindustrie.de/gold_platin_datenbank/#topSearch. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
- ^ "Caro Emerald – NEWS – #8 ON THE UK ALBUM CHART". Caroemerald.com. 2011-06-21. http://caroemerald.com/news/8-on-the-uk-album-chart. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
- ^ "Peak positions Back It Up". 2010-10-25. http://acharts.us/song/48771.
- ^ "Peak positions A Night Like This". 2010-10-25. http://acharts.us/song/52659.
- ^ "Peak positions That Man". 2010-10-25. http://acharts.us/song/55458.
- ^ "Peak positions of all songs in Dutch Single Top 100". 2010-10-25. http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Caro+Emerald&titel=Stuck&cat=s1.
- ^ "Peak positions of Stuck". 2011-01-02. http://acharts.us/song/58555.
- ^ "Peak position A Night Like This in Poland". 2010-11-17. http://zpav.pl/rankingi/listy/nielsen/top5.php?idlisty=202.
- ^ "Peak position Back It Up and Stuck in Slovakia". 2010-11-17. http://www.ifpicr.cz/hitparadask/index.php?a=interpret&hitparada=18&interpret=42443&sec=23faad2a39db98e3bf79df351fe3cb73.
- ^ "Peak position A Night Like This in Romanian Radio Airplay Chart". 2010-12-31. http://www.romanialibera.ro/arte/muzica/topul-celor-mai-difuzate-50-de-piese-la-radio-in-romania-217747.html.
- ^ "CHART LOG UK: NEW ENTRIES UPDATE". 7 September 2011. http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/110709cluk.txt. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
- ^ a b c d "CERTIFICAZIONI DOWNLOAD FIMI - Week 21- Ending: 29/05/2011" (in Italian) (PDF). http://www.fimi.it/temp/cert_Nielsen_week2111.pdf. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
[edit] External links
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