Anneke van Giersbergen

For the band also known as Agua de Annique, see Anneke van Giersbergen (band).

Anneke van Giersbergen
Background information
Birth name	Anneke van Giersbergen
Born	(1973-03-08) 8 March 1973 Sint-Michielsgestel, Netherlands
Occupation(s)	Vocalist, Singer-Songwriter, vocal coach
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar, keyboard
Years active	1994 to present

Anneke van Giersbergen (born 8 March 1973) is a Dutch singer and musician. She is the former lead singer and guitarist 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, 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, at the age of 12 she 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' eight 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". She 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 2006, 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 albums Addicted in 2009 and Epicloud in 2012 and sang on most songs in them. 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, 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

Agua de Annique/Anneke van Giersbergen

Studio albums

• Air (2007) - lead vocals, piano
• Pure Air (2009) - lead vocals, piano
• In Your Room (2009) - lead vocals, keyboards, piano, guitar
• Everything is Changing (2012) - lead vocals, piano, guitar

Live albums

• Live in Europe (2010) - lead vocals, piano, guitar

Split releases

• In Parallel with Danny Cavanagh (2009) - lead vocals

Singles

• "Day After Yesterday" (2007)
• "Come Wander with Me" (2008)
• "The Blower's Daughter" (2009)
• "Hey Okay!" (2009)
• "Sunny Side Up" (2010)
• "Feel Alive" (2011)
• "Circles" (2011)

With Ayreon

• Into the Electric Castle (1998) - vocals and writing for character Egyptian in "Isis and Osiris", "The Decision Tree (We're alive)", "Tunnel of Light", "The Garden of Emotions", "Valley of the Queens" and "Another Time, Another Space"
• 01011001 (2008) - vocals and composition of vocal melodies for character Forever "Heart" in "Age of Shadows (We are Forever)", "Comatose", "Beneath the Waves", "The Fifth Extinction", "Waking Dreams" and "The Sixth Extinction"

With Devin Townsend

Studio albums

• Addicted (2009) - lead and backing vocals
• Epicloud (2012) - lead and backing vocals

Live albums

• By a Thread – Live in London 2011 (2012, CD and DVD) - lead and backing vocals on Addicted CD

The Gathering

Studio albums

• Mandylion (1995) - lead vocals
• Nighttime Birds (1997) - lead vocals, guitar
• How to Measure a Planet? (1999) - lead vocals, guitar
• if_then_else (2000) - lead vocals, guitar
• Souvenirs (2003) - lead vocals, guitar
• Home (2006) - lead vocals, guitar

Live albums

• Superheat (2000) - lead vocals, guitar
• Sleepy Buildings – A Semi Acoustic Evening (2004) - lead vocals, acoustic guitar
• A Noise Severe (2007, CD and DVD) - lead vocals, guitar

EPs

• Adrenaline" / "Leaves (1996) - lead vocals
• Amity (2000) - lead vocals, guitar
• Black Light District (2002) - lead vocals

Singles

• "Strange Machines" (1995)
• "Kevin's Telescope" (1997)
• "The May Song" (1997)
• "Liberty Bell" (1998)
• "Rollercoaster" (2000)
• "Amity" (2000)
• "You Learn About It" (2003)
• "Monsters" (2003)

As guest vocalist

• Farmer Boys – Countrified (1996) – track #9 "Never Let Me Down Again" (Depeche Mode cover song)
• 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"
• 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"
• 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
• DJ Hidden & Anneke van Giersbergen – Lights Off: Only You Can See (2012) – Only You Can See

Recordings of Anneke's voice can also be heard in Raveleijn, a horse show in Dutch themepark De Efteling. The short theme was re-used in 2012 for Aquanura, a water show in the same themepark.

External links

• Agua de Annique Official Website