Kate Ryan

Kate Ryan (2017)

Kate Ryan (* 22. July 1980 in Tessenderlo than Katrien Verbeeck ) is a Belgian singer .

Her songs can be classified primarily in the genre of dance . To date, she is particularly successful in her home country with around nine top 10 singles (out of a total of fourteen published there), including two number one singles (including the Belgian contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 ) and five with Precious metal excellent. She also has commercial successes in Eastern Europe ( Lithuania , Bulgaria and Estonia ), Scandinavia (mainly Sweden ), but also in Central Europe ( Poland , the Netherlands , Germany , Austria , Switzerland and Slovenia ) and Spain .

life and career

Ryan grew up in a musical family and mastered the guitar and piano from a young age . At that time, her parents ran a café in which she interpreted songs by Alanis Morissette , 4 Non Blondes , the Pointer Sisters and Aretha Franklin on the piano or on the guitar. So she quickly became known in her hometown.

In 1998 Ryan recorded an album with a Flemish producer that was neither released nor paid for. As compensation, she was supposed to act as the front woman of a pop project, which also didn't happen.

2000–2001: Beginnings in the music business

In 2000, Ryan met Belgian producer Phil Wilde during one of her numerous appearances . He saw in her a great singing talent and took her under contract. A little later, Wilde's work partner Andy Janssens recorded the song Scream for More in the genre of dance music with Ryan . The text is about the meeting between Ryan and Wilde. Vinyls were first sent to discos for promotion purposes, followed by a few live performances and a simple video clip . In April 2001 the single released by EMI Belgium entered the Flemish single charts and reached number 9 a few weeks later. The single was also released in several other countries, albeit without great success. In October of the same year, the second single called UR (My Love) was released, although it was not very successful commercially, it entered the top 10 in the Flemish dance charts.

One month later, Ryan suffered a stroke of fate: her 42-year-old mother died after months of cancer .

At the end of 2001 Ryan recorded a cover version of the original song Oh Baby I by the British girl band Eternal together with the four Flemish singers Esther, Linda Mertens (both Milk Inc. ), Maaike Mons (The Quest) and Pascale Feront (Absolom) , which was also released as a single in Belgium.

2002–2003: international breakthrough

In the spring of 2002 a cover version of Désenchantée was recorded, a very successful title in France and Belgium at the beginning of the 1990s by the French singer Mylène Farmer . The song finally appeared in Belgium at the end of March of the same year, climbed to number 10 in Flanders and was number 1 two weeks later, as well as in the dance charts. Suddenly Ryan was one of the most sought-after music artists in their home country. The video clip, which was shot in Brussels under the direction of Peter van Eyndt , who had already worked for Danceact Milk Inc., was also one of the most played video clips this year on the Flemish music channel TMF . Kate Ryan was also very successful abroad with Désenchantée ; in the Netherlands , Spain , Sweden and Norway the single rose to the top five in the same year. In Switzerland the single was in the chart for 45 weeks and is still one of the 100 most successful singles there since the music charts were first established in the year 1968.

On June 17, 2002, the first album, Different , was released in Belgium in collaboration with Phil Wilde and Andy Janssens . In addition to the already released singles Scream for More , UR (My Love) and Désenchantée , the CD also contained the French version of the first single, Mon coeur résiste encore , which was also released in Belgium at the end of August of the same year and later in several other countries. A cover version of Libertine , the song with which Myléne Farmer had her breakthrough in France in 1986, was included on the album and was released in Belgium in November 2002 and in other countries in 2003 and was able to spread to several countries in place the top 20 or top 10.

From the beginning of 2003 Désenchantée and Libertine , as well as the debut album Different , were also released in German-speaking countries, with Ryan's breakthrough there too.

2004–2005: Second album

At the end of 2003 the song Only if I was created (this time in cooperation with the Swedish producer team 2n ) .

The new album Stronger , which was created parallel to Only if I , did not differ much from the previous album . However, with a few exceptions, the earlier success could not be fully built on. The second single was The Promise You Made , a cover version of Cock Robin , to which a French version, La promesse , was recorded, which was released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The accompanying video clip was recorded in Berlin . The third single was Goodbye , a ballad about the end of Ryan's previous love affair.

2006–2007: Third album and Eurovision Song Contest

After switching the production team from Wilde and Janssens to 2n ( N iclas Kings and N iklas Bergwall), Ryan was soon working on a new single, which finally hit record stores in Belgium in February 2006 with the title Je t'adore . The single reached gold status in its second week of sales and stayed at number 1 for five weeks. Ryan took part because of the great success in the national preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 and won. In the semi-finals on May 18, 2006, however, she narrowly missed the finals in twelfth place.

On September 15, 2006, Ryan's third studio album was released in Belgium. After a call to the fans to determine the name of the album, the pop / dance album was called Alive (just like the second single). A special edition was released in Poland a little later, on which a DVD with all the music videos is included in addition to the normal CD . Stylistically, there was a sometimes serious departure from the two earlier albums. Musically the songs were much more poppy and lyrically they were more and more introspective. Ryan also processed their renewed strength after the problems of previous years in their new songs, so it came to the album title Alive . The title song of the same name was also released as a single shortly before the album.

On January 12, 2007 the single Alive was also released in Germany and Austria, previously in Spain and the Czech Republic. The German release of the album has been postponed several times; it was only released on April 20, 2007 and reached number 73 in the German album charts . The fans could vote on Ryan's German fansite for the album cover that will appear there. On November 27, 2006, the third single called All for You was released in Belgium . However, this only reached number 37 in the Belgian singles charts, making it Kate Ryan's most unsuccessful single to date. After a long discussion, the single was finally only launched as a promo in Germany on June 28, 2007. However, it was not played by the radio stations and therefore not published.

In June 2007 Ryan gave up her contract with EMI and signed with ARS Entertainment , a sub-label of Universal . In addition to this change of record company, Kate had already resigned her management in January 2007 and looked for new managers. In Germany she is under contract with Zeitgeist .

2007–2010: Return to Success, fourth album and French Connection

Ryan at the opening ceremony of the EuroGames 2007 in Antwerp

After changing the record company, two new songs were recorded: A cover of the song Voyage, Voyage by the French singer Desireless and We All Belong , the title song for the Eurogames 2007, written by Ryan himself . Both songs are available on a single, which was already at number 2 in Belgium in the summer of 2007 and finally achieved gold status at the end of September. In the Netherlands , the single was the first since Désenchantée to enter the top 20 of the charts. Kate Ryan was also nominated for the 2007 TMF Awards in three categories. The single Voyage, Voyage / We All Belong was also released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on November 16, reached number 5 on the Musicload charts on the second day after its release and made it three and a half years in Germany for the first time since the single La Promesse previously back in the top 20 of the single charts. The accompanying video clip was recorded in Spain.

In February 2008, the single LILY ( Like I Love You ) was released in Belgium and some Eastern European countries .

On April 25, the new single Ella elle l'a (a cover version of the 80s hit by France Gall ) was released in Sweden . There she reached number 2, which was a new record for Kate Ryan (previously held by Désenchantée ). In Belgium, the new single reached number 9 in the first week, which was also a new record, as only Désenchantée had previously managed to place in the top 10 in the first week of evaluation, albeit in 10th place in Germany Ella Elle l'a was also able to place in the top 10 in the first week of evaluation, which means that she is now one of three top 10 hits alongside Désenchantée and Libertine . In Slovenia the single was even number 5 in the national singles charts.

Voyage, voyage , LILY and Ella elle l'a were the harbingers of the new album Free , which was finally released on May 26, 2008 after being postponed several times. Compared to its predecessor, the album was again significantly more influenced by dance music, as the three pre-singles already showed. Ryan achieved another major European success with Free . On June 15, the single Ella elle l'a entered Spain at number 33 and managed to reach number 1 within eight weeks on August 3 and occupy it almost continuously for nine weeks. So far, Désenchantée was still considered the most commercially successful song in Spain. On July 15, Ryan also appeared on the Spanish casting show and formerly eliminated from the Eurovision Song Contest Operatión Triunfo , where she performed the songs Ella elle l'a and Tonight We Ride / No digas que no (the latter together with the Spanish singer Soraya Arnelas , which is also included on Ryan's current album Free ). The second named song was also released there as a promo single. On August 5th it was announced that the fourth single from the current album Free will be the song I Surrender (a cover version of the song of the same name by the British band Clea ). It was presented on August 9th at a song festival in Westende . The release date for Belgium was August 22nd. The video clip, which was recorded in Berlin, has been available on the Internet video portal YouTube since August 25th .

At the TMF Awards 2008, Kate Ryan was nominated in three categories. Although she did not win in any of the categories, the nominations were already emerging as harbingers of the World Music Awards in Monaco . On November 9th, 2008 she performed there and won in the category Best Selling Benelux Artist Worldwide . Besides Technotronic , Ryan is now the only artist from Belgium who has ever received such a prize.

In autumn 2009 a compilation with all of Ryan's French songs was released with French Connection . The France Gall cover versions Babacar and Évidemment were released as singles . However, the success was rather moderate.

Since 2011

On January 14, 2011, Ryan acted alongside Jeanette Biedermann as a coach in the ORF casting show Heroes of Tomorrow , where she also sang duets with the candidates Sara Nardelli and Lukas Plöchl , whom she supervised .

Her single LoveLife was released in April 2011 and reached number 21 on the Belgian charts.

On June 25, 2012, Ryan released her album Electroshock .

After Electroshock was released, Ryan expressed her intention on Facebook not to publish albums, but only singles, because she said that iTunes had changed the music industry and that almost nobody was buying whole albums anymore. She first released the single Light in the Dark on May 24, 2013 and then Heart Flow on August 13, 2013 via iTunes. Heart Flow was also the anthem of the World Outgames 2013. In December 2013 she recorded the Catalan-language cover version of the Bob Sinclar song "World Hold on (Children of the Sky)" with Sé que tu lluitaràs . He was included on the compilation El Dics de la Marató 2013 (TV3) .

On September 1, 2014, Ryan released a new song on iTunes, Not Alone , which is a French-English song.

In August 2015 Ryan released the new single Runaway (Smalltown Boy) on iTunes, which is a cover of the song Smalltown Boy by the British band Bronski Beat . The song is also included on compilation MNM Summertime 2015 .

In January 2016, Ryan released another single on iTunes, this time a cover version of the song Wonderful Life by British singer colleague Black . In June 2016 she released a new single on iTunes, Comment te dire adieu , a cover version of a song by French colleague Françoise Hardy . Their song was also a French-language cover version of the song It Hurts to Say Goodbye , which was originally interpreted by US singer colleague Margaret Whiting .

Discography

→ Main article : Kate Ryan / Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	BE F	BE W
2002	Different	DE23 (52 weeks) DE	AT26 (21 weeks) AT	CH14th gold (28 weeks)CH	BE F8 (20 weeks) BE F	-	First published: June 17, 2002 Sales: + 60,000
2004	Stronger	DE13 (14 weeks) DE	AT43 (14 weeks) AT	CH14 (11 weeks) CH	BE F22 (22 weeks) BE F	-	First published: March 27, 2004 Sales: + 20,000
2006	Alive	DE73 (1 week) DE	-	CH73 (2 weeks) CH	BE F13 (11 weeks) BE F	-	First published: September 15, 2006
2008	Free	DE47 (4 weeks) DE	-	CH96 (1 week) CH	BE F4 (18 weeks) BE F	-	First published: May 26, 2008 Sales: + 10,000
2012	Electroshock	-	-	-	BE F6 (10 weeks) BE F	-	First published: June 25, 2012

Web links

Commons : Kate Ryan  - Collection of Images

• Kate Ryan's official website (English and Dutch)
• Kate Ryan at laut.de
• Kate Ryan in theInternet Movie Database(English)
• Interview with Kate Ryan on events-und-trends.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ultratop.be/nl Scream for More by Kate Ryan in the Flemish charts
2. ↑ ultratop.be/nl UR (My Love) by Kate Ryan in the Flemish charts
3. ↑ ultratop.be/nl Oh Baby I by Esther, Kate, Linda, Maaike & Pascale in the Flemish charts
4. ↑ lescharts.com Désenchantée by Mylène Farmer in the French single charts
5. ↑ zangtalent.be Kate Ryan changes from EMI to ARS-Entertainment ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ ^{a b} euro200.eu Official Singles Chart Of The European Union And Nationwide
7. ↑ kate-ryan.info Kate Ryan conquers first place in the Spanish charts ( memento of the original from March 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Archived copy ( memento of the original dated March 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ youtube.com video clip I Surrender by Kate Ryan
10. ↑ kate-ryan.info Three TMF Awards ( memento of the original from March 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
11. ↑ kate-ryan.info Kate Ryan wins WMA Award ( Memento of the original from March 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
12. ↑ kate-ryan.info Kate Ryan is the best-selling artist from Benelux  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
13. ↑ "Heart Flow (World Outgames 2013 Anthem)" , SoundCloud.com; accessed on July 14, 2015
14. ^ ITunes - Not Alone - Single by Kate Ryan , iTunes; accessed on July 14, 2015.
15. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH BEF BEW