Anouk

Anouk Teeuwe (born April 8, 1975) is a Dutch singer, professionally known as Anouk. Since 1997, she has released seven pop-rock albums.

Biography

Early life

Anouk Teeuwe was born on April 8, 1975, in The Hague, Netherlands.

Anouk's interest in music began because her mother was a blues singer. Anouk initially sang at weddings and parties with the band Shotgun Wedding, prior to meeting Barry Hay from the Golden Earring, a friend of her ex-husband Edwin Jansen. Hay believed Anouk to have talent, and offered to write some songs for her, one of which was Mood Indigo; written in collaboration with George Kooymans (also from the Golden Earring).

Breakthrough

After she met Bart van Veen, her co-writer, the pair wrote a few songs. On September 5, 1997, she released her second single, Nobody's Wife, which remained at the top of the Dutch music charts for a number of weeks. Her debut album, Together Alone also turned out to be a huge success. In 1998, Anouk won two awards from Dutch music channel TMF (The Music Factory) in addition to an Edison award. During the summer, she played at various festivals.

Her second album, Urban Solitude, was released in November 1999, and included the single R U Kiddin' Me. This song reached the Dutch Top 100. Shortly afterwards, Anouk went to the United States to pursue a record deal. Negotiations with her American label (Sony) ended badly, causing her to return to the Netherlands without a deal. She released a new song, Don't, and began touring the Netherlands in February 2001.

In March 2001, she released another album, Lost Tracks, which contained acoustic versions and B-sides from older songs, and various duets with K's Choice singer Sarah Bettens and The Anonymous Mis. She was awarded the Popprijs award in 2001.

In November 2002, the album Graduated Fool was released. This is the heaviest rock album in Anouk's career so far. Anouk received a Golden Harp in 2003.

The following full length release is called Hotel New York (2004) and yielded a total of four singles: Girl, Lost, Jerusalem and One Word.

Exile and return

Anouk moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, in December 2005 to escape the pressures of fame. Before she left, she gave two concerts in Antwerp, Belgium, and four concerts at Ahoy' in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Anouk at Dauwpop in 2006

On April 8, her birthday, she performed for the first time in 2006 for a select audience at the Melkweg, a concert venue in Amsterdam. On Friday, 18 August, Anouk performed at the Lowlands festival, the show started with the Sacrifice. Later that evening, she did an additional acoustic gig for three songs.

Settling in Amsterdam, Anouk released her new album; Who's Your Momma which she recorded with producer Glen Ballard (of Alanis Morissette fame). It was released on November 23, 2007 and drew comparisons with Amy Winehouse. Anouk fired her band after some problems and recruited a new one of young musicians who also release their own material. The first single, Good God was a success in the Benelux . The director Jonas ?kerlund shot the music video for this single.

The second single I don't wanna hurt has been released, but Anouk decided not to make a music video because the concerts take too much energy and time. I don't wanna hurt was a big hit in the charts, even bigger than Good God was.

In March the music video director Melina shot the video for the third single "Modern World" released in April. This music video was also endorsed by blogger Perez Hilton.

The single "Good God" is featured as a playable song in the video game Guitar Hero World Tour, which was released on multiple consoles towards the end of 2008.

Side-projects

Anouk currently teaches at the Conservatory of Amsterdam; her job is likely to include band-coaching.

She also appears in a series of commercials for Postbank / ING in the Netherlands, thus joining a long line of celebrities that dates back to the mid-1970s.

Personal

She married Remon Stotijn (aka The Anonymous Mis, frontman of the reggae/rap band Postmen) on March 16, 2004 and is the mother of three children; son Benjahmin Kingsley (b. April 18, 2002), son Elijah Jeramiah (b. December 5, 2003) and daughter Phoenix Ray (born June 3, 2005). Remon wrote Jerusalem (Jerusalem Video at YouTube) and the newly-released Good God (Good God Video at YouTube). In May, 2008, Anouk and Remon announced a "harmonious" mutual separation.

Music awards

1998
TMF Awards:
Best New Single ("Nobody's Wife")
Best Newcoming act
1999
Edison Awards: 3 awards
Best New Artist
Best Female Artist
Best Videoclip
TMF Awards: 4 awards
2000
TMF Awards:
Best Single, Best Female
Best Live Act
Best Videoclip
Edison Awards:
Best Female Artist (vote public)
Best Artist (vote jury)
2001
Edison Awards: Best Single
2002
Noorderslag Popprijs 2001
2003
Golden Harp 2003
Edison Awards: Best Dutch Female
TMF Awards: Best Female
2005
3FM Radio Awards:
Best Female, Schaal van Rigter (best single "Girl")
Duiveltje (musicians vote for their best colleague)
Dutch TMF Awards: Best Female National
Belgium TMF Awards:
Best Female Artist International
Best Album International
Best Video International
MTV Awards: Best Dutch/Belgian Act
Two medals (best female and single international "Girl") on Humo's Pop Poll 2005 Belgium
2006
3FM award Best Female
Edison Award: Best Dutch Female (her 6th Edison)
Dutch TMF Awards:
Best Female National
Best Rock Act
Best Video, Postman ft. Anouk "DownHill"
Belgium TMF Awards:
Best Live Act International
MTV Europe Music Awards Best Dutch Act
That year, Dutch megastar Marco Borsato joined Anouk in announcing their withdrawal from future TMF Awards-nominations. "Every year the same faces can get boring".