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 Annie performing in Bergen in 2005.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Annie Lilia Berge Strand |
| Born | November 21 1978 |
| Origin | Bergen, Norway |
| Genre(s) | Pop, Dance, Indie rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Label(s) | 679 Recordings, Island Records |
| Website | www.anniemusic.co.uk |
Anne Lilia Berge Strand (born November 21, 1978 in Trondheim, Norway), better known by her stage name Annie, is a pop artist and DJ from Bergen, Norway. Her song "The Greatest Hit," which samples Madonna's "Everybody," became an underground hit in Bergen. She met British producer Richard X in 2003 and wrote "Chewing Gum," which became a hit single in 2004. Her debut album Anniemal was released in 2004. Her song "Heartbeat" was chosen as Pitchfork Media's #1 Song of the Year before it was officially released. Anniemal won Best Pop Album and Annie won Best Newcomer at the Spellemannsprisen, an annual Norwegian music award ceremony.
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Early life
Annie was born in Trondheim, Norway, and moved soon after with her family to the coastal town of Kristiansand. Her father, a church organ player, died of cancer when she was 7. Six years later, Annie and her mother moved to Norway's second largest city Bergen. When she was 16, Annie fronted an indie rock girl group called Suitcase. During their only live performance, at a festival before a panel of judges, their guitar broke mid-set. Annie quit the band a few years later when her bandmates decided to switch from indie rock to trip-hop. Annie attended videregående skole, or secondary school, until around 1997. She then began to DJ, getting acquainted with members of the Bergen music scene. During this time she met producer Mikal Tellé, owner of the Bergen-based Tellé label, and Norwegian house producer Tore Andreas Kroknes, known professionally as DJ Erot.
Early career
Annie and Tore became romantically involved, and began to collaborate musically. Annie launched her solo singing career in 1999 with the single Greatest Hit, released under the Tellé label, a song she wrote and recorded with Tore. The song, which samples Madonna's song "Everybody", became an underground hit in the Bergen club scene and gained Annie some recognition overseas.
Annie went on to record I Will Get On with Tore in 2001 and made plans to release an album. Shortly after the release of the single, however, Tore fell ill and was hospitalized repeatedly over the course of several months. Later that year, Tore died of complications due to a heart condition at the age of 23. Though Annie went through a period of depression after Tore's death, in time she returned to DJing and writing music. With friend Fröken Blytt, she started a club night in Bergen at the Agora nightclub called Pop Till You Drop, where she met Finnish DJ Timothy "Timo" Kaukolampi of Op:l Bastards. In return for booking him for Pop Till You Drop, Annie traveled to Helsinki to DJ at Timo's own night club, and later lent her vocals to some Op:l Bastards tracks.
Anniemal
Annie sent a demo tape to Britain's 679 Recordings label and was signed in March 2003. Around this time she met British producer Richard X and contributed vocals for the track Just Friends on his X-Factor Volume 1, released in August 2003.
Annie and Richard X continued to work together, releasing the single Chewing Gum in Annie's name in September 2004. The track was named single of the week by NME soon after its release, and charted in the UK at #25.
Later that year, Annie released her debut CD Anniemal, collaborating with Timo Kaukolampi, Richard X, who produced and co-wrote the track Me Plus One, and fellow Norwegians Röyksopp. Greatest Hit earned a spot in the tracklist, and the album's second single Heartbeat was voted #1 in Pitchfork Media's Top 50 singles of 2004 before the song was officially released. Chewing Gum took the #11 spot on that same list. In 2005, Annie won several awards for her work, including Best Pop Album and Best Newcomer at the Norwegian Alarm Awards. Chewing Gum had also been nominated for Song of the Year. In addition, Annie won the Best Newcomer award at the prestigious Spellemannsprisen. Annie's February 5 performance at the Alarm Awards was one of the first live performances of her solo career. Annie toured around the world in 2005 to promote Anniemal, including a brief UK tour with Saint Etienne, to whom she had sent a demo tape while still in Suitcase in 1996. Annie performed at sold out club venues in the United States in 2005, and returned to the US later that year.
Career to date
In 2005, Annie released a DJ mix album as part of !K7's DJ-Kicks series. Since then, she began a record label, Totally, with Timo Kaukolampi. She has provided vocals for the Teddybears track "Yours to Keep" as well as the Ercola track "Follow Me, and rerecorded her songs Chewing Gum and Heartbeat in the Simlish nonsense-language for The Sims 2: Nightlifes Danish and Norwegian localizations. On January 17, 2007, Annie signed an international deal with Island Records, owned by Universal Music Group. Norwegian newspaper Dagasvisen has since confirmed that she will release her second album in April 2008, followed by a tour in the summer and a single preceding the album, due to premiere on her MySpace profile in late January at the earliest.[1] Brian Higgins is confirmed as one of the album's producers, as is Richard X, believed to have co-written the songs "Anthonie" and "Songs Remind Me Of You" and produced a cover of Stacey Q's 1986 NRG hit "Two of Hearts" for the album.
Discography
Albums
- 2005 (March) Anniemal UK #101
- 2005 (October) DJ-Kicks: Annie
Singles
- 1999 "Greatest Hit" #142 UK (charted in 2000), #100 (charted in 2002)
- 2002 "I Will Get On" #196 UK (charted in 2003)
- 2004 "Chewing Gum" #8 Norway, #31 Sweden, #25 UK, #45 Europe Official Top 100, #46 Australia
- 2005 "Heartbeat" #17 Finland, #18 Norway, #50 UK, #77 Dutch Top 100 Singles
- 2005 "Happy Without You"
- 2005 "Always Too Late"/"Helpless Fool For Love"
- 2005 "Wedding"
- 2006 "Crush"
Videos
- 2004 Chewing Gum
- 2005 Heartbeat (Filmed in Helsinki)
External links
References
- Albums by Annie. Annie bio at rateyourmusic.com. Retrieved on October 7, 2005.
- A fan's encounter with Annie Annie reveals she was born in 1978. URL accessed on April 1, 2006.
