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Kate Ryan
Kate Ryan in Szczecin, 2007
Background information
Birth name	Katrien Verbeeck
Also known as	Kate Ryan (stage name)
Born	July 22, 1980 (1980-07-22) (age 29)
Origin	Tessenderlo, Belgium
Genres	Dance-pop, Eurodance, House
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar, Piano
Years active	2001-present
Labels	EMI (2002-2006) ARS Entertainment (2007-present)
Website	www.kateryan.be

Kate Ryan (born Katrien Verbeeck on July 22, 1980^[1]) is a Belgian World Music Award winner. She began her singing career in 2001 and represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with "Je t'adore" coming in 12th place in the semi-final.

Biography

Early life

Ryan was born to Dutch parents in the small village of Tessenderlo, Belgium. She grew up in a musical family, and had talent for music at a very early age. At eight years of age she had learned to play the piano and guitar. She had singing and piano lessons from her aunt who teaches at a conservatory, but had other interests too. She studied at an art school, specialising in jewellery design. She also lived some time in Meerhout, a small village near Tessenderlo.^[2]

Ryan played frequently in bars and cafés as a teenager, and one night a manager approached her, wanting her to record a song in a studio. She became a member of a pop group called Melt at the age of 16. The group was active for two years, but they did not release any material commercially. When she met with producer Andy Janssens, she left Melt and the pair began to write music together. Their debut single "Scream For More" was released in 2001, and it became a chart success.^[2]

Solo career

She gained international prominence with a cover of Mylène Farmer's "Désenchantée", which was a hit on various European pop music charts. She signed with EMI Belgium and released her first album Different in 2002 exclusively in Europe. The album went Gold, selling more than 250,000 copies throughout Europe.

It became popular enough in the United States that music consumers who favour dance-pop with a European flavour bought Different even though it was only available as an import title. Kate's debut single in the U.S. was "Scream For More", released July 17, 2001, on Robbins Entertainment. It did well on dance–music radio and in nightclubs. The follow–up single, "Desenchantee/U R My Love" also released on Robbins, did as well on dance radio and in nightclubs, but the single sold more than the previous single.

In 2004, Ryan released a second album in Europe and in North America in 2005 on Water Music Records, the album named Stronger, with two more popular songs—"Another Day" and "The Rain" which were rumored to have been inspired by the twilight series. While the album did well on the dance charts, it failed to chart on the pop charts because of poor promotion.

In 2006 she participated in Eurosong '06, the national final to select the entrant for Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. She was selected as the entrant after placing first in the Eurosong final on March 9, 2006. Ryan represented Belgium at the Eurovision semifinal held on May 18, 2006 in Athens singing "Je t'adore". She did not qualify for the final, however, finishing two places outside the advancing Top 10 (12th) with 69 points. She was later voted best dressed performer by Eurovisions independent website esctoday.com^[3] for her 14.000 € outfit created for the occasion by Boris Schipper and Tomas Pedrosa Arques who later sold the dress and donated the money to charity.

It was announced on the August 14, 2006 that Ryan would release "Je t'adore" in the UK for which exclusive mixes by Credheadz were commissioned, but the release was shelved, close to the release date. It did however enjoy heavy rotation on the UK's music channels, and is still played regularly on Flaunt.

The following single was "Alive", taken from the album of the same name, which also features French versions of several tracks including "Je t'adore", "Alive", and the third single "All For You".

Performing at the Eurogames 2007

In 2007, she had some success with the double sided single "Voyage Voyage"/"We All Belong". The track "Voyage, Voyage" is a cover of the 1987 European smash hit by Desireless, and "We All Belong" was selected as the official anthem for the EuroGames 2007 in Antwerp.

In 2008, she released two singles: L.I.L.Y. (Like I Love You) and then Ella, Elle L'a, a cover of France Gall's song. Both tracks (and Voyage Voyage) were included on her album Free, which was released on May 30, 2008. The album has a duet with Spanish singer Soraya Arnelas.

On July 11, 2008, a best-of-album with the title Essential was released. It includes songs which were released by Ryan's former label EMI.^[4]

On August 8, 2008 Kate took part in the Polish Sopot Hit Festival. During the show she received the Gold album for selling over 10,000 copies of Free in Poland.^[5] This is her first certification for this album in Europe.

On November 9, 2008 in Monaco Kate Ryan won the World Music Award for The Best Selling Benelux Artist.

On April 27, 2009 Kate Ryan was #1 on the UK MTV Dance charts with Ella, Elle L'a featuring Jade Forsyth and Dan Deeley Love.

Her next single release is a cover from France Gall titled "Babacar". It was released on June 12, 2009 in Belgium, and on the 15th internationally. An official YouTube video is also available for viewing. The single will be featured on the Belgian singer's concept album French Connection and it will be first released on October 13, 2009 on Canada, October 20 in Spain, October 23 in Belgium, October 30 in Poland and November 13 in Germany. Ryan was awarded with a Multi-Platinum award from Spain for selling more than 300.000 digital songs. It was announced by her that "French Connection" is the end of an era, and from now on she will only release material written by her.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Other singles chart positions

• 2001: "Scream For More" - #9 Flemish Ultratip chart,#10 Center Music Hits Chart, #2 Euro WebCharts
• 2002: "Désenchantée" — #10 UK Dance, #18 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance, #93 UK
• 2002: "Mon Coeur Résiste Encore" - #7 Flemish Ultratip chart, #4 Wallonia Ultratip chart
• 2004: "Only If I" - #13 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance
• 2004: "The Promise You Made/La promesse" - #13 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance, #1 Flemish Ultratip chart, #5 Euro WebCharts
• 2004: "Goodbye" - #1 Polish Top 5 Digital Songs Chart (2009)
• 2006: "Je t'adore" — #16 Greece, #52 European Hot 100 Singles, #1 (4 weeks) Euro WebCharts
• 2006: "Alive" - #40 Billboard Hot Dance , #37 Greece, #12 Flemish Ultratip chart,
• 2006: "All For You" - #1 Flemish Ultratip chart
• 2007: "Voyage Voyage" - #20 Greece, #51 European Hot 100 Singles, #1 Flemish Ultratip chart, #14 Romania, #15 D-z Top 40, #1 Euro WebCharts
• 2008: "L.I.L.Y." - #2 D-z Top 40 , #13 Flemish Ultratip chart,
• 2008: "Ella, elle l'a" - #5 Slovenia, #27 European Hot 100 Singles, #28 Czech Republic, #2 Netherlands dance chart,#1 Flemish Ultratip chart, #7 Estonia, #20 Belarus, #20 Global Dance Tracks, #26 Official French Club Charts, #3 Hungary, #2 Norway Dance chart, #10 Finland Dance Chart , #5 Top 105 of 2008 (Energy 105.1 FM)
• 2008: "I Surrender" - #4 Flemish Ultratip chart, #21 Wallonia Ultratip chart, #56 Europe Official Top 100
• 2010: "Sage Comme Une Image" - #19 Lithuania

References

External links

• Official Web site
• Kate Ryan TV
• Kate Ryan Artist profile on Dancevibes.be
• BBC News