Artist Biography

Official Promo Pic 2011

Official Promo Pic 2011

Last update: May 7th 2019

Even before properly learning the English language, I wrote my first song lyrics. Throughout my life, I continued to write songs, on my own and in collaboration with others. Currently, I’m preparing my first album, “Looking Back, Then Moving On”, which includes a combination of dance-pop and pop-r&b ballads. You know, the kind you could expect from a Kylie Minogue and Madonna fan with a weak for smooth r&b.

Looking Back, Then Moving On

The album closes years of struggle to get music out there for you to listen to (of which most I’ve always shared). All songs are the most notable from my past, so for me, this album closes a period, an era. From this, I’ll move on to create new music and define myself as an artist, clearer and more defined. This makes “Looking Back, Then Moving On” a diverse collection of various pop song in different pop styles. It’s somewhat a greatest hits album of an artist whose never had hits, well not officially anyway. Just a few trending songs on various music platforms.

A Sign

My last official digital release was “A Sign” on June 10th 2016. The song comes from a collaboration with Anthony Dent from DatDatMusik in the States, who co-wrote the lyrics with me. The pop-r&b ballad describes a desperate attempt to get clarity after a relationship seems to have fallen apart. The song is still available on your favorite streaming platforms, at the time of writing this.

Don’t Know Why I Got So Attached

Despite not having released any new material, officially, I have shared music online since “A Sign”. One remarkable track is “Don’t Know Why I Got So Attached”, because it’s a combination of reggae and pop. Not my usual sound. Despite it’s summer vibe, it also deals with heartbreak and frustration. However, this time, it describes the moment of breaking free from it. There was a lot of frustration around the song though. For a long time, it was unknown to me who wrote the music and the video was blocked from YouTube for a full year, due to copyright issues. All got resolved and the track is on the album.

No Good At Starting Over

Most of my songs contain something personal, even though it may not be on topic. Mostly, there are lines in the lyrics referring to personal situations. As a writer, music is a way to sort stuff out and work through things. It happens naturally to include something personal.

However, my 2015 ballad, really is a personal song about my own heartbreak and the I was having to start over. “No Good At Starting Over” is a pop-soul song. Not fully intended for my vocals, but it’s one of those things I had to get out of my system.

Music Blogging

In August 2014, I blogged daily about my attempts to get into music in my “31 days of music”-blog. In this month I created 6 new songs, struck up 2 new collabs, gained 20+ new Twitter followers, just 2 new Facebook likes, 400 new Google+ views, 6800 unique site visitors and a new love for blogging and YouTube, which I continue to this day on this website and on my social media.

Run Girl

The first pop-dance song I shared from this project, “Run Girl”, was uploaded to the Internet on September 24th 2014. A preview of another pop-dance song “Wild“, was released later. “Run Girl” is on the album with fully re-recorded vocals. Below is the original:

Music Is For Sharing

As a lyricist I was placed in the Top 1500 lyricists of the world in the 2006 Billboard Song Contest, stating that I have the “potential to write a hit record”. I’ve worked with unknown producers such as Ruud Bol (Gholar Fix), Anthony Dent, Kasual VM and Guy Frankel (DJ Poison), as well known Dutch producers like Tjeerd Oosterhuis.

From 2012 to 2014, I was part of the production collective Beat The Odds, formed by me and production team QnMel Media (Quincy Wondel and Melvin Dorn (Robin S, Total Touch)) . My upcoming album contains the track “You Take Me Higher” from this collaboration. By far, the most Kylie Minogue-like electro-pop song by me. Back in the day, it received airplay from Radio Parkstad. This came from my live radio interview in 2013 for Dutch Radio show “Small Wonder”. After the interview, DJ Robert Wijnen asked me to do a weekly item called “Nora’s Minute“, which I did until 2015.

Nothing Works

As their lyricist and partner, I wrote for and coached upcoming talents like Kayleigh, Dinardo Reingoud and Robin Feenstra. A few tracks were released on Soundcloud, such as “Shut Up”, “Nothing Worx“, “Dem Girlz” and “U and I”. This year, I created a lyrics video for “Nothing Works”. The song became a crucial turning point for me. While adding the additional background vocals, I created a little bit of a signature sound. A song by me would always contain background vocals and, if possible, a few “ooh oohs”.

If You Want It

Collaborations come together through various ways. Musicians can find each other on online platforms and apps. One of them was Emeraz, later InMusik. Two songs of mine trended there “Don’t Know Why I Got So Attached” and “Catch Me”. It was a great feeling to get recognized among peers.

This lead to a collaboration with UK producer Adam Featherstone for whom I wrote lyrics. “If You Want It” was intended for a girl group. I created a video for it to place the track on YouTube. It became my niece’s favorite song.

ReverbNation Success

The most success I’ve had with my music is on ReverbNation. In 2012, I reached number 1 in their local Pop charts. Every once in a while someone will kick me off that #1 spot, but I always manage to get back on. The highest national position I’ve reached is number 4 of their national pop chart.

Popular

For a while, ReverbNation led to some great collaborations. In 2012, I’ve collaborated with Australian producer Tony Knucklez (beatsBy14k) and US artist Mo Bizzy, which led to two tracks, “Love Bliss” and a remix of my own original production, “Popular”. The latter is included on the album.

Mo Bizzy spoke about our collaboration on his own YouTube channel.

I performed “Popular” once, and only shared a snippet of “Love Bliss”, over the years.

Official Demo: Catch Me and Burner

In 2009, I checked off one of those bucket list things. Someone got me to sing in a rock band and I really felt like I had to make a statement about which type of music I really wanted to make. I flew to LA to work with former Az Yet member Darryl Anthony on my demo. We created the pop-dance track “Burner“, which reminds us a little of Britney Spears, and the dreamy 90s retro track, “Catch Me“. Both will be now be on the album.

They’re Waiting For My Beat To Drop

Just before the demo, I worked with producer and house DJ, Mark Taylor (known for his work for MN8 and Mark Morrison). Our club track, “They’re Waiting For My Beat To Drop“, is my biggest success as yet. It was released in 2010 on the “Darling Nikki”-soundtrack, distributed by Universal Music/Def Jam. The track got airplay on many online streaming media channels, such as YouTube, Jango Music and Spotify. My home made video is still my biggest YouTube hit.

Extra: Covers

I’m only adding these, because I know people actually search for these tracks. (This has suprised me a lot!) However, all of them are out of character.

The Madonna Parody

Madonna has been a major inspiration. In 2013, I took this love to YouTube and uploaded a parody of Madonna’s Material Girl, renaming it “Digital Girl“.

The Cure Lullaby cover

This was done to post on social media for Halloween in 2014. Believe it or not, in a few days, this became my most popular track on ReverbNation. It’s now only available on YouTube.

Radiohead’s Creep cover

Also done to post on social media for Halloween, in 2017

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