Kate Ryan
Kate Ryan in Szczecin, 2007
Background information
Birth name	Katrien Verbeeck
Born	July 22, 1980 (1980-07-22) (age 27)
Origin	Tessenderlo, Belgium
Genre(s)	Pop, Dance, Eurodance, Trance, Electronic
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter
Years active	2002â€"present
Label(s)	EMI
Website	www.kateryan.be

Kate Ryan, born Katrien Verbeeck on July 22, 1980, in Tessenderlo, Belgium to Dutch parents, is a Belgian pop music singer/songwriter.

Biography

Early life

Ryan was born on July 22, 1980 in a small village named Tessenderlo in Belgium to Dutch parents. She grew up in a musical family, and had talent for music at a very early age. At eight years of age she had learnt to play the piano and guitar, and could easily learn to play anything she heard on the radio. She had singing and piano lessons form her aunt who teaches at a conservatory, but had other interests too. She studied at an art school, specialising in jewelery design.[1]

Ryan played frequently in bars and cafés as a teenager, and one night a manager approached her, wanting her to record something in a studio. She became a member in a pop group called Melt at the age of 16. The group was active for two years but they didn't release anything commercially. When she met with producer Andy Janssens, she quit Melt and the pair began to write music together. Their debut single "Scream For More" was released in 2001, and as a surprise it became a chart success.[1]

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 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 Stateside debut single was, "Scream For More" released July 17, 2001, on Robbins Entertainment. It did decently well on Dance music radio and Nightclubs. The follow up single, "Desenchantee/U R My Love" also released on Robbins, did as well on dance radio and Nightclubs, but the single sold more than the previous single. In 2006, Kate Ryan released a second album Stronger with two more popular songs "Another Day" & "Let it Rain" rumored to have been inspired by the twilight series. In Europe and in North America in 2007 on Water Music Records. While the album did well on the Dance charts, it failed to chart on the Pop charts because of non-existent promotion and interest in the album, "Stronger."

In 2006 she represented Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, singing Je t'adore. However, she was eliminated in the semi-final, finishing two places outside the advancing Top 10. This was unexpected, considering she was one of the top favourites for first place. Along with the elimination of entries from Estonia and Cyprus, Ryan's dismissal was one of the bigger shocks of Eurovision 2006.

It was said that on the 14th August 2006 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. "Je T'adore" was released Stateside as an import single, where it has sold decently well among pop music lovers, especially those would like their pop music with European flavour.

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.

Kate is currently promoting her new double A-side single Voyage Voyage/We All Belong. The track Voyage, Voyage is a cover of the European smash hit by Desireless, and We All Belong was selected as the official anthem for the Eurogames 2007. Kate has recently said that she hopes to release her fourth studio album early next year.

Discography

Albums

Album	Chart statistics	Singles
	Different. 1st Studio album. Released: 2002. Belgian Peak Position: no.1 Swiss certification: Gold (20,000) Poland certification: Platinium (20,000) Austrian peak position: No.26 Danish peak position: No.22 German peak position: No.23 Finish peak position: No.36 Swiss peak position: No.14 Swedish peak position: No.17 European sales: 250,000	"Scream For More" "UR (My Love)" "Désenchantée" "Mon CÅ"ur Résiste Encore" "Libertine"
.	Stronger 2nd Studio album. Released: 2004. Austrian peak position: No.43 Swiss peak position: No.14 German peak position: No.13	"Only If I" "The Promise You Made/La Promesse" "Goodbye"
	Alive. 3rd Studio album. Released: 2006. Belgian peak position: No. 13. German peak position: No. 73. Swiss peak position: No.73.	"Je t'adore" "Alive" "All For You"
.	TBA 4nd Studio album. Released: 2008. Austrian peak position: Swiss peak position: German peak position:	"Voyage Voyage / We All Belong"

Singles

All regularly released singles and their chart peak position: Belgium (BEL), Germany (GER), Spain (SPA), France (FRA), Switzerland (SWI), Austria (AUT), Sweden (SWE), Denmark (DEN), Netherlands (NL), Finland (FIN), Poland (POL),Portugal (PT) and United World Chart (WW).

Other Singles Chart Positions

• 2002 "Désenchantée" â€" #3 Nor, #4 Ned, #11 Den, #12 Por, #9 Europe, #10 UK Dance
• 2005 "Only If I" #13 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance
• 2005 "The Promise You Made/La Promesse" #13 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance
• 2006 "Je t'adore" â€" #16 Gre, #5 Mex, #1 Pol
• 2006 "Alive" - #40 Billboard Hot Dance

References

External links

• Official website
• BBC.co.uk
• [1]
• [2]
• [3]