Floortje Smit (born 16 July 1983, in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

) is a Dutch singer.

Career

In ''Idols''

Smit's career started in season three of the Dutch TV talent show ''Idols'', the Dutch spin-off of

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

. In a surprising twist, Smit, a big audience favorite with her girl-nextdoor image and very popular (she even performed on

Koninginnedag ''Koningsdag'' () or King's Day is a national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Celebrated on 27 April (26 April if the 27th is a Sunday), the date marks the birth of King Willem-Alexander. When the Dutch monarch is female, the holi ...

for the Dutch queen) lost in the final to

Raffaëla Paton Raffaëla Paton (born 1 June 1983) is a Dutch singer of Surinamese descent and the winner of the 2006 Dutch talent show ''Idols''. Paton participated in the Netherlands national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan ...

. That she was an early favorite and that her name was already trademarked before the competition started led to allegations that the show's outcome was predetermined.

Solo career

Despite losing the competition, she went on to start a music career; her first single, "Wake Up," was performed live for the first time in the municipality of

Wijchen Wijchen () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the province of Gelderland, in the eastern part of the Netherlands. Population centres Number of residents per population centre per 12 December 2009: Source: Statis ...

where, according to the local paper, she transformed herself from a run-off-the-mill singer into a diva, who gave the audience and the reviewer goosebumps. She signed with the label The Entertainment Group in May 2006 after being turned down by BMG/Sony, which had an option to sign the runner-up in the competition. Her debut album, ''Fearless'', was released in 2007 and peaked at #43 and stayed on the charts for six weeks. A single from the album, "Starts With Goodbye," was a modest success; another song on the album, "All Over Again," is a duet with boyband singer

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career start ...

In ''The Voice''

She had a comeback in 2012 taking part in

season 3 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...

of ''

The Voice of Holland ''The Voice of Holland'', also known as ''TVOH'', is a Dutch reality TV singing competition, that became a near global TV format franchise, created by media tycoon John de Mol and musician Roel van Velzen, in the Netherlands airing on RTL 4. ...

'' as part of team

VanVelzen Roel van Velzen (; born 20 March 1978), better known as VanVelzen, is a Dutch singer-songwriter. Besides being known for his short stature, he and his band enjoy a huge live reputation; they have played at virtually every festival in the Nether ...

reaching the Final 4 as the contestant representing him in the finals where she sang Alone and as a duet with her coach mentor VanVelzen the "Sing Sing Sing". She finished third overall in the contest behind winner

Leona Philippo Leona Philippo (born 6 May 1979 in Toronto) is a Canadian-born Dutch singer-songwriter of Jamaican origin. On 14 December 2012, she won the title for The Voice of Holland (season 3), season 3 of the Dutch reality television music competition ''T ...

(Team

Trijntje Oosterhuis Judith Katrijntje "Trijntje" Oosterhuis (; born 5 February 1973) is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She formed the band Total Touch in 1990 with her brother Tjeerd Oosterhuis before she started as a solo singer. She represented the Netherlands in ...

) and Johannes Rypma (Team

Nick & Simon Nick & Simon are a Dutch singer-songwriter duo composed of Simon Keizer and Nick Schilder. They became popular in their home country the Netherlands in 2006. Their album ''Luister'' (''Listen'') reached double platinum status in four months. I ...

In popular culture

*A multi-talented artist, Smit took part in an

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

show on TV, "Sterren Dansen op het IJs", in which she reached the final, but again failed to win. *She sang and danced in front of 1700 people, at an emotional ceremony where "De Kindercompagnie", a baby store, received the 2008 ING Retail Award. *She also posed nude for the English men's magazine

FHM ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) is a British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. Its master edition contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World, which has featured models, actres ...

in 2008.

References

External links

Official homepage of Floortje Smit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smit, Floortje 1983 births Living people Dutch pop singers Idols (franchise) participants Musicians from Amsterdam 21st-century Dutch singers 21st-century Dutch women singers