Lisa Lois (born 22 June 1987 as Lisa Hordijk) is a Dutch singer who rose to prominence after winning the second season of talent show ''
X Factor
''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003) ...
''. In 2009, she changed her stage name to Lisa Lois and released her debut album ''
Smoke
Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-produc ...
''.
Early life
Lois was born in
Wageningen
Wageningen () is a municipality and a historic city in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specialises in life sciences. The municipality had a population of in , of which many ...
, Netherlands. She studied at the Rock Academy in
Tilburg
Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...
and at the
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
-based
Herman Brood Academy
The Herman Brood Academie is a vocational school in Utrecht. It is a magnet school for the technical aspects of music production. The school was founded in 2006 and provides education at thsecondary vocational educationlevel in the Dutch educatio ...
.
2009–present
After winning the X-Factor, she released her debut single, a cover of her winning piece
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...
's "
Hallelujah
''Hallelujah'' ( ; he, ''haləlū-Yāh'', meaning "praise Yah") is an interjection used as an expression of gratitude to God. The term is used 24 times in the Hebrew Bible (in the book of Psalms), twice in deuterocanonical books, and four tim ...
" as 'Lisa'. The single went straight to number one in the Dutch Top 40. "Hallelujah" went
double platinum
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
within one month, selling over 100,000 copies as of today and becoming the best-selling single of 2009 in the Netherlands.
Her second single "No Good for Me" written by
Pixie Lott
Victoria Louise Lott (born 12 January 1991), better known by her stage name Pixie Lott, is an English singer and songwriter. Her debut album, '' Turn It Up'', released in September 2009, reached number six on the UK Albums Chart and sold ov ...
and
Phil Thornalley
Philip Thornalley (born 5 January 1960) is an English songwriter-producer who has worked in the music industry since 1978. He is perhaps best known for co-writing (with Scott Cutler and Anne Preven) the song " Torn" (made famous by Natalie Im ...
was released on 13 November 2009. Two weeks later her debut album ''Smoke'' was released. Lisa's third single from the album is "Promises, Promises" written by Pixie Lott,
Martin Sutton
Martin Sutton (born 15 May 1960) is a British songwriter, record producer, mixer and songwriting coach and mentor living and working in Buckinghamshire. Sutton has written for many artists worldwide, including LeAnn Rimes, Celine Dion, Backstreet ...
and
Chris Neill
Chris Neill (born 1968) is a British comedian, producer, and writer who features regularly on BBC Radio 4Official website