Mélanie De Biasio (born 12 July 1978) is a Belgian

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singer, flutist and composer.

Early life

De Biasio was born in

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

, to a Belgian mother and an Italian father. She learnt

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

from the age of three, and started playing the

Western concert flute The Western concert flute is a family of transverse (side-blown) woodwind instruments made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist (in British English), flutist (in Ameri ...

at eight. Being a fan of groups like

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

, Portishead,

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

and Jethro Tull, at the age of 15 she joined a rock band for a while. After three years of singing studies at the

Royal Conservatory of Brussels The Royal Conservatory of Brussels (french: Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel) is a historic conservatory in Brussels, Belgium. Starting its activities in 1813, it received its official name in 1832. Provid ...

, she was awarded a first prize with a degree of highest distinction. In 2004 during a tour in Russia, De Biasio suffered from a serious pulmonary infection which caused a loss of singing ability for a full year. During this time she developed her characteristic whispering chant.

Career

Soon after she graduated, Belgian jazz musician and saxophone professor at her Conservatory

Steve Houben Steve Houben (born 19 March 1950 in Liège, Belgium) is a Belgian jazz saxophonist and flutist. Biography In the mid-1970s, Houben attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston. When he returned to Belgium, he established the jazz seminar at ...

asked her to appear in concert with him, allowing her to play in numerous festivals and other large music events in Belgium. In 2006, De Biasio was nominated for a

Django d'Or The Golden Django, named after guitarist Django Reinhardt, is an award for jazz musicians in Europe. The trophy is a creation of the French painter Raymond Moretti. It was first introduced in France (in 1992), then in Belgium (1995), in Sweden a ...

award, in the "Young Talent" category. One year later, she released her first album, ''A Stomach Is Burning'', on

Igloo Records Igloo Records is a record label run by the concert hall running company ''Sowarex'' in Brussels, Belgium that concentrates on jazz and world music. Igloo is the best-known of five imprints run by Sowarex. According to one of its founders, the lab ...

. It was favourably received by critics and it won the "Best Jazz Album" award at Les Octaves de la Musique. In 2013 Melanie De Biasio signed a long term record deal with independent label IAS Soon thereafter she released her second album, which has been described as a simple and sensual work.

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

gave it a 4-star review and JazzNews included in their Top 25 Best Albums Ever.

Jamie Cullum Jamie Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He has recorded nine stu ...

recommended the album in his radio show and

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

's drummer

Phil Selway Philip James Selway (born 23 May 1967) is an English musician and the drummer of the English rock band Radiohead. Along with the other members of Radiohead, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. Selway released his debut ...

chose it as his favourite album of 2014: "''No Deal had me hooked from the first listen. It sounded like

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop si ...

had walked into the sessions for

Mark Hollis Mark David Hollis (4 January 1955 – February 2019) was an English musician and singer-songwriter. He achieved commercial success and critical acclaim in the 1980s and 1990s as the co-founder, lead singer and principal songwriter of the band ...

's solo record. ��there is true soul in this record.''" In 2014, Melanie De Biasio became the second Belgian artist to play on '' Later... with Jools Holland'', after

Zap Mama Zap Mama is the music act of Belgian artist Marie Daulne. Zap Mama sings polyphonic and afro-pop music, a harmonic music with a mixture of infused African vocal techniques, urban, hip hop with emphasis on voice. The worldwide success of Zap Mam ...

almost 20 years earlier. She supported

Eels Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

on their European tour. In 2015 a "No Deal" Remix album was released, created in collaboration with artists such as

The Cinematic Orchestra The Cinematic Orchestra is a British nu jazz and downtempo music group created in 1999 by Jason Swinscoe. The group is signed to independent record label Ninja Tune. The Cinematic Orchestra have produced four studio albums, ''Motion'' (1999), ...

Gilles Peterson Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a French broadcaster, DJ, and record label owner. He founded the influential labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud, and started his current label Brown ...

. That same year, De Biasio headlined the Montreux Jazz Tokyo Festival. Melanie De Biasio was proclaimed to be the Best Live Act by

and received his Track Of The Year award in 2016. In the same year she also won the

European Border Breakers Award The European Border Breakers Award (EBBA) was an annual prize awarded to recognise the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year. ...

and the Champagne Price in France, along with the Octave De La Musique, D6BELS and Medaille Chevalier Wallon in Belgium. At the

Haldern Pop Festival Haldern Pop is an annual German open air music festival, first held in 1984. It takes place in Rees-Haldern (North Rhine-Westphalia). Focus The Haldern Pop Festival cannot be limited to one genre. The focus ranges from experimental metal, punk ...

in 2016, she collaborated with

Damien Rice Damien George Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate success i ...

, on a spectral cover of

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, ...

's 'Be My Husband'. Also in 2016, Melanie De Biasio and her band recorded an exploratory version of a new track she had been working on. The take runs to almost 25 minutes and was released uncut on an EP, named Blackened Cities. The EP's cover artwork contains a black-and-white picture of Melanie De Biasio's home city Charleroi by photographer

Stephan Vanfleteren Stephan Vanfleteren (born 1969) is a Belgian photographer, best known for his portraits in black and white and his depictions of Belgium and abroad. Biography Stephan Vanfleteren was born in Kortrijk in 1969,''Lilies''. It was reviewed very favourably and De Biasio once again received multiple awards, including best composer/author at the 2017

Music Industry Awards The MIA's, in full Music Industry Awards, are Flemish music prizes that are awarded by the VRT in collaboration with Music Centre Flanders. The prizes replace the ZAMU Awards, last awarded in 2006. The abbreviation MIA is a wink to ''Mia'', a ...

and D6BELS Awards. Shortly thereafter she played 3 sold-out concerts in a row at the

Ancienne Belgique Ancienne Belgique ( French for "Old Belgium") is a concert hall for contemporary music in Brussels, Belgium. Located in the historic heart of Brussels, it is one of the leading concert venues in Belgium, hosting a wide variety of international and ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. Melanie De Biasio then started a 2 year tour with concerts at festivals and venues all across the globe. While on tour, her track 'I Feel You – Eels Remix' was used to promote the film ''Alien: Covenant'' directed by

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...

, it runs during the entire in-universe short movie "Meet Walter" starring

Michael Fassbender Michael Fassbender (born 2 April 1977) is an Irish actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Award ...

. In 2018, the President of Italy honoured Melanie De Biasio as Cavaliere Della Stella d'Italia.

Community projects

Starting in 2011, De Biasio worked with prisoners for two years in a collective creative process using voice, movement, breath and rhythm, in collaboration with the non-profit organization Avanti that led to a critically acclaimed performance in the prison. In 2017, in collaboration with a group of 10 patrons of the arts from

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

, Mélanie De Biasio bought the house built in 1877 for Jules Audent, then mayor of the city. This building had long been occupied by the Italian consulate. After renovation works the site is now being used as an artist residence named, l'Alba - House of Shared Talents.

Awards and honors

Awards Honors

Discography

References

External links

Official websiteAlba
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Biasio, Melanie Living people 1978 births PIAS Recordings artists 21st-century Belgian women singers Igloo Records artists