Stephen Emmer ( /ˈstɛfən/ ''STEF-ən''; born 28 January 1958 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 composer, arranger, producer, sound designer and musician. Best known as a composer for Dutch television and film, Emmer has released four albums as a solo artist, each with a different theme or concept. ''Vogue Estate'' released in 1982, is the soundtrack for an imaginary film; 2007’s ''Recitement'' is a spoken word album of poetry and prose; ''International Blue'', released in 2014, is a tribute to pop crooners. In 2017 Emmer released ''Home Ground'', a neo-soul album that addresses social issues related to origin. Emmer is closely associated with the Dutch Ultra movement of late 1970s and early 1980s. He was a member of

Minny Pops Minny Pops is a Dutch, Amsterdam-based new wave/electronic/art punk band, associated with the Ultra post-punk movement in the Netherlands and the Factory Records label in the UK. History The vocalist/songwriter/programmer Wally van Middendo ...

and the

Lotus Eaters In Greek mythology, the lotus-eaters ( grc-gre, λωτοφάγοι, lōtophágoi) were a race of people living on an island dominated by the lotus tree, a plant whose botanical identity is uncertain. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary ...

, co-founded the music magazine ''Vinyl'' and hosted and produced RadioNome for Dutch broadcasting organization

VPRO The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for , ) is a Dutch public broadcaster, which forms a part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. Founded in 1926 as a liberal Protestant broadcasting organization, it gradually became more soc ...

Early life and education

Emmer was born in Amsterdam. His parents are mother Roekie Aronds, actress and ballet dancer and father Fred Emmer, an anchorman for NOS Journaal. In the late 70s he played in a free jazz group and a symphonic rock group with

Mathilde Santing Mathilde Santing (born Mathilde Eleveld, 24 October 1958) is a Dutch singer. Santing was born in Amstelveen, Netherlands. She started receiving national attention in 1981 after she appeared in a Dutch television program called ''Sonja Op Maandag ...

and Dennis Duchart.

Music

1979-1984: Minny Pops, ''Radionome'', ''Vinyl'', Vogue Estate

In 1979, Emmer joined

, an avant-garde post-punk band central to the Dutch Ultra movement, and co-founded ''Vinyl'', a music magazine launched in 1981. In January 1980, Minny Pops opened for

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...

and were subsequently signed by

Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Durutt ...

. In 1981, they recorded their first single for Factory, ''Dolphin's Spurt,'' with Joy Division producer

Martin Hannett James Martin Hannett (31 May 1948 – 18 April 1991), initially credited as Martin Zero, was an English record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy ...

. The first Dutch band to do a

Peel Session John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

, Minny Pops toured the UK several times; Emmer, who had joined the band as a guitarist, performed and recorded on both guitar and bass guitar on the album "Drastic Measures, Drastic Movement". He also hosted and produced radio programs for the Dutch broadcasting organization

, including ''Radionome'', which aired experimental music and live in-studio performances. Emmer's music was included on ''Radionome'' compilation albums issued by VPRO. In 1982, Emmer recorded ''Vogue Estate'', a soundtrack for an imaginary film. Although mainly an instrumental, it included two songs with vocals: "Wish On" with

Billy MacKenzie William MacArthur Mackenzie (27 March 1957 – 22 January 1997) was a Scottish singer and songwriter, known for his distinctive high tenor voice. He was the co-founder and lead vocalist of post-punk and new wave band the Associates. He also h ...

(of The Associates) and "Never Share" with Martha Ladley (from

Martha and the Muffins Martha and the Muffins are a Canadian rock band, active from 1977 to the present. Although they only had one major international hit single "Echo Beach" under their original band name, they had a number of hits in their native Canada, and the c ...

). Michael Dempsey, formerly of

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...

, played bass on ''Vogue Estate'', which was produced by Emmer with

Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

. Emmer also performed with the Associates in 1982. In 1984 Dempsey and Emmer joined The Lotus Eaters.

2006 – present: ''Recitement,'' ''International Blue,'' ''Home Ground''

Working with producer

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

, Emmer composed music to accompany poetry and prose voiced by authors and performers for the album ''Recitement,'' released on the Dutch Supertracks label in 2007. Some were new recordings, made specifically for ''Recitement,'' and others were previously recorded. Its 17 tracks included texts by

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

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Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

Ken Nordine Ken Nordine (April 13, 1920 – February 16, 2019) was an American voice-over and recording artist, best known for his series of word jazz albums. His deep, resonant voice has also been featured in many commercial advertisements and movie traile ...

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...

and

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

, voiced by

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...

Sylvia Kristel Sylvia Maria Kristel (28 September 1952 17 October 2012) was a Dutch actress and model who appeared in over 50 films. She is best remembered as the eponymous character in five of the seven Emmanuelle films, including originating the role with ''E ...

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and

Hugo Claus Hugo Maurice Julien Claus (; 5 April 1929 – 19 March 2008) was a leading Belgian author who published under his own name as well as various pseudonyms. Claus' literary contributions spanned the genres of drama, the novel, and poetry; he also l ...

among others. In 2014, again working with Visconti, Emmer released ''International Blue,'' tribute to pop

crooning Crooner is a term used to describe primarily male singers who performed using a smooth style made possible by better microphones which picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a more dynamic range ...

. A collection of "lushly orchestrated tales of heartbreak", it featured vocalists

Midge Ure James Ure (born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, the diminutive form of his actual name. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s ...

from

Ultravox Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was ...

Glenn Gregory Glenn Peter Gregory (born 16 May 1958) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead singer of the new wave and synthpop b ...

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, Liam McKahey of Cousteau and Neil Crossley. Gregory collaborated on four of the album's ten songs, including "Untouchable", a "darkly sumptuous" tribute to Billy MacKenzie. For the Christmas holiday,

Julian Lennon Julian Charles John Lennon (born John Charles Julian Lennon; 8 April 1963) is an English musician. He is the son of Beatles member John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia, and he is named after his paternal grandmother, Julia Lennon. Julian in ...

recorded a seasonal version of the album's "Sleep for England". ''

De Telegraaf ''De Telegraaf'' (; en, The Telegraph) is the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper. Haro Kraak,Gaat Paul Jansen de crisis bij De Telegraaf oplossen?, '' de Volkskrant'', 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015. Paul Jansen has been the editor-in-chief s ...

'' wrote that ''International Blue'' was "the most beautifully orchestrated, arranged and composed album of the year". In 2017, Emmer released ''Home Ground,'' a retro-soul album inspired by the "music-with-a-message movement of the 1970s", such as Marvin Gaye's '' What's Going On''. The album addresses social issues related to "homeground". Commenting on ''Homeground'' in a 2017 interview Emmer said: "Where your own home ground is; is it in your own country, your city or village, your house or is it close to your loved ones or is it in your own heart or head?" A benefit album for the charity War Child featured vocalists including

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...

Leon Ware Leon Ware (February 16, 1940 – February 23, 2017) was an American songwriter, producer, composer, and singer. Besides a solo career as a performer, Ware was best known for producing hits for other artists including Michael Jackson, Quincy ...

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and

Andy Bey Andrew W. Bey (born October 28, 1939) is an American jazz singer and pianist. Bey has a wide vocal range, with a four-octave baritone voice. Raised in Newark, New Jersey,Adler, David R"Andy Bey" ''JazzTimes'', April 25, 2019. Accessed December ...

. Review Soultracks. Emmer is the founder of eStation, a media production studio. He is the music director for ''Holiday on Ice'', and the Cartoon Network's live show, which launched in 2018. The album ''Maison Melody'', self-recorded by Emmer during the

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

lockdown, was released for free in 2020 to emotionally support the people financially affected by self-isolations.

Awards

*''Home Ground'', Golden Global Music Award 2017 *Humanitarian Award, Global Music Awards, 2018

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Emmer, Stephane 1958 births Living people Dutch composers Dutch music arrangers Dutch record producers Musicians from Amsterdam Sound designers The Lotus Eaters (band) members