Signe Tollefsen - Biography

Biography

Growing up in Utrecht, the Netherlands, as the child of an American father and a Dutch mother, Signe Tollefsen started to sing at the age of 7. She went to the "Kathedrale Koorschool Utrecht", the choirschool in Utrecht (other members were Colin Benders, better known as Kyteman). She composed her first songs on guitar at the age of 14, inspired by artists such as Janis Joplin, Edith Piaf, and Paul Simon. At 15, she moved to the UK to finish high school ( European School, Culham) and studied classical singing at the Royal Northern College of Music. She eventually gave up classical song, for studies in philosophy at the University of Hull, when she started singing her own songs in public at Hull's infamous underground club "The Adelphi". She moved back to the Netherlands to study medicine, but gave up and started studying at the Amsterdam Conservatory with René van Barneveld ('Tres Manos', the Urban Dance Squad). In 2005, she played with Stephen Malkmus ('S.M.', Pavement) in Italy and Germany.

In December 2006 she won the audience prize and the prize for best musician at the Grolsch Grote Prijs van Nederland in the category singer/songwriter, thus qualifying to record a promotion single and to be seen on well-known stages. Her picture was on the front page of newspaper "Sp!ts"

Between 2006 and 2009 she shared stages with Ane Brun, Stephen Malkmus, Alela Diane, Luka Bloom, and Japan's singer David Sylvian.

In 2008 famous Dutch singer Mathilde Santing recorded her song "Sweet Tears" on her album "Forty-Nine".

In September 2009 Tollefsen's eponymous debut album came out on CoraZong Records, recorded in Los Angeles (USA) and Utrecht (NL). It was very well received by the press and was later released in Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and the UK.

In 2010 she toured the UK twice (April and November) and the USA and Canada (September).

Her EP, entitled "Baggage" came out in January 2011 and was produced by Ralph Timmermans. This album contained 6 covers and was published by Cavalier Records and V2.

In March 2011 she was a guest musician in De Wereld Draait Door, a popular Dutch TV show with an average of 1.5 million viewers, signing "Borrowed Song", which will appear on her second album.

Her second album "Hayes", also produced by Ralph Timmermans, came out in September 2011, and is said to be a transitional album, where Tollefsen switches from acoustic guitar to electric. Timmermans co-wrote "Daddy", "Scared" and "Here Is What". "Where You Been" was recorded In Los Angeles by Brian Adler, "Speak To Me" and "Since I'm Leaving" were recorded in Sweden by Tollefsen herself in June 2011, where she spent a month writing. Two more songs she wrote there will be recorded for her next album.