Anne Linnet

Anne Kristine Linnet (born 30 July 1953) is a Danish singer, musician and songwriter.

She has released a number of solo albums and has also been a member of the bands Tears, Shit & Chanel, Anne Linnet Band, Marquis de Sade and Bitch Boys.

Anne Linnet is one of a small group of Danish songstresses who have been popular for multiple decades.

She is, and has been for five decades, a distinctive figure on the Danish music scene and is known for her honest musical phrasings, memorable and sometimes feministic lyrics, and renewal through explorations into a number of music styles.

Linnet has received several Danish awards, is Knight of the Dannebrog and is granted subsidies from the Danish Arts Foundation.

Anne Linnet began her career in 1969 by performing folk music / folk rock, and she was in the Århus-based band Tears from 1971 to 1976.

Linnet recorded the albums Sweet Thing (often regarded as her solo album) and Tears in My Ears, both with the band Tears that also included Holger Laumann.

Anne Linnet also sang musical works by Holger Laumann with Radioens Big Band and others since 1971.

In 1973, she was one of the founding members of the all-female band Shit & Chanel, which released four albums in their seven years together.

One of their largest hits was the song "Smuk og dejlig", written by Anne Linnet.

One of the reasons for the band's split was that the House of Chanel had won a lawsuit against them, regarding the use of the name Chanel.

After that, the band members felt a need to move on and do something new.

Following the split, Anne Linnet formed Anne Linnet Band, which released two albums in 1981 to 1982.

Two other singers and musicians in the band were Sanne Salomonsen and Lis Sørensen, both popular singers/musicians who have since had long and successful careers.

In 1983, Anne Linnet formed a new wave band named Marquis de Sade.

The sound was harder and more electronic, inspired by other European eighties bands, such as Eurythmics, and was a change from the softer pop/folk sound that had characterised her music until then.

The musical theme and lyrics of Marquis de Sade were also inspired by Hamburg's red-light district.

Anne Linnet has also authored some books: In 1983, she published a collection of poems named Glimt.

The album Linnet/Salomonsen from 1984 was the music for a play in Bellevue Teatret named Berlin 84, and was inspired by Toula and Barbarella who worked in a red-light district.

The lyrics of Linnet/Salomonsen deal with issues of LGBT erasure and male privilege, and has similar themes to Marquis de Sade.

Marquis de Sade released three albums, Hvid magi in 1985, En elsker in 1986 and Over mig under mig in 2002, since the album from 1983 was merely titled Marquis de Sade and marketed as the artist name Anne Linnet.

The three other albums have both the artist names Marquis de Sade and Anne Linnet on the front cover.

At the time, they created some controversy, and became known for some of their songs having sadomasochistic ("Marquis de Sade") and lesbian ("Hils din mor", "Venus") themes.

They had large hits with songs such as "Glor på vinduer", "Nattog" and "Venus".

In 1986, Anne Linnet wrote the song "Barndommens gade" for the film of the same name, based on the novel by the Danish poet Tove Ditlevsen.

She set a number of Tove Ditlevsen's poems to music, which was released on the album Barndommens gade.

The poem/song "Barndommens gade" became a hit.

She founded the record company Pladecompagniet at the turn of the year 1986/1987.

In 1988, Linnet released the album Jeg er jo lige her (Danish for "I am right here").

The album has sold in more than 400,000 copies, which makes it her commercial high point.

The first single was the evergreen "Tusind stykker" (Danish for "thousand pieces"), which became a large hit, first in Anne Linnet's version, and later also in a Swedish version, performed by the Swedish singer and musician Björn Afzelius.

In 1989, she released the album Min sang in collaboration with the Danish priest, author and lecturer Johannes Møllehave.

The album contains poems inspired by Christian faith.

Linnet and Møllehave have later collaborated on a series of church concerts and lectures.

In 1994, the record company Pladecompagniet was sold to Sony for more than ten million kroner.

In 1994-'95, Linnet wrote a chamber opera named Thorvaldsen while she was resident in Rome.

The opera was released on CD in 1996 and is about the Danish, 19th-century sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.

In 1997, Linnet established her second all-female band Bitch Boys that released an album of the same name that year.

In 1999, Linnet founded her second record company Circle Records.

In 2008, she received IFPI Denmark's prize of honour for her work of many years on the Danish music scene.