Anouk

Anouk Schemmekes (, ; born 8 April 1975), professionally known by the mononym Anouk, is a Dutch singer and songwriter.

Anouk Teeuwe was born on 8 April 1975, in The Hague, Netherlands.

As a teenager, she used drugs and ended up living in several care homes after she ran away from her family at the age of fourteen.

Anouk's interest in music was triggered through her mother, who was a blues singer.

Anouk gave her first performance at fifteen and sang at weddings and parties with the band Shotgun Wedding.

She started attending the Rotterdam Conservatory in 1994, but dropped out two years later.

In the same period, her then-husband and manager Edwin Jansen introduced Anouk to Golden Earring frontman Barry Hay.

Hay believed her to have talent and offered to write some songs for her.

One of those songs was "Mood Indigo"; written in collaboration with fellow Golden Earring member George Kooymans.

After she met Bart van Veen, her co-writer, the pair wrote a few songs.

After her 1997 breakthrough rock single "Nobody's Wife", she had additional hit records in the Dutch and Belgian charts.

Many of her albums topped the Dutch album charts, most of them going Platinum and several debuting in the number 1 position.

Her most famous singles include "Michel", "It's So Hard", "R U Kiddin' Me", "Girl", "Lost", "Modern World", "Three Days in a Row", "Birds", and "Woman".

Anouk had released thirteen studio albums by 2022, a mix of anglophonic rock, pop and adult contemporary; one of which was recorded in the U.S., produced by Glen Ballard.

In recent years, she has expanded into Dutch, more folky lyrics.

Her 2022 album, was titled Trails of Fails.

On 5 September 1997, she released her second single, "Nobody's Wife", which remained at the top of the Dutch music charts for a number of weeks and was a hit in Norway and Sweden.

Her debut album Together Alone turned out to be a huge success.

In 1998, Anouk won two awards from Dutch music channel TMF in addition to an Edison Award.

During the summer, she played at various festivals.

Her second album Urban Solitude was released in November 1999, and included the single "R U Kiddin' Me".

This song reached the Dutch Top 100.

Shortly afterwards, Anouk went to the United States to pursue a record deal.

Negotiations with her American label (Sony) ended badly, causing her to return to the Netherlands without a deal.

She released a new song, "Don't", and began touring the Netherlands in February 2001.

In March 2001, she released, Lost Tracks, which contained acoustic versions and B-sides from older songs, and various duets with K's Choice singer Sam Bettens and The Anonymous Mis.

She was awarded the Popprijs award in 2001.

In November 2002, the album Graduated Fool was released.

This was the heaviest rock album in Anouk's career so far.

Anouk received a Golden Harp in 2003.

Her song made it to the final – the first time since 2004 for the Netherlands, finished 9th with 114 points, and scored her another big domestic hit.

The following full-length release is called Hotel New York (2004) and yielded a total of four singles: "Girl", "Lost", "Jerusalem" and "One Word".

In 2006, she won the 3FM award for best Dutch female singer.

In 2007, Anouk released Who's Your Momma, recorded with producer Glen Ballard.

The first single, "Good God" was a success, and became a playable song in the video game Guitar Hero World Tour in 2008.

In 2009, she released her album For Bitter or Worse.

The song "Three Days in a Row" reached the first place in the Dutch charts.

Anouk's album To Get Her Together was released in the Netherlands in May 2011.

On 28 February 2011 Anouk placed one of the new tracks on YouTube named "Killer Bee".

Anouk represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden, with the song "Birds".