Кэйт Ра́йан (Kate Ryan, при рождении Katrien Verbeeck, 22 июля 1980 года, Тессендерло, Бельгия) — бельгийская поп-певица. Начала карьеру в 2001 году, а в 2006 году представила Бельгию на Евровидении с песней «Je t’adore», заняв 12-е место в полуфинале.
Райян родилась в маленьком селе Тессендерло, Бельгия.
Росла в музыкальной семье, с детства имела тягу к музыке. В возрасте 8-ми лет начала играть на пианино и гитаре и с лёгкостью могла сыграть всё, что она слышала по радио.
Уроки пения и пианино ей давал её дядя, который был учителем в консерватории. Но она также имела и другое увлечение — училась в школе искусств, специализируясь на ювелира. Будучи подростком Раян часто пела в барах и кафе и однажды один из менеджеров приметил её и захотел записать её песню на студии. Так в возрасте 16 лет она стала членом поп-группы Мелт. Хотя группа просуществовала всего 2 года, за это время они ниразу ничего не выпустили. Когда она познакомилась с продюссером Энди Джансеном, она покинула Мелт и начала в паре с ним писать музыку. Их дебют — сингл «Scream For More» был выпущен в 2001 году и внезапно стал успешным продержавшись в Бельгийских чартах 17 недель.
Перепев песню Милен Фармер «Désenchantée», она заняла первые места в разнообразных Европейских чартах. Кейт подписала контракт с EMI Belgium и выпустила свой первый альбом Different в 2002 эксклюзивно для Европы. Альбом стал золотым, в Европе было продано более 250 000 копий.
Выступление Кейт на EuroGames 2007
В 2004 году Райан выпустила второй альбом в Европе и Северной Америке под названием Stronger, с двумя наипопулярнейшими песнями — «Another Day» и «The Rain». Хотя альбом имел успех в танцевальных чартах, он провалился в поп-чартах, поскольку имел плохую раскрутку.
Следующим был сингл «Alive» из одноимённого альбома, альбом включал французские версии нескольких песен, включая «Je T’Adore», «Alive» и третий сингл — «All For You».
В 2007 году она имела успех с двойным синглом «Voyage Voyage»/«We All Belong». Трек «Voyage Voyage» — кавер-версия европейского хита 1987 года исполнителицы Desireless, «We All Belong» был выпущен как гимн EuroGames 2007 в Антверпене. В 2008 году она выпустила два сингла L.I.L.Y. (Like I Love Yoy) и Ella Elle L'a, оба трэка (а также Voyage Voyage) были включены в её альбом Free, который был выпущен 30 мая 2008 года. Этот альбом также содержал сингл с испанской певицей Soraya Arnelas. 11 июля 2008 года был выпущен сборник наилучших песен под названием Essential.
8 августа 2008 Кейт принимала участие в Польском фестивале «Sopot».
Последней её работой стал альбом French Connection представленый 13 октября 2009 года в Канаде и 23 октября в Бельгии. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Kate Ryan (born Katrien Verbeeck on July 22, 1980) is a Belgian World Music Award winner. She began her singing career in 2001 and represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with "Je t'adore" coming in 12th place in the semi-final.
Ryan was born in the small village of Tessenderlo, Belgium. She grew up in a musical family, and had talent for music at a very early age. At eight years of age she had learned to play the piano and guitar. She had singing and piano lessons from her aunt who teaches at a conservatory, but had other interests too. She studied at an art school, specializing in jewelry design. She also lived some time in Meerhout, a small village near Tessenderlo.
Ryan played frequently in bars and cafés as a teenager, and one night a manager approached her, wanting her to record a song in a studio. She became a member of a pop group called Melt at the age of 16. The group was active for two years, but they did not release any material commercially. When she met with producer Andy Janssens, she left Melt and the pair began to write music together. Their debut single "Scream For More" was released in 2001, and it became an unexpected chart success.
She gained international prominence with a cover of Mylène Farmer's "Désenchantée", which was a hit on various European pop music charts. She signed with EMI Belgium and released her first album Different in 2002 exclusively in Europe. The album went Gold, selling more than 250,000 copies throughout Europe.
It became popular enough in the States that music consumers who favour dance-pop with a European flavour bought Different even though it was only available as an import title. Kate's Stateside debut single was "Scream For More", released July 17, 2001, on Robbins Entertainment. It did well on dance–music radio and in nightclubs. The follow–up single, "Desenchantee/U R My Love" also released on Robbins, did as well on dance radio and in nightclubs, but the single sold more than the previous single.
In 2004, Ryan released a second album in Europe and in North America in 2005 on Water Music Records, the album named Stronger, with two more popular songs—"Another Day" and "The Rain" which were rumored to have been inspired by the twilight series. While the album did well on the dance charts, it failed to chart on the pop charts because of poor promotion.
In 2006 she participated in Eurosong '06, the national final to select the entrant for Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. She was selected as the entrant after placing first in the Eurosong final on March 9, 2006. Ryan represented Belgium at the Eurovision semifinal held on May 18, 2006 in Athens singing "Je t'adore". She did not qualify for the final, however, finishing two places outside the advancing Top 10 (12th) with 69 points.
It was announced on the August 14, 2006 that Ryan would release "Je t'adore" in the UK for which exclusive mixes by Credheadz were commissioned, but the release was shelved, close to the release date. It did however enjoy heavy rotation on the UK's music channels, and is still played regularly on Flaunt.
The following single was "Alive", taken from the album of the same name, which also features French versions of several tracks including "Je t'adore", "Alive", and the third single "All For You".
In 2007, she had some success with the double sided single "Voyage Voyage"/"We All Belong". The track "Voyage, Voyage" is a cover of the 1987 European smash hit by Desireless, and "We All Belong" was selected as the official anthem for the Eurogames 2007 in Antwerp.
In 2008, she released two singles: "L.I.L.Y. (Like I Love You)" and then "Ella, Elle L'a", a cover of France Gall's song. Both tracks (and Voyage Voyage) were included on her album Free, which was released on May 30, 2008. The album also contains a duet with Spanish singer Soraya Arnelas.
On July 11, 2008, a best-of-album with the title Essential was released. It includes songs which were released by Ryan's former label EMI.
On August 8, 2008 Kate took part in the Polish Sopot Hit Festival. During the show she received the Gold album for selling over 10,000 copies of Free in Poland. This is her first certification for this album in Europe.
On November 9, 2008 in Monaco Kate Ryan won the prestigious World Music Award for The Best Selling Benelux Artist.
In 2009, Ryan released the concept album "French Connection" which was an album of all her French language songs, covers and previously unreleased songs in the language.
After several delays, Ryan's fifth album "Electroshock" will be released on June 25, 2012. The album was preceeded by the hit singles "Lovelife", "Broken" and "Robots."
Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.