Kate Ryan

Kate Ryan, born Katrien Verbeeck on July 22, 1980, in Tessenderlo, Belgium, is a Belgian pop music singer/songwriter.

Ryan was born on July 22, 1980 in a small village named Tessenderlo in Belgium to Dutch parents. 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, and could easily learn to play anything she heard on the radio. She had singing and piano lessons from her aunt who taught at a conservatory, but had other interests too. She studied at an art school, specializing in jewelry design.

Ryan played frequently in bars and cafés as a teenager, and one night a manager approached her, wanting her to record something in a studio. She became a member in a pop group called Melt at the age of 16. The group was active for two years but they didn't release anything commercially. When she met with producer Andy Janssens, she quit 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 of, and interest in, the album, Stronger.

In 2006 she represented Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, singing Je t'adore. However, she was eliminated in the semi-final, finishing two places outside the advancing Top 10. This was unexpected, considering she was one of the top favourites for first place. Along with the elimination of entries from Estonia and Cyprus, Ryan's dismissal was one of the bigger shocks of Eurovision 2006.

It was said that on the 14 August 2006 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. "Je T'adore" was released Stateside as an import single, where it has sold decently well among pop music lovers, especially those would like their pop music with European flavour.

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".

Kate released her new double A-side single "Voyage Voyage"/"We All Belong". The track "Voyage, Voyage" is a cover of the European smash hit by Desireless, and "We All Belong" was selected as the official anthem for the Eurogames 2007. Kate has recently said that she hopes to release her fourth studio album in early 2008. She recently sold more than 2 million cd's.