Colette Wickenhagen

"A theatre animal with a rich, warm & sensual voice"
         
 
     
Photographer Pavel Korbut
  
 

1990

Won the Polaroid Award

& Soloist Award

1992

Won the Breukelen Jazz Award

  
         
 
COLETTE, Dutch Jazz vocalist, with a great love for "the Blues".
  
         
  Born in 1959 in a family where music
and especially jazzmusic played an
important role, she started dancing and
singing at the age of six. 		  * 1990, together with the Big Band Nijmegen she won the Polaroid
Award & Soloist Award.		  
     
   
 
    * 1992, she won the Breukelen Jazz Award.  
   
 
      * 1994 her first solo CD: "the Kick of the Blues" was brought out,
and later that year she also sang on the CD of Big Band Nijmegen:
"Retrospective".		  
  Studied from 1972 successively at
the Dance Conservatoire in The Hague / NL,
the Arts Educational School in London / GB
and the Show/Musical College from
the Nel Roos & the Cabaret Academy
in Amsterdam / NL.		    
     
   
 
    * 1994 she toured through Bahrain and Kenya.   
   
 
      * 1997 she did a project with the Royal Dutch
Airforce Orchestra in the Netherlands, Germany & Spain.    		 
  While being engaged by Intro Dance,
she toured schools with dance projects. 		   
   
  		 
    * 2000 she was a guest on the CD "Swing Time!"
from the band Captains of Mainstream.		  
       
  In 1983 she played a part in a Dutch
T.V. series: 'De Weg Naar (the way to)
Peruwelz'. (TROS / NL). 		  
 
    * 2001 she sang on the CD: "Summer Sessions 2001".    
   
 
    * 2002 she was a guest on the CD: "A Living Legend" from
the Dutch saxophone legend Harry Verbeke.  		  
       
  She also worked for 7 years as an
entertainer, actress and singer
on theme evenings at a Party Company
in Amsterdam / NL.		  
 
    * 2002 a new summer project with the Royal Dutch Airforce
Orchestra in the Netherlands.    		 
     
   
 
    * 2003 (30 Oct.) the new CD "Songs for Sale" was released.
Here Clous van Mechelen is playing the saxophone. The album
was released by Munich Records.   		  
       
  She is definitely at her best before
a 'live' audience, since she is known
as a real 'theatre animal'!		    
   
 
    * 2004 a Brazilian project with the Royal Dutch Airforce Orchestra
in the Netherlands and Germany. 		 
       
     
 
  Now she sings in many different settings
and with many musicians in small combo's
and in Big Bands, in the Netherlands
and Abroad.		   * Plays regularly in Germany and Belgium.   
   
 
    * In 2006 concerts in France.  
   
 
      * In 2007 concerts in Moscow and Tver, Russia..  
  Since 2007, she can be found on the free download
Top 200 list of the American site: All About Jazz.
She started on the 168th place and stands currently (March 2012) on place 32. 		 
 
    * In 2009 the new CD Just Friends Jammin' came out.
Musicians: Clous van Mechelen, Rinus Groeneveld, Saskia Laroo,
Frits Kaatee, Michael Gustorff, Hans Kwakkernaat, Wiro Mahieu
en Ben Schröder. 		  
     
     
     
 
      In dec 2009 new concerts in Russia: Moscow and Obninsk.  
     
 
      In 2010 the compilation CD Reference Vocal 3 was released in
Hong Kong.		  
     
 
      In 2011-2012, 11 compilation CD's were released in Singapore
& Malaysia. see CD-info.		  
         
 
 
 
 
     
 
Ever since 1986 she specialized as a Jazz & Blues vocalist and worked with a.o.:
Rob Agerbeek, Rob v. Kreeveld, Cees Slinger, Henk Haverhoek, Edwin Corzilius, John Engels,
Frits Landesbergen, Ferdinand Povel, Fred Leeflang, Clous v. Mechelen, Saskia Laroo, Dick Vennik,
Jan Verwey, Rinus Groeneveld, Bob & Simon Rigter, Harry Verbeke, Claudio Roditi, Claudio Roditi,
the Royal Dutch Airforce Orchestra
and many others.
  
 
 
  Critic reviews:      
  "… She has a voice like a luxuriously upholstered
bridal suite. Pleasant, sumptuous, warm.
Complete with exciting nooks and soft carpets
in subdued shades. Colette Wickenhagen, one of
the shiners of Amersfoort jazz, blossomed into the
complete jazz diva with her elastic timbre,
almost unlimited technique, playful improvisations,
penetrating interpretation of the lyrics and
remarkable radiation...." (Jeroen de Valk).		   "... Still, while performing she gives a lot more
than just a professional show; she gives herself.
That enormous physical expressiveness, the
willingness to throw herself deeply into a song,
the art of swingingly taking in tow a full concert
hall, is part of her being.
From the top of her head to the tip of her toes
she ís music...."
(Jan Rensen).
  
         
  " She has a wonderful voice with an
expressiveness and eloquence that reaches
far beyond the theatre…" (Ton Ouwehand)		   " A personality with a rich warm and sensuous
voice, that forces the audience to listen ..."
(Enschede / Polaroid Award)		  
         
   
  photo: 1992  
photo: 2009