Kate Ryan

Belgian singer Kate Ryan, whose real name is Katrien Verbeek, was born on July 22, 1980 in Tessenderlo, a Dutch-speaking commune in Belgium's Flemish region, in the province of Limburg. She first learned to play the piano and then the guitar, before taking an interest in singing and joining an amateur band called Melt, which never produced any recordings. After meeting producer Andy Janssens, she released her first single "Scream for More" (#9) in 2001, followed by "UR (My Love)" (#17 the same year). In 2002, she released her debut album Different, which reached No. 8 in the Belgian charts, and managed to chart across Europe, thanks in part to her Mylène Farmer covers "Désenchantée " (No. 1) and "Libertine " (No. 7). Other covers of classics such as France Gall's "Ella, elle l'a" (#7 in 2008) and Desireless' "Voyage, Voyage" (#2 in 2007), in a Eurodance vein, consolidated her reputation in the years that followed. Her albums Stronger (2004) and Alive (2006) once again made it into the local charts (no. 22 and no. 13 respectively). She represented Belgium in the Eurovision semi-finals on May 18, 2006 in Athens, with the song "Je t'adore" (No.1), but failed to qualify for the final, finishing 12th with 69 points. 2008 was a busy year for Kate Ryan, who released a new opus called Free (No. 4) and followed this up a month later with the release of her first Essential compilation (No. 88). A second was released the following year, and French Connection, featuring her interpretations of French classics, reached no. 21 in Belgium. A final album, Electroshock (no. 6), was released in 2012, while Kate Ryan subsequently devoted herself to singles such as "Light In The Dark" (no. 27, 2013), "Not Alone " (no. 23, 2014) and "Wonderful Life " (no. 30, 2016).