Eva Simons

Eva Simons

Eva Simons (born April 27, 1985 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands) is a Dutch recording artist. She first came to public attention in 2004 after winning the Dutch version of the reality TV contest Popstars as part of the short lived girlband Raffish. In 2009 the singer embarked on a solo career after a recording of her first single, Silly Boy, leaked and gained popularity on the internet.

1984-2009: Early life and career beginnings

Simons grew up in a family deeply affected by music. Her grandfather was accordion player Johnny Meijer (1912–92), to whom his hometown of Amsterdam dedicated a statue. Her father was Dutch descent is a pianist, while her stepfather Wim Both is a trumpeter, playing amongst others for the renowned German WDR Big Band. Eva’s mother Ingrid Simons, a Creole from Suriname, is a vocalist, working as a background singer for stars such as The Supremes. And so it is no wonder that Eva owns photographs of herself as a two-year old, playing the piano. “I think I taught myself at first. But I distinctly remember how happy I was when my mother suggested two years later that I should take piano lessons,” she recalls. Less than a decade later, aged twelve, she had composed her first piano song.

When she was sixteen, she discovered programmes such as Logic and Pro Tools and began producing professionally. “I wanted to use some beats in addition to the piano sound and hear the complete production of my songs.” In 2008, she began to also write songs for other artists. Listen up — these are soon going to be released in the Netherlands. Eva’s songs often reflect a slice of her own life. She admits: “Sometimes it’s about love, about breaking up, about quarrelling with your mum, or a dog that has died.” Her passion for music was so fierce that Eva grew to hate school: “We only had one music lesson per week. But I was dying to play music the whole day long, every single day of the week!” So, aged sixteen, she decided to enrol at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where she was finally in a position to learn everything professionally: the technology, the theory, how to play in various bands. “It was like Disneyland to me!” Since she was not yet aged eighteen, Eva had to start with the preparatory courses. During her time at the college of music, she initially studied World Music, and then moved to Jazz, then Pop, and at the age of twenty-three she had her diploma. In the meantime, she gained experience as a background vocalist as well as producing advertising jingles.

Eva Simons was part of a girlgroup called Raffish. Together with four other girls, she got a number one hit in the Netherlands called "Plaything". She made one album with girlband, How Raffish Are You? and two other singles were released from the album, "Thursday's Child" and "Let Go". The group disbanded in 2006.

In 2009, Eva was the female vocalist on the Dutch editions of Dancing With the Stars and X Factor .

2009-present: Rise to popularity and Silly Boy

Eva Simons was seen on a Dutch TV Show watching Lady GaGa perform an acoustic version of Poker Face in April 2009. This was before Eva became famous from her hit single Silly Boy.

In May 2009 Eva Simon's electro-pop track "Silly Boy" was leaked onto YouTube. Since then the song has attracted a large online fan community and became one of the most listened to tracks online, generating over 10 million clicks..

Eva officially released "Silly Boy" as a single via EMI. "Silly Boy" was released to a total of 20 EMI territories, beginning on September 4 in Germany, and September 7 in the US and the rest of Continental Europe. The UK release was pushed back to October 12, but failed to chart there.

She was featured on Chris Brown's Pass Out a song from his album Graffiti. Eva performed two new songs called "Love To The World" and "Dont Stop The Beat" on "New Moon" premiere party.

In May Jessica Sutta confirms that her new single is coming out in July. Eva confirmed on the Dutch radio FunX that her new singlle will be called "Look But Don't Touch" and will feature Jessica Sutta.

Albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions
		USA	NED	BEL	BRA	GER	AUT	SWE	AUS	GBR
2010	Rockstar Released: TBA Format: CD, digital download Label: EMI, Virgin Records	Yet to be released

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions									Album
		USA	NED	BEL	BRA	GER	AUT	SWE	AUS	GBR
2009	"Silly Boy"	-	13	62	12	36	55	51	45	149	Rockstar
2010	"Look But Don't Touch" (featuring Jessica Sutta)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Recorded songs

• "Silly Boy" (2009)
• "Rockstar" (2010)
• "Love To The World" (2010)
• "Jodelin" (2010)
• "Overdose" (2010)
• "Don't Stop The Beat" (2010)
• "Wild Boys" (Duran Duran cover) (2010)
• "All I Try" (2010)
• "Look But Don't Touch" (Featuring Jessica Sutta) (2010)
• "Drop In Tha Bass" (2010)
• "Let's Go Crazy" (2010)
• "Downtown" (2010)
• "What’s Up" (Featuring will.i.am) (2010)
• "Intro (Hey Yo!)" (2010)
• "Bellboy" (2010)
• "I'll Eat All Your..." (2010)

Featurings

• "Pass Out" (Chris Brown feat. Eva Simons) (2009)
• "Take Over Control" (Afrojack feat. Eva Simons) (2010)

External links

• Eva Simons official website
• Video on YouTube
• Video on YouTube
• Eva Simons on Twitter