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Floor Jansen

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Floor Jansen
Floor Jansen live with Nightwish in 2015
Floor Jansen live with Nightwish in 2015
Background information
Born (1981-02-21) 21 February 1981 (age 43)
OriginGoirle, North Brabant, Netherlands
GenresSymphonic metal, power metal, progressive metal, hard rock, thrash metal, gothic metal (early)
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, vocal coach
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar
Years active1997–present
Member of
Formerly of
Websitefloorjansen.com

Floor Jansen (pronounced [ˈfloːr ˈjɑnsə(n)]; born 21 February 1981) is a Dutch singer, songwriter, and vocal coach. She is the lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish.

Jansen first became known as a member of symphonic metal band After Forever, standing as their lead vocalist from 1997, when she joined at age 16, to their disbanding in 2009. When After Forever disbanded, she formed ReVamp and has released two albums with them. In 2012 following the departure of their lead vocalist Anette Olzon, Nightwish brought in Jansen as a touring member until the end of their Imaginaerum World Tour. In 2013, they announced Jansen was now their full-time lead vocalist; she subsequently disbanded ReVamp to focus on Nightwish. In 2018, she and Pagan's Mind guitarist Jørn Viggo Lofstad premiered their hard rock duo Northward.

A frequent collaborator of Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Jansen is a member of his progressive metal supergroup Star One, and sang in the Ayreon albums Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer, 01011001, and The Source, as well as the live album Ayreon Universe – The Best of Ayreon Live. She also sang lead vocals in several songs of the MaYan album Quarterpast and in Avalon's Angels of the Apocalypse. She is the older sister of fellow singer Irene Jansen, who also worked with Ayreon.

Biography

After Forever (1997–2009)

Jansen was sixteen when she joined Apocalypse (later known as After Forever) in 1997. Three years later the band released its first album, Prison of Desire. She co-wrote the band's words and music with Mark Jansen (no relation) until he left in 2002, after which she was the band's sole composer.[1] Before becoming a full-time musician, she worked as a singing teacher.[2]

Jansen with After Forever at the Masters of Rock festival in 2007

Because of the burnout that After Forever bandmate Sander Gommans underwent, the band took a year off starting in January 2008 but ultimately decided to call it quits in February 2009. Jansen posted on her website that she was writing music with Jørn Viggo Lofstad (Pagan's Mind, Jørn Lande) for a new musical project, but the two did not publish as Northward until ten years later.[3]

ReVamp (2009–2016)

On 17 October 2009, Jansen announced via MySpace that the name of her new band was ReVamp.[4] ReVamp's first album was produced with After Forever keyboardist Joost van den Broek, bass player Jaap Melman (formerly of Dreadlock Pussy)[5] and guitarist Waldemar Sorychta (Grip Inc., Voodoocult, Eyes of Eden and Despair) as songwriters and producers. The final line-up of ReVamp featured keyboardist Ruben Wijga, bass player Jaap Melman, guitarists Jord Otto and Arjan Rijnen and drummer Matthias Landes.

ReVamp performing live in Oslo in September 2010

In August 2011, Van Canto announced on Facebook, that ReVamp would no longer participate in their Out of the Dark tour, as Jansen suffered a burnout herself.[6][non-primary source needed]

In late 2011, Jansen joined her former bandmate Mark Jansen in his band Mayan's Latin American tour, performing in São Paulo. In 2012, Jansen joined Adrenaline Mob on stage in Bochum and Weert. ReVamp's second album, Wild Card, was released in 2013.[7]

ReVamp announced its breakup in September 2016, citing Floor Jansen's inability to participate fully in both ReVamp and Nightwish.[8][non-primary source needed]

Nightwish (2012–present)

After Nightwish's previous lead vocalist Anette Olzon parted ways with the band, Jansen acted as Nightwish's live lead vocalist for the remainder of the Imaginaerum World Tour in 2012.[9] Her first show with the band was in Seattle in October. When commenting on the experience, she said:[9]

There was this evil voice in my head that said, 'What on earth do you think you're doing? You don't know these songs, you've had no time to learn them'. And everybody in the venue was holding a cell phone, so it would be on YouTube straight away.

On 9 October 2013, Nightwish announced Jansen as Olzon's permanent replacement in the band.[10] In 2015, Nightwish released their first studio album featuring Jansen as the lead vocalist, which was Endless Forms Most Beautiful. Along with the album the band announced a world tour. Out of this came the live album Vehicle of Spirit which is the second live album to feature Floor.

In 2018, Nightwish announced their Decades world tour commemorating all of their works as a band. The second studio album with Jansen as lead vocalist, Human. :II: Nature., was released on 10 April 2020. After several cancellations and reschedulings due to pandemic concerns, Nightwish is currently touring for this album.

Solo career (2020–present)

Jansen performed her first solo concert in July 2021.[11] On 2 August 2021, Jansen had confirmed in an interview that she is working on a solo album.[12][13] Jansen released her first single "Fire" on 25 March 2022.[14]

Other works

Three albums by the Dutch composer and multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen's project Ayreon include guest vocals from Jansen: she sang backing vocals on "My House on Mars" from the album Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer, played the character of Forever, referred to as Ω, (Coincidentally, Jansen used the Ω symbol as an emblem for her band Revamp, and she has the symbol tattooed on her wrist) on seven songs from the album 01011001, and was featured as a character named The Biologist on the album The Source. She is also a member of Lucassen's heavy metal supergroup Star One, and was featured on the studio albums Space Metal and Victims of the Modern Age. She was also featured in the 2018 live album Ayreon Universe – The Best of Ayreon Live.

On 9 December 2013, she was also announced as the main vocalist, playing the lead role, for the second full-length album of former Stratovarius guitarist Timo Tolkki's metal opera act Avalon.[15] The album, Angels of the Apocalypse, was released on 16 May 2014. She has also been a guest for the metal band Nightmare.

On 22 February 2018, Northward, a hard rock project by Jansen and Pagan's Mind guitarist Jørn Viggo Lofstad, was unveiled. The two created the project in 2007, writing an entire album worth of music in 2008 but being unable to record previously due to their busy schedules; they ultimately reunited in 2017 to finally record the album, which was released on 19 October 2018 under their signed label Nuclear Blast.[16] The album features a duet between Jansen and her sister Irene.[17][non-primary source needed]

In 2019, Jansen participated in the Dutch TV-show Beste Zangers ("Best Singers"). During all episodes she impressed her fellow singers, but also the TV-audience with her voice. In the last episode she partnered with classical singer Henk Poort to perform Phantom of the Opera. The single of that performance reached the number one position in Dutch charts. That performance generated so much attention that she decided to plan a solo tour in the Netherlands.[18] All venues were sold out. She also won the "Popprijs 2019" - a prestigious Dutch award for the artist or band with an important contribution to Dutch pop music in the past year.[19] Among her other performances for "Best Singers" was a solo version of Lady Gaga's Shallow and a separate acoustic duet version of the same song with Tim Akkerman.[18] In 2022, she performed in the German version of Best Singers: "Sing meinem Song - Das Tauschkonzert".[20]

Personal life

As a child, she wanted to be a biologist; coincidentally, she played the character "The Biologist" in the Ayreon album The Source.[21]

Between 2014 and 2015, Jansen lived in Joensuu, the capital of North Karelia.[22]

Jansen has previously been in a relationship with After Forever guitarist Sander Gommans.[23][24]

On 18 September 2016, it was announced, that Jansen and her husband Hannes Van Dahl, the drummer of Sabaton, were expecting their first child.[25][26] On 15 March 2017, Jansen announced via Instagram that she had given birth to a girl.[27]

Jansen is vegetarian.[28]

In 2018, a new species of beetle was discovered by scientist Andreas Weigel. It was named after Jansen, dubbing it Tmesisternus floorjanseni.[29] This makes Floor Jansen the second Nightwish member to be a namesake for a newly discovered species, as a new kind of fungus gnat was discovered back in 2017 by Finnish biologist Jukka Salmela, who named the species after Tuomas Holopainen. Jansen herself announced the news on Facebook.[30][non-primary source needed]

Singing style

Jansen can sing from classical to belting and raspy vocals like screaming and death growls.[31][32][33] She is a soprano with a range of more than three octaves (C3 to F6[34]).[35][36][37][38]

Jansen started studying music at the Dutch Rock Academy in 1999, entering the Conservatorium Tilburg three years later. She studied musical theatre and a year of opera.[31][32] When After Forever split up, she started teaching performing in her own course called Wanna be a Star?!

She used to play the guitar, piano and flute and has completed several years of music studies.[39][40]

Discography

Jansen live with Nightwish in 2013, before being promoted to permanent member later that year

With After Forever

Studio albums

EPs

With Nightwish

Studio albums

Live albums

With Northward

Studio albums

With ReVamp

Studio albums

With Star One

Studio albums

Live albums

Filmography

References

  1. ^ Nuclear Blast Records (3 April 2007). "After Forever – Interview w/ Floor Jansen + Joost van den Broek (Part 1)". Retrieved 17 October 2015 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ "Nightwish: Floor Jansen, Tuomas Holopainen and Marco Hietala on making the cut as a musician". The Cut. 31 December 2015. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  3. ^ "Biography". Floor Jansen. 2015. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  4. ^ "Name of my new band!". blogs.myspace.com. 17 October 2009. Archived from the original on 23 October 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  5. ^ "Former After Forever Singer's Revamp: First Full Length Song Posted Online". Blabbermouth.net. 21 April 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  6. ^ "Van Canto post". Facebook.com. 12 August 2011. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
  7. ^ "Official website". ReVamp Music. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  8. ^ "Facebook announcement – No More Revamp". Archived from the original on 26 February 2022.
  9. ^ a b Everley, Dave (8 December 2015). "How Nightwish became a modern metal phenomenon". Metal Hammer. Team Rock. Archived from the original on 28 December 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  10. ^ "Press release // October 9th, 2013". Nightwish.com. 9 October 2013. Archived from the original on 20 June 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  11. ^ "Watch FLOOR JANSEN Perform NIGHTWISH Classics At First Pandemic-Era Solo Concert". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. 17 July 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  12. ^ "FLOOR JANSEN: 'I Would Like To Find A Way To Combine A Solo Career With NIGHTWISH'". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  13. ^ "NIGHTWISH Vocalist FLOOR JANSEN - "I've Been Working On A Solo Album Since The Beginning Of The Pandemic"". Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  14. ^ "Nightwish's Floor Jansen Announces 'Fire' Solo Single". Blabbermouth.net. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  15. ^ "Floor Jansen is the main vocalist on Avalon II, the album and European tour planned for May 2014". Avalon Opera.com. 9 December 2013. Archived from the original on 9 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  16. ^ "NORTHWARD Feat. NIGHTWISH Singer And PAGAN'S MIND Guitarist: 'While Love Died' Video Released". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  17. ^ "Floor Jansen and Jørn Viggo Lofstad's hard rock project signs to Nuclear Blast and announces first album!". 22 February 2018. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  18. ^ a b "NIGHTWISH's FLOOR JANSEN Kicks Off Solo Tour In Nijmegen (Video)". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. 25 January 2020.
  19. ^ "Zangeres Floor Jansen wint Popprijs 2019". NU. 18 January 2020.
  20. ^ "Floor Jansen part of Sing Meinen Song!". Floor Jansen homepage. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  21. ^ "Ayreon – The Day That The World Breaks Down – The Source (2017)". 26 January 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  22. ^ Ahjopalo, Janne (28 June 2014). "Nightwishin Floor Jansen yllättää muuttamalla Itä-Suomeen". YLE (in Finnish). Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  23. ^ Begai, Carl. "EPICA - THE ECSTASY OF AGONY". Bravewords. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  24. ^ "Epica interview - Mark Jansen (part 1)". YouTube. FaceCulture. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  25. ^ "Nightwish Singer Floor Jansen Is Four Months Pregnant". 18 September 2016.
  26. ^ "Nightwish singer Floor Jansen is four months pregnant". 17 September 2016.
  27. ^ Jansen, Floor. "Floor Jansen on Instagram: "In perfect health our daughter…"". Instagram. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  28. ^ Michea, Martin (4 December 2016). "Interviews : "This is who we are. This is what a Nightwish show is like." – An Interview With Floor Jansen (Nightwish)". Metalobsession. Retrieved 4 December 2016. I don't really have a favourite dish or anything, but I'm a vegetarian.
  29. ^ "Newly Discovered Species of Beetle Named After Nightwish Singer Floor Jansen". 9 March 2019.
  30. ^ Jansen, Floor. "Floor Jansen on Facebook: "This fine example of the endless forms most beautiful species on this green planet was discovered last year by Andreas Weigel. He named the beetle 'Tmesisternus floorjansenae Weigel, 2018. How special to have the honor of having a beautiful animal named after me."". Facebook. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  31. ^ a b "Interview – Floor Jansen of ReVamp & Nightwish". Cryptic Rock. 24 September 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  32. ^ a b Ashmedai (18 August 2013). "Pulling A Wild Card: An Interview With ReVamp". Metal Blast!. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  33. ^ May, Ant (15 March 2015). "Nightwish – Endless forms most beautiful – Preview". PlanetMosh. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  34. ^ "Digging Deeper: Axl Rose is NOT the Singer With the Widest Range". VVN Music. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  35. ^ "After Forever – Invisible Circles". Metalreviews. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  36. ^ Franco, Nicholas. "Revamp – Wildcard (Album review)". Crypticrock. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  37. ^ "NIGHTWISH Launches 'Evolution Series' Jewelry Collection". Blabbermouth. 22 August 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  38. ^ "Floor Jansen The Range Planet". The Range Planet. Retrieved 12 December 2021. Voice type: Soprano Vocal range: C3-F6
  39. ^ "After Forever". Musical Discoveries. 13 June 2004. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  40. ^ "Review of Decipher – The Album". Musical Discoveries. 7 July 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

Bibliography

  • Isoaho, Timo (2018). Nightwish – We Were Here (English ed.). Latvia: Deggael Communications. ISBN 978-952-99749-3-1.
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