Annekei biography
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On first encounter at Rockwood last November, Annekei seemed almost too good to be true. Having heard nothing and knowing nothing about her, I was completely knocked out by her soulful jazz singing (or was it her jazzy soul singing), and her superb band. So a return trip to Rockwood was in order at the next opportunity to find out if she was really as great as she seemed, and I'm here to say that based on last night's Rockwood show, Annekei is all that and more.
Annekei is originally from Denmark, moved to New York City in 2002 at the age of 19 to pursue a music career, won a talent competition on the Showtime at the Apollo television show, and while she still remains mostly unknown in this country, Annekei has a successful recording career in Asia and Europe, with two excellent albums released in Japan. When she's not off performing in the aforementioned continents or singing for the King of Thailand as she recently did at the Bangkok Jazz Festival, she can be found playing occasional gigs at Rockwood, and working as a lounge singer and waitress at the Waldorf Astoria.
Listen to Annekei - "100 Sq.Ft."
Hers is already a most unusual and fascinating life story but what needs no explanation is Annekei's huge talent as a singer, musician (piano and guitar) and songwriter
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At 19 years old, Annekei moved from her home country, Denmark, to pursue her musical ambitions in New York City. Since the arrival in 2002, the young soul singer has been performing venues as varied as Joe’s Pub, Pianos, the Metropolitan Café, Rockwood Music Hall, The Living Room, Bowery Poetry Club, Suite 16, The Cutting Room, Blue Note, and the old Fez under Time Cafe. In 2003 she went to the finals of the amateur competition on the TV show "Showtime at The Apollo" performing her original song "Close Your Eyes".
In 2006 she signed with the Japanese label “Being Records”, and released her self-titled debut album in September the same year. The single "Brother" made it to 4 on the Japanese charts within 2 weeks of release, rose to 1 vocal album" on Japanese iTunes and landed her the title: "Best New Foreign Artist" at the AD LIB AWARDS 2006. With her growing success and several live tours in Japan, as well as the very well-received release of the 2nd album "Tsuki" in 2007, Annekei's music is reaching audiences all over Asia. Her most recent project is "Letter", a beautiful collaboration album with Korean guitarist, Jack Lee. The young singer plays the piano and the guitar, in addition to writing her own ma