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Quick Facts
Biography
Esmée Denters (born 28 September 1988) is a Dutch singer and YouTube celebrity. Having started promoting herself as a musician online in 2006, she covered songs by many artists including Justin Timberlake and Natasha Bedingfield. By mid 2008, at age 19, she became one of the first music artists to exceed 100 million views on YouTube. At the time that was more than 50 Cent's (91 million views) or Michael Jackson's (74 million views) YouTube channels. Only Britney Spears had more all-time total views: 181 million. Denters was signed by Timberlake as the first artist to his label Tennman Records. In May 2009, she released her debut studio album, Outta Here, and toured the United States with Timberlake. After the label dropped her, Denters moved to London, where she competed in BBC One's The Voice UK.
Early life
Denters was born in Arnhem, Gelderland, The Netherlands. She is the daughter of Hank Denters and Fenny Boonstra. Her parents are divorced. She has an older sister, musical actress Daphne Denters. Denters lived in Westervoort next to Arnhem until she was fifteen, and then moved with her mother and sister to Oosterbeek, Gelderland. She graduated from high school in Arnhem in 2006 and subsequently attended the HAN University of Applied Sciences where she was working towards a Bachelor of Social Work until she dropped out in her first year in February 2007 to join Tennman Records.
Career
2006–2008: From Youtube To An Official Label
On 25 August 2006, Denters made a YouTube channel. She posted several videos of herself singing covers of other pop stars' songs. Denters traveled to the U.S. to write songs and record in the studio. There were plans for a reality show around Denters in the United States, which followed up the release of her debut album. She also sang a song that was written by Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child. She then flew to Sweden for a few days to write songs and record.
In 2008, Denters started her professional career after attracting the attention of Dutch media scouts and American pop singer Justin Timberlake. Timberlake went on to sign her as the first artist to his label Tennman Records. Timberlake became the executive producer of her debut album, Outta Here.
She also appeared on TV shows like Oprah.
2009–2010: First Album Outta Here and Collaborations
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In April 2009, Denters confirmed on Dutch radio station Radio 538 that her debut album would be released in the Netherlands on 22 May 2009, also confirming that the album is a mix of Pop and R&B with both ballads, and uptempo tracks. Her debut single, also the title song of the album, was released in the Netherlands on 14 April 2009 and in the UK on 15 August. The album reached number five in the Netherlands and charted in Belgium, where it reached number 3 for five weeks on the Flemish Region Albums Chart. The album was released in the UK on 11 January 2010 and features the previous 2008 charity duet with Timberlake, "Follow My Lead" as an additional bonus song. The second single, "Admit It", only reached 28 in the Netherlands and 56 in the UK.
In autumn 2009, Denters went on tour with Honor Society. The album's third single "Love Dealer", featuring Justin Timberlake reached 12 and 68 in the Netherlands and UK respectively.
Denters also worked on several collaborations during this time. She performed on tour with artists Ne-Yo , Enrique Iglesias and N-Dubz. She lent her vocals to the German band Stanfour who featured Denters on their single "Life Without You", released on 25 May 2010. The music video for the single was postponed due to the April 2010 Icelandic volcano eruption. On 1 May, Denters and Stanfour flew to New York to record the video for "Life Without You". The official release of "Life Without You" in Germany was 28 May. The video leaked on the internet on 24 May. In the UK, she also accepted a collaboration with London MC Chipmunk on his hit "Until You Were Gone", which entered the top three on UK charts.
She received an MTV Europe Music Award in 2009 and European Border Breakers Award in 2010 of Outta Love.
2011–2014: Dismissal from Tennman Records
Denters started working on new songs for her second studio album in January 2011. In the beginning of the recording process, Denters announced via Twitter she was working with British DJ and producer K-Gee and musician Ben Cullum. On 11 August, Denters took to her Twitter to announce the album was going to be entitled Screaming Out Loud. "City Lights" was officially announced by K-Gee and Denters as the first single from the album. The music video for "City Lights" was shot in London on 10 January 2012, directed by Daniel Broadley. However, the video wasn't released since Tennman Records weren't going to release another album with Denters and eventually closed its doors.
Denters announced on her Facebook page that she wasn't signed to Tennman Records or Interscope Records anymore and that she hadn't been for over a year (since 2012).
At the end of 2012, Dutch DJ and producer Erik Arbores and Denters collaborated for the new Dance4Life theme song called "dance4life (now dance)" released digitally on 23 November. They performed the song in the Dance4Life 2012 charity event in Ahoy, Rotterdam.
On 24 February 2014, Denters returned to stage performing exclusive new music for the first time ever at Showcase Live in London. She opened the show singing her first hit single "Outta Here" followed by three new original songs: "Cars and Airplanes", "If I Could I Would" and "Anything For The Money", accompanied by a performance with Lorde's "Royals", and a special appearance of Drake's "Hold On, We're Going Home" and Avicii's "Wake Me Up". She also performed at some small venues in London to promote the new songs.
On 24 September 2014, Denters surprised the fans with a digital release of "If I Could I Would" on iTunes and Spotify. It was her first independent release.
2015–present: The Voice UK & independent work
On 24 January 2015, Denters appeared on BBC One's The Voice UK, selected to join will.i.am's team for the next round. However, she was eliminated at the knockout stage.
At the end of 2017, Denters worked with Shaun Reynolds and released a 5-song EP These Days on iTunes and Spotify. In January 2018, Denters mentioned on Instagram that the second part of the EP would be released in May 2018. On 25 May 2018, Denters sang the lead single "Feeling Good" from the EP live on the Dutch TV show M. One month later Denters was lead singer in her own live show in the Melkweg in The Netherlands. Sylvia Aimee and MVTCHES were the opening acts. A second live show followed in March 2019 in 'Borderline', London.
Discography
The discography of Dutch singer Esmée Denters consists in one studio album, four singles and one extended play.
Her debut single, "Outta Here" was released in the Netherlands on 14 April 2009 and in the UK on 15 August. So far it has reached the top ten in several European countries. In April 2009, Denters confirmed on Dutch radio station Radio 538 that her debut album Outta Here would be released in the Netherlands on 22 May 2009. The album was released in the UK on 11 January 2010. The second single, "Admit It" only reached 28 in the Netherlands and 56 in the UK. On 22 March 2010, it was announced that the third single would be "Love Dealer" featuring Justin Timberlake. In the UK, she featured on Chipmunk's single "Until You Were Gone", which entered the UK Singles Chart at number 3.
Esmée started working on new songs for her second studio album in January 2011. On 11 August 2011, Denters took to her Twitter to let her fans know the album title Screaming Out Loud. "City Lights" was announced officially by K-Gee and Esmée as the first single from the second album. According to Esmée, the album wasn't released because Tennman Records weren't going to release another album with her then she became an independent artist. At the end of 2012, Dutch DJ and producer Erik Arbores and Esmee Denters collaborated for the new Dance4Life theme song called "Dance4life (Now Dance)", it was released on 23 November 2012. On 10 March 2013, Esmée announced officially on her Facebook page that she wasn't signed to Tennman Records or Interscope Records anymore and that she hadn't been for over a year, but was currently working on a new album on her own. In April 2013 she released the EP From Holland to Hillside. Esmée has auditioned for series 4 of The Voice UK and is due to appear on the show on 24 January 2015. In the autumn of 2017 Denters released a second EP called 'These Days'.
Albums
Year | Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NL | BEL(Vl) | UK | ||||||||||||||
2009 | "Outta Here" |
| 5 | 55 | 48 | |||||||||||
"—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
EP'S
Year | Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NL | BEL(Vl) | UK | ||||||||||||||
2013 | "From Holland To Hillside" |
| — | — | — | |||||||||||
2017 | "These Days" |
| — | — | — | |||||||||||
2018 | "These Days, Pt 2" |
| — | — | — | |||||||||||
"—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Singles: As lead artist
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NL40 | NL100 | BEL(Vl) | BEL(Wa) | BU | IRE | NZ | UK | US Dance | ||||||||
2007 | "Crazy Place" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||
2009 | "Outta Here" (incl. acoustic-version) | 3 | 2 | 26 | 53 | — | 18 | 12 | 7 | 9 |
| Outta Here | ||||
"Admit It" | 28 | 53 | — | — | — | — | — | 56 | — | |||||||
2010 | "Love Dealer" (featuring Justin Timberlake) | 12 | 32 | 53 | — | 39 | — | — | 68 | 9 | ||||||
2012 | "It's Summer (Cause We Say So)" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||
2013 | "Mirrors" (featuring The New Velvet) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
2014 | "If I Could I Would" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
2017 | "Get Home" (Esmee Denters & Shaun Reynolds) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Motivation" (Esmee Denters & Shaun Reynolds) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | These Days | ||||||
2018 | "Feeling Good" (incl. acoustic-version) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | These Days, Pt. 2 | |||||
2019 | "Moonchild" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Singles: As featured artist
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NL40 | NL100 | AUS | BEL(Vl) | BU | GER | AUT | SWI | IRE | UK | ||||||||
2008 | "Follow My Lead (Live)" (Justin Timberlake featuring Esmée Denters) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||
2010 | "Until You Were Gone" (Chipmunk featuring Esmée Denters) | — | — | 41 | — | 4 | — | — | — | 24 | 3 |
| I Am Chipmunk | ||||
"Life Without You" (Stanfour featuring Esmée Denters) | — | — | — | — | — | 25 | 49 | 58 | — | — | Rise and Fall | ||||||
2012 | "Dance 4 Life" (Erik Arbores featuring Esmée Denters) | 59 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||
2013 | "Hey Lady" (The New Velvet featuring Esmée Denters) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Koningslied" (Various Artists featuring Esmée Denters) | 2 | 1 | — | 41 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
2015 | "Lean On" (Symphony31 featuring Esmée Denters) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
2016 | "Treat You Better / Controlla / Let Me Love You (Mash-Up)" (Shaun Reynolds featuring Esmée Denters) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Make Me Cry" (Shaun Reynolds featuring Esmée Denters) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
2017 | "I Got You" (Shaun Reynolds featuring Esmée Denters) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Get Home (Black Prez Version)" (Black Prez featuring Shaun Reynolds & Esmee Denters) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
2018 | "Sunflower (Remix)" (Shaun Reynolds featuring Esmée Denters) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
2019 | "Saturday Nights (Remix)" (Shaun Reynolds featuring Esmée Denters) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
2020 | "Yummie (Remix)" (Shaun Reynolds featuring Esmée Denters) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Awards
Year | Region | Award | Category | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | Netherlands | TMF Awards | Best Female Artist | Won |
TMF Superchart Award | Won | |||
Belgium | Best International Artist | Nominated | ||
Europe | MTV Europe Music Awards | Best Dutch & Belgian Act | Won | |
Best European Act | Nominated | |||
2010 | EBBA | Most Successful Artist (outside own country) | Won | |
Netherlands | TMF Awards | Best Female Artist | Won | |
Best Video "Admit It" | Nominated | |||
United Kingdom | Urban Music Awards | Best Collaboration "Until You Were Gone" | Nominated |
Tours
2007
- Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveShow (opening act, Europe)
2009
- Enrique Iglesias – Greatest Hits tour (opening act, Europe)
- Ne-Yo – Year of the Gentleman tour (opening act, Europe)
- Honor Society – Fashionably Late tour (opening act, United States/Canada)
- N-Dubz Christmas Party (opening act, UK)
2010
- Stanfour – Rise & Fall tour (special guest, Germany)