Trijntje Oosterhuis

For years Trijntje fronted Total Touch, one of the most popular and best-selling pop groups ever in Dutch musical history. Their unique blend of pop, soul and R&B, with state-of-the-art performance, writing and production by co-founder and her older brother Tjeerd P. Oosterhuis, was something totally unheard of at the time in the Netherlands. It will perhaps come as no surprise that Trijntje and Tjeerd come from a musically endowed family. Father Huub Oosterhuis, a former priest, is the foremost church music lyricist in the Netherlands, and mother Josefien Melief is an extremely gifted and accomplished concert violinist.

Selling more than a million records over a four-year period 1996-1999 in a small country where 80.000 is already considered platinum Train-Cha could easily have stayed within the group environment and repeated that success all over again. But the draw of artistic creativity proved too strong for her. After a short hiatus, to let the countless awards and rewards sink in, she started performing more personally fulfilling soul and jazz oriented material with a host of national and international jazz and pop stars. These included Candy and Hans Dulfer, million-selling artists Marco Borsato, Lionel Richie, Andrea Bocelli, Ronan Keating, and many, many more. Without exception, each of them was hugely surprised at her showmanship, and they complimented her on her amazing vocal abilities. It also brought Trijntje back to the world-renowned North Sea Jazz festival. Total Touch had already played there twice, an extremely rare accomplishment for a pop group. This time though, she joined Herbie Hancock on stage for brilliant renditions of Summertime and The Man I Love, and received rave reviews. A Marlboro-flashbacks tour resulted in Trijntjes first ever, live solo album, selling platinum plus, and consisting solely of songs by Stevie Wonder, one of the longtime musical idols of her childhood. The following year she was back at the North Sea Jazz festival, this time for no less than three different performances, alongside Al Jarreau, with Dutch jazz-giant Michiel Borstlap 1996 Thelonius Monk Composers Award winner and as part of the super-tight, New Cool Collective big band. In 2003 she was again at the North Sea Jazz festival, almost giving her the status of resident artist. This time she performed alongside Pat Metheny and Michiel Borstlap.

We now find ourselves in a new millennium and, for Trijntje Oosterhuis, it definitely signals the start of a new era. As soon as news broke that Total Touch would not make a third album and that Trijntje would be available as a solo performer, a bidding war started amongst record labels. The winner, EMI Music has formidable international contacts, and enjoys a well-deserved and longstanding reputation of successfully developing Dutch artists. While preparing for her studio debut, Trijntje toured continuously, playing the lucrative theater circuit with her own band, and often featuring other stars, like Michiel Borstlap and Uruguayan guitarist Leonardo Amuedo. It brought her to the most prestigious theaters in the Netherlands, like Rotterdams Luxor, the world famous Amsterdam Royal Theater Carr and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

In 2002 Trijntje was invited to sing during the wedding party of the Dutch Crown Prince, Willem Alexander, and his betrothed Princess Maxima in a packed Arena-stadium including guest Nelson Mandela. It was that very same stadium home of the world famous Amsterdam Football Club Ajax that formed a pivotal starting point of her career back in 1996. It was there that she sang the opening anthem De Zee The Sea in front of 60,000 invited guests and for millions of TV-viewers during the official opening ceremony of the stadium. The Dutch people celebrate the Queens birthday Queens Day on April 30 every year with one of the biggest street festivals of Europe. It was also in 2002 that Trijntje gave a memorable Queens Day rendition of We Are The Champions with Queen, marking the ever-popular British bands first live performance for ten years. It was also aired live on national television. The year 2002 closed for her on a high note, with a beautiful Christmas Concert at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, in which she was accompanied by the amiable, living harmonica-legend Jean Toots Thielemans and the Concertgebouw Jazz Orchestra.

Trijntjes eagerly awaited solo studio-album could easily be classified as her most wonderful artistic statement to date. It clearly shows that her years of experimenting with jazz and soul have given her already superb singing voice a whole new dimension. Her flexibility, range, her mid-tones, in fact every register of her voice has grown considerably. This new record is full of glorious self-written pop and soul songs, mainly produced by James Hallawell and her brother Tjeerd, who is now considered one of the most in-demand record and film score arrangers, writers and producers in the Netherlands. The material on the album ranges from groove-driven funk tracks like Free, Lie To Me, Little Something and the mid-tempo nugget To See Your Face Again, to beautifully crafted, soulful ballads like Its You I Need, the hidden track 1,000 Days, and the monumental orchestral tour de force This Goodbye. The self-titled record was released in the spring of 2003 and, by public demand, re-released in the fall with a wonderful live DVD recorded earlier that same year. The album, which has already produced three hit-singles, has been certified gold and has been listed in the national pop charts since its release, where it entered at number two. To this day it still sells in vast quantities.

In early 2004, the inescapable quality of some of her live-recordings resulted in the release of another album. At the beginning of 2003 Trijntje was invited to tour with Dutch jazz-ensemble the Houdinis, together with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta String Orchestra. Initially, recordings were made for private use only, but the end-results were so good that plans were made to release them properly. EMI, the distributor of the legendary Blue Note jazz-label, could not have been more pleased when they obtained instant approval from Blue Note president Bruce Lundvall to release these recordings on an album under the Blue Note logo. The first half of the album contains legendary songs like All Of Me, Dont Explain and the title track Strange Fruit, immortalized by the inimitable Billie Holiday. The second half features the best known songs of George and Ira Gershwin, which will certainly be recognized and cherished by audiences of all ages, all over the world. Trijntjes effortless interpretation, vocal class and superb empathy for musical history once again underpin her unique ability. The record was officially presented to Trijntje on January 14 by vocal genius Bobby McFerrin, who duets with her on Cant Take That Away From Me, again at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. This has been the first time in years that a mainly jazz-oriented album has raced up the pop charts in the Netherlands in just a few weeks, peaking so far at number two at time of writing.

Over the years Trijntje has garnered many prestigious awards, sent her way both by the general public and by special panels. Among these awards are The Edison, The Pall Mall Export Award, several TMF awards the Dutch equivalent of an MTV-award and a Silver Harp. The latest proof of Trijntjes talent, was recently winning a second Harp, this time the Golden version. The highest possible artistic accolade for popular music in the Netherlands, the Golden Harp is usually given to an artist whose career spans several decades. Trijntje, barely in her thirties, received her first, the Silver Harp, in 97 with Total Touch as upcoming talent. She has now crowned this achievement by earning herself the even more prestigious Golden Harp. To her utmost satisfaction this award celebrates not only Trijntjes incredible singing voice, but also the fact she writes her own material, both lyrics and music, which is something she plans to focus on even more in future concerts and recordings.

In 2006 Trijntje Oosterhuis recorded an album based on her personal favorite songs of Burth Bacharach who also contributed to the album. Oosterhuis and Burth Bacharach cooperated with the famous Dutch Metropole orchestra and this unique and extraordinary combination resulted in a delightful and intimate album.