Dutch singer-songwriter and harpist
Musical artist
Iris Kroes
(born 11 November 1992 in
Drachten
) is a
Dutch
singer-songwriter and harpist (She was called
Harpmeisje
(Dutch for
Harp Girl
)). She was the winner of the
second season
of the television program
The Voice of Holland
on January 20, 2012,
[1]
making her the second female contestant worldwide to win the show after Steliyana Khristova, who won the Bulgarian version of the show.
Early years
[
edit
]
Iris Kroes was born in a musical family. Her mother was a flute player, while her sister played clarinet and sang, and her father was an ongoing music encyclopedia. Under family influence, Iris began to learn harp while she was nine and immediately fell in love in harp playing.
[2]
Prior to her participation of
The Voice of Holland
, she had played harp for more than ten years and sang in a Drachten-based rock duo band with Pieter Veenstra, many times singing while playing the harp simultaneously. Meanwhile, she continued studying between 2005 and 2010 at the Drachtster Lyceum obtaining her high school diploma and following with a Communications Bachelor. In May 2009 she sang a big band.
In
The Voice of Holland
(2011-2012)
[
edit
]
Iris Kroes' entry of
The Voice of Holland
started from her Blind Audition at September 30, 2011 where she sang
Someone Like You
by
Adele
accompanied herself on harp. All of 4 Judges in this Blind Audition (
Marco Borsato
,
Angela Groothuizen
,
Nick & Simon
and
Van Velzen
) pressed "I WANT YOU" button and turned their chairs around within first 15 seconds of her performance
[3]
[4]
Kroes chose Borsato as her coach.
Kroes was a favourite from the beginning. Many of her renditions during the show became chart entries in the
Dutch
Single Top 100
, like "
Foolish Games
" (#76), "
Listen to Your Heart
" (#83), "
When Love Takes Over
" (#100). Her rendition of
Metallica
's "
Nothing Else Matters
reached #16 on Single Top 100.
Her winning song and official debut single was
Bonnie Raitt
's "
I Can't Make You Love Me
" that entered the official
Dutch Top 40
at #6, in its first week of release, also making it to #3 of the Single Top 100.
Career After Winning
The Voice of Holland
(2011-2012)
[
edit
]
After winning
The Voice of Holland
(2011-2012), Kroes was awarded with Special Award of
Dutch Harp Festival
at March 27, 2012 by its Artistic Director
Remy van Kesteren
in recognition of her achievement with the harp, especially her explorations outside the typical cadre of harp playing,
[5]
[6]
and she was the performance and prize presenting guest on the Second Dutch Harp Competition 2012 (Final) in April 1, 2012, with the prize given to the winner Amandine Carbuccia (France).
[7]
Kroes was also on tour with her former coach Marco Borsato, which she performed at the Ziggo Dome include twice in 2012. Marco had even offer a surprise present to Kroes on his first of the four concerts of the concert series 'Close On Tour' at
Groningen
- A brand new harp from
Salvi Harps
as "a token of my confidence in her great talent".
[8]
Kroes' first album
First
was released on August 24, 2012 with her collections of covered song on
The Voice of Holland
(2011-2012) of
Adele
,
Michael Jackson
and
Metallica
and others, and two of her originals (
New Song
and another one).In these songs, the guitar and bass parts were converted to harp.
[2]
The album reached the fourth position in the album chart, where it lasted six weeks.
In early 2013, Kroes gave the First
Frisian
single
Thus
(
Homeland
) in recognition of her Frisian roots.
[9]
At the opening of the Fries Museum in September 2013 Kroes sang for
Queen Beatrix
a song that was written especially for the opening. Since 2013, Kroes was being invited with cruise line
Holland America Line
as a Guest Entertainer, including voyage season of Year 2014 & 2015.
On
15 January 2014
, Kroes' new single
Never Coming Back
was released with supported by its Theatre Program
Thus
, with her vocals and harp and a string ensemble from the North Pole Orchestra. From the song
Never Coming Back
a video is recorded in the area of
Valletta
,
Malta
, together with
Leeuwarden
for
Capital of Culture 2018
, with the video taking was funded and supported by Malta Tourism Authority.
[10]
Never Coming Back
was included on her second self-released EP
It Will Come In Time
, released on March 7, 2014, together with the songs
It Will Come In Time
,
The Suit
and
Of Roses
, in which the latter song she had performed with Surimane-Dutch dancer
Sedrig Verwoert
[
nl
]
with support by
ABN-AMRO
on the talent experiment
De Uitwisseling
(
The Exchange
) at August 2014.
Kroes was commissioned in November 2013 by Dutch movie director
Steven de Jong
[
nl
]
to write and perform the theme song
Look Up Lizzy
on his directed movie
Stuk!
[
nl
]
(English name: Eyecatcher) which was launched in cinemas on both Netherlands and USA on June 11, 2014. She had premiered this song on the Film Premiere at May 22, 2014.
[11]
On 23 July 2014 Kroes played and sang the song
I still cry
, originally written by Julie Miller and performed by Ilse de Lange, during the national memorial service
Verbonden in Verdriet
(
Connected in Sorrow
) in the Sint Joriskerk in Amersfoort for
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Air Disaster with her performance reported worldwide through CNN.
[12]
This song is now available on free download in her official site.
[13]
By this song, she had become the voice of a globally mourning for
MH17
.
In her statement to the Global AIDS community, she wrote:
[14]
We can all do nothing against a terrible tragedy, we are powerless and sad.
It’s unbelievable that so much innocent families, doctors and children are victim of this plane crash.
People who were willing to help this world to do research for AIDS organizations, have come tragically to the end of their life.
It’s a terrible loss for the whole AIDS community, my condolences.
On June 27, 2015, Iris released her first song in Dutch language,
Bijna Met Jou
(English: Almost With You) for the project 'Fietsliedjes' from provence Drenthe for showing why they are the number one bicycle province of the Netherlands.
[15]
Kroes will launch her new series of Theatre Tour
Irisistible
in the whole Netherlands at January to April 2016.
Discography
[
edit
]
Albums
[
edit
]
Year
|
Title
|
Chart positions
|
NL
[16]
|
2012
|
First
|
4
|
2014
|
It Will Come In Time
|
|
Singles
[
edit
]
Year
|
Title
|
Chart positions
|
NL 40
[17]
|
NL 100
[18]
|
2011
|
Foolish games
|
-
|
76
|
2012
|
Listen to your heart
|
-
|
83
|
When love takes over
|
-
|
100
|
Nothing else matters
|
-
|
16
|
I can't make you love me
|
6
|
3
|
Just more
|
57
|
35
|
2013
|
Thus
|
|
|
2014
|
Never Coming Back
|
|
|
Look Up Lizzy (Theme song of movie
[[[Stuk!]]
[
nl
]
)
|
|
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
AD.nl: 'Harpenmeisje' Iris Kroes wint The Voice of Holland nipt
(in Dutch)
- ^
a
b
Iris Kroes bracht klassiek instrument naar popmuziek
Archived
2013-06-13 at the
Wayback Machine
(in Dutch)
- ^
The voice of Holland: Iris Kroes - Someone Like You
, RTL Netherlands, 2011
- ^
Iris Kroes - Someone Like You (The Blind Auditions | The voice of Holland 2011)
- ^
Iris Kroes Receives DHF Award on GIEL! 3FM
[
permanent dead link
]
, March 27, 2012
- ^
Iris Kroes en Remy van Kesteren op de harp
, Nederlandse Publieke Omroep, Mar 27 2012
- ^
Competition Watch: Dutch Harp Competition
, April 1, 2012
- ^
Italiaanse Harp voor Iris van haar coach!
, Marco Borsato Official Site, June 11, 2012 (in Dutch)
- ^
Iris Kroes - Thus (Official Video)
- ^
Iris Kroes - Never Coming Back (officiele videoclip)
- ^
Iris Kroes - Stuk
- ^
For the Dutch, a day of Morning
, CNN
- ^
I Still Cry
, Iris Kroes Official Site
- ^
The Voice of Comfort to Grieving HIV Community After MH17
- ^
Iris Kroes maakt fietsliedje voor Drentse campagne ‘Op Fietse’ (in Dutch)
- ^
"Dutch Charts > Rumer"
. dutchcharts.nl/.
- ^
"Dutch Top 40"
. Radio538.nl. Archived from
the original
on 2009-02-28
. Retrieved
2014-01-22
.
- ^
Steffen Hung (2014-01-18).
"Dutch Mega Single Top 100"
. Dutchcharts.nl
. Retrieved
2014-01-22
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Series
| |
---|
Winners
| |
---|
Notable contestants
| |
---|
Related articles
| |
---|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Artists
| |
---|