A IS FOR ANNIE
Anne Lilia Berge Strand (born 1978 in Trondheim, Norway), better known as Annie, is an artist and DJ from Bergen, Norway’s dance hub.
In the late 1990’s, she met a legendary figure on the local music scene, Tore Andreas Kroknes, who at the time was producing under the name D.J. Erot. The pair became romantically involved, moved into Annie’s mother’s apartment, and began collaborating. “I played him Madonna’s first album, a record I really love,” Annie recalls. “He sampled a bit of the song ‘Everybody,’ and began making a track from it. I started singing a melody along with it, and it sounded really good.” The resulting song, “Greatest Hit,” was recorded in a tiny studio, borrowed from Royksopp, and released in 1999 in a limited edition of 500 7-inch singles. The records sold out in two days, the song became an underground club hit in Norway and Britain, and recording contract offers came flooding in. “Suddenly, I thought, ‘Hey, maybe I will have a pop career,’ ” she says.
But Kroknes, born with a degenerative heart condition, soon became desperately ill. He was hospitalized for months, and died in April 2001, at the age of 23. “For a long time I was too depressed and exhausted to do anything,” Annie says. “But then I thought, ‘Tore would be quite upset with you if you just stopped making music.’ ”
In 2003, Annie was signed to 679 Recordings and met British producer Richard X, with whom she wrote and recorded “Chewing Gum.” Her debut album Anniemal was released in 2004. Anniemal won Best Pop Album and Annie won Best Newcomer at the Spellemannsprisen, an annual Norwegian music award ceremony.
Her second album Don’t Stop is scheduled for release in July 2008 on Island Records.
Annie – Greatest Hit (Freeform Reform Vocal)
Annie – Heartbeat (Röyksopp’s Mindre Tilgjengelige Remix)
Annie Website
Annie MySpace
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