Picture this; an American tourist in Amsterdam gets bored with staring at the wallpaper of his hotel room and decides to take a stroll through the famous Vondelpark where a young female singer/songwriter is just finishing the last song of her ‘open-air concert’. All he hears is the last verse of the last song. Nevertheless he is very impressed and takes a recording of the young woman home. Friends and music industry professionals listen on his request to the tape and the verdict is unanimous: ‘beautiful, and an enormous potential’. The American invites Signe Tollefsen to Los Angeles to record a number of songs in Linda Perry’s studio. Two of these recordings, You, Me & the Brewers and My Old Man are included on Signe Tollefsen’ s debut album. You, Me & the Brewers features legendary violinist Jerry Goodman, famous for his work with The Flock and John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra.
When the half-American singer moved from the UK to Holland to study music at the Amsterdam Conservatory in 2004, she also started successfully performing for a constantly increasing and, as it turns out, very loyal audiences. As a support act for established artists Signe is very much in demand too. She shared the stage with amongst others Lou Rhodes (ex Lamb) Alela Diane, Ane Brun, David Sylvian, and former Pavement member Stephen Malkmus with whom she performed in Germany and Italy. Tollefsen tours regularly in the UK, the USA and Canada too.
Signe’s music has already been noticed by well-known musicians such as famous Dutch chanteuse Mathilde Santing, who recorded Sweet Tears for her latest album. In 2006 Signe Tollefsen was both the winner of the Best Musician Award and got most votes from the audience at the Grote Prijs van Nederland, Holland’s most prestigious New Talent competition for Alternative Music. Her music is often described as “Folk Noir”.
'Sounds likea recently rediscovered album by Linda Ronstadt …… an incredibly good artist. The pure vocal talent. demonstrated here is a sign of things to come …...The vast amount of people who frequent her gigs certainly chose a superb artist to follow. Signe, ladies and gentlemen, is a genius in the making and it is urged you track her down sooner rather than later ' (Maverick Magazine – UK)
'Breaking through the commercial norm Signe Tollefsen delivers pure feeling, heart and soul all rolled into one' (Folk, Blues and Beyond - UK)
'There's a whiff of Laura Marling in Signe's voice, deft lyricism and cleverly emotive arrangements...An evocative and beautiful debut - 4 stars' (Islington Gazette and other North London newspapers- UK)
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