Melanie De Biasio

The word "chanteuse" is often bandied about. De Biasio is probably the textbook definition: dark, sensual, jazzy. Steeped in the heritage of jazz singers, her first album "A Stomach is Burning" is a moody, sparse jazz poem in shades of blue. De Biasio did not wait long to start learning to express herself differently. At the age of 3, she started classical dance lessons. At the age of 8, she encountered the transverse flute, the beginning of her love of music. This is also when she discovered the thrill of playing in a group, the Ensemble de l'Harmonie de Charleroi, a Belgian brass band that toured Canada. From then on, Mélanie started perfecting her voice, through diction and declamation lessons from the age of 12. She spent her teenage years with various groups, discovering different facets of music. It’s with a small rock group that she first started singing and composing. In 1997, she appeared with the Harmadik Fül trio, her entrance into jazz. She discovered the old standards and their history, but also collective improvisation. At the same time, she took singing lessons at the Brussels Royal Conservatory, where she met Steve Houben, one of Belgium’s key jazzmen. After 3 years, she was awarded the first prize in singing with distinction. A long tour of Russia followed with the Orange Kazoo collective. This turned out to be such an intense musical and human adventure that she came out of it even more determined. Steve, touched by her new maturity, offered her several possibilities to work together, including 20 dates that included some of the best festivals and the biggest halls and clubs in Belgium. They also played at the Universal Exhibition in Aichi, Japan. All these experiences pushed her to develop a very personal outlook on music, while exploring the heritage of her predecessors with pianist Pascal Mohy. Mélanie also played regularly with other noted Belgian musicians such as the double bassists Sal La Rocca, Bas Cooymans and Philippe Aerts; the drummers Jan De Haas, Bruno Castellucci and Mimi Verderame; and pianists such as Charles Loos, Michel Herr and Pascal Paulus. In 2006, she was nominated for a Django d’Or award as a “Young Talent”. Her first album, “A Stomach is Burning”, recorded live in studio in 2006, proves that Mélanie De Biasio was right to learn to express herself differently. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.