Caro Emerald

In May 2007 Caro Emerald (Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw) got a phone call from Dutch producers Jan van Wieringen and David Schreurs. They'd written a song with Canadian songwriter Vincent Degiorgio. Their demo singer wasn't available, and that's why Caro got the opportunity to record the demo for Back It Up.

A year later, Caro performed the song on a local TV station. It caught fire right away: viewers just wouldn't stop calling, e-mailing and commenting about that lovely girl with her catchy song. A low-budget video on YouTube created a similar effect. Suddenly, viewers wanted to know where they could buy the song. But, with only one song on the repertoire David, Vince, Jan and Caro started working on an album first. Inspired by films and music from the 40's and 50's, the result was an exciting, hugely accessible collection of 12 original songs. The album features ballroom jazz, cinematic tangos, groovin' jazz tracks and infectious mambos that sound like they were recorded in the golden age in Hollywood's most celebrated recording studios. But the smoking beats, catchy songs and inventive production mark Caro out as a present-day phenomenon.

Such a distinctive style required its own label approach. Adding Vince's A&R background to the mix, Schreurs and van Wieringen set up Grandmono Records to release Back It Up in Holland on July 6 2009. It became an overnight success. Follow-up A Night Like This went on to reach #1 in the Dutch single charts in January 2010. That same week, Grandmono Records released Caro's much anticipated debut album Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor. It entered at #1 in the album charts and reached platinum status within 6 weeks. Overall, the album has spent 30 weeks at #1, breaking a Dutch record set by Michael Jackson's Thriller and selling a stunning 260.000 copies within the year (5x platinum).

Caro and her team received numerous awards, including the prestigious Dutch Edison Award for Best Female, an MTV EMA award for Best Dutch and Belgian Act (European Act nominee), an EBBA award, a Buma Silver Harp for Best New Artist and Best Song, the Pop Prize (Buma Cultuur) and many other significant prizes.

Almost immediately following the release of Back It Up, Caro was the subject of attention from many record labels outside of Holland. So far, the album has been released in Belgium and Luxemburg (Grandmono), France, Switzerland, Portugal, Greece (Sony Music Entertainment), Scandinavia (Cosmos), Italy (Time Records), Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe and Russia (Universal Music Germany), the UK and Ireland (Dramatico), Australia and New Zealand (Dramatico) and South Africa (Just Music).

Audiences all over the continent have been falling for Caro's sepia-tinged melodic take on life. Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor and its various singles have been topping airplay charts all over Europe, while in the UK, Caro has been embraced by radio. BBC Radio 2 made Riviera Life and Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor Single and Album of The Week respectively. In Poland, the album is already double platinum.

caroemerald.com