Amanda Somerville

Last updated
Amanda Somerville
Koln ESC Unser Lied fuer Stockholm Avantasia (3x4 cropped).jpg
Somerville performing with Avantasia in 2016
Background information
Birth nameAmanda Somerville-Scharf
Born (1979-03-07) March 7, 1979 (age 45)
Genres
OccupationSinger-songwriter
Instrument(s)Vocals, piano
Years active1997–present
Website amandasomerville.com

Amanda Somerville (born March 7, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and vocal coach who resides in Wolfsburg, Germany. She is known primarily for her work with many European symphonic metal bands.

Contents

Biography

Personal life

Somerville was raised in Flushing, Michigan. [1] She attended Flushing Senior High School, original graduating class of 1997, [1] however graduating a full year early in 1996 and winning a scholarship for graduating with high honors to the University of Michigan–Flint, where she majored in psychology. [2] Somerville moved to Wolfsburg, Germany in 1999, where she resided for several years, working mainly in Germany and the Netherlands. [3]

On August 19, 2013, she announced that she was engaged to be married to After Forever's former guitarist Sander Gommans, [4] and the pair were married on July 26, 2014. [5] On January 8, 2015, she announced that she and Gommans were expecting their first child. [6] On July 17, 2015, their daughter, Lana Elise Gommans, was born. In 2018, their identical twin daughters Anya and Juliet were born.

Music career

Somerville has written and recorded with bands such as After Forever, Edguy, Kamelot, Epica, Avantasia, and Docker's Guild, and has produced two solo albums. [7] Her solo releases to date are primarily soft and elegant pop rock with some hard rock, folk and soul music influences. Somerville herself wrote and contributed instrumentally to all of the songs on her solo albums, with only one exception, "Out" from the album Windows (written by Sascha Paeth).

She collaborated with several of these metal bands alongside producers Sascha Paeth and Michael Rodenberg, which led her to collaborate with multi-instrumentalist Robert Hunecke-Rizzo, co-writing the rock opera Aina . Later she made a similar collaboration with guitarist Sander Gommans (After Forever), providing vocals and lyrical concept for the project HDK. [3] In 2008, she toured America with Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, while regular vocalist Simone Simons recovered from a staph infection. [1]

Kiske/Somerville

Somerville performing with Michael Kiske in 2013 Kiske & Somerville LIVE.jpg
Somerville performing with Michael Kiske in 2013

In 2010, she collaborated with Michael Kiske (Helloween singer) on a musical project entitled Kiske/Somerville. The band is a melodic metal act put together by Frontiers Records, a similar project as Allen/Lande. Songwriting and producing was done by Primal Fear bassist Mat Sinner with collaboration by guitarist Magnus Karlsson (Allen/Lande, also from Primal Fear), Sander Gommans, Jimmy Kresic and Somerville herself. Their first single, "Silence", was released on August 20. Their self-titled album was released on 24 September 2010 by Frontiers Records, after the single accompanied by a music video for "Silence". A music video was also made for the song "If I Had One Wish." Somerville contributed creatively to the album by writing three of its songs: "A Thousand Suns," "Arise" and "Set Afire," all co-written with Sander Gommans.

Avantasia

Somerville was also one of the live guest vocalists for Tobias Sammet's metal opera Avantasia world tours in 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2016. Her role onstage included singing backing vocals during the whole setlist and performing lead vocals for the songs "Farewell," "The Wicked Symphony," "Lost in Space" and "Sign of the Cross." [8] She parted ways with Avantasia in 2019, citing personal reasons. [9]

Trillium

In 2011, Somerville finally released her first heavy metal-oriented project, called Trillium, the album entitled Alloy, with the record company Frontiers Records. The project has contributions by Sascha Paeth, Michael Rodenberg, Sander Gommans and a guest appearance of Jørn Lande on a duet vocal track with Somerville. [10]

Trillium live band members

  • Amanda Somerville - vocals (2011–present)
  • Paul Owsinski - guitar (2011–present)
  • Marc Burnash - bass, vocals (2011–present)
  • Simon Oberender (†) - keyboard (2011–2012)
  • Philip Krause - drums (2011–2012)
  • Tom Pluijmaekers - drums (2013)

In 2018, the name of the project was updated to "Amanda Somerville's Trillium" and the 2nd album was released, entitled Tectonic. A video was filmed and released for the song "Time To Shine" and lyric videos were released for the tracks "Shards" and "Full Speed Ahead."

Docker's Guild

Somerville was featured on Douglas R. Docker's space metal opera Docker's Guild. In 2012, she appeared on the song "Black Swan", a duet with Göran Edman on the debut album The Mystic Technocracy - Season 1: The Age of Ignorance. In 2016, she was featured again in the "Flash Gordon Suite", from Queen's soundtrack of the same name, on the album The Heisenberg Diaries - Book A: Sounds of Future past. [11]

New HDK, Kiske/Somerville albums and beyond

In 2014, a new HDK album called Serenades of the Netherworld was released, featuring Somerville and Geert Kroes on vocals, and once again produced and composed by Sander Gommans. This was also the year Somerville and Gommans were married. Somerville was also part of a metal opera project from the Middle East, produced by Lebanese guitarist Amadeus Awad, with an album called The Book of Gates. She played the part of the Queen of the Nile. [12]

In 2015, the second Kiske/Somerville album, entitled City of Heroes , was announced and released, once again featuring bassist Mat Sinner as producer and in a songwriting partnership with guitarist Magnus Karlsson, who was also in charge of the keyboards, while Veronika Lukesova was the drummer. The song "Breaking Neptune" was written by Somerville and Gommans, and two music videos were filmed for the songs "City of Heroes" and "Walk on Water". [13]

Exit Eden

In 2017, another new project was announced. Called Exit Eden, it features Somerville and three other female singers from the rock/metal scene: Clémentine Delauney (Visions of Atlantis, Serenity, Melted Space, Kai Hansen & Friends), Marina La Torraca (who replaced Somerville in a few festival shows of the Avantasia 2016 world tour) and newcomer Anna Brunner. The band was conceived with the plan "to show the world that almost every classic song can be transformed into a solid Metal-Rock song", a concept similar to Finland's Northern Kings. The tracklist of their debut album, Rhapsodies In Black , features some pop hits such as Madonna's "Frozen", Adele's "Skyfall" and Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi". The album was released on August 4, 2017 via Napalm Records worldwide and via Starwatch in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. [14] Simone Simons (Epica) appears on two tracks of the album.

Discography

Solo

Aina

HDK

Kiske/Somerville

Trillium

Exit Eden

Collaborations

Somerville's contributions include vocals, coaching, production, engineering and choir conductor:

YearSong(s)ArtistAlbum
2007"Lost in Space" & "The Story Ain't Over" Avantasia Lost in Space (Part I)
"Lost in Space" & "Lost in Space (Alive at Gatestudio)" Lost in Space (Part II)
"Ghost Opera", "Love You to Death", "Mourning Star" & "Season's End" Kamelot Ghost Opera
2008"What Kind of Love" & "Lost in Space"Avantasia The Scarecrow
2010"Femme Fatale" & "Black Rose, Pt.II" Sebastien Tears of White Roses
"The Zodiac"Kamelot Poetry for the Poisoned
2011"Changing Fate" Serenity Death & Legacy
"Farewell" & "Sign of the Cross/The Seven Angels (Medley) / All songs (backing vocals)"Avantasia The Flying Opera
"Into Shadow"DesDemonThrough the Gates
"Symphony of Aggression" MaYaN Quarterpast
"The Hunger", "Secrets", "Smoke and Mirrors" & "The Infinite Overture Pt. I" Infinity Overture The Infinite Overture Pt. I
"Blood Red Rose"The BoyscoutBlood Red Rose – A Rock Fantasy
2012"To Crawl or to Fly" & "Whispers Inside You"Soulspell Metal OperaHollow's Gathering
"Send My Message Home"PelleKBag of Tricks
"Black Swans"Docker's GuildThe Mystic Technocracy - Season 1: The Age of Ignorance
2013"Time Bomb"Siber SkyTime Bomb
"Cold Winter"WolfpakkCry Wolf
2014All songs (as The Queen of the Nile)Amadeus Awad's EONThe Book of Gates
"King of the Elves" Elvenking Pagan Manifesto
"End Of All Days" Mob Rules Timekeeper: 20th Anniversary Box
2015"What Are You Waiting For" Aeverium Breakout
2016All songsMagni Animi ViriHeroes Temporis (World Edition)
"Codex Atlanticus" & "The Perfect Woman" Serenity Codex Atlanticus
"Flash Gordon Suite"Docker's GuildThe Heisenberg Diaries - Book A: Sounds of Future Past
All songs (backing vocals)Avantasia Ghostlights (The Digibook edition bonus disc – Avantasia Live)
2020"Daniel's funeral", "Henry's plot", "Message from beyond", "She's innocent", "Lavinia's confession" & "Your story is over!" (character Lavinia) Ayreon Transitus
"Tears of the Earth"Crimson CryPlaying Gods
2022"Urbs Aeterna", "Pornocracy (Saeculum Obscurum)" & "The Head" (from the "into the Dahr Cages" suite, character The Narrator)Docker's GuildThe Mystic Technocracy - Season 2: The Age of Entropy
2023"Tears of Blood"AngraCycles of Pain

Coaching, production, engineering and choir conductor

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">After Forever</span> Dutch metal band

After Forever is a Dutch symphonic metal band with strong progressive metal influences. The band relied on the use of both soprano vocals and death growls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avantasia</span> German heavy metal supergroup

Avantasia is a German supergroup metal opera project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist of the band Edguy. It has been characterized as a rock opera, as it features the contributions of various vocalists and musicians and it consists of concept albums. The name is a blend of the words Avalon and fantasia ('fantasy') and describes "a world beyond human imagination".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Kiske</span> German singer (born 1968)

Michael Kiske is a German singer who is the co-lead vocalist for the power metal band Helloween. Kiske has also released four solo albums, two albums with the hard rock band Unisonic, has participated on various metal and rock related projects such as Avantasia, Place Vendome and Kiske/Somerville, and has performed with numerous bands as a guest vocalist.

<i>Remagine</i> 2005 studio album by After Forever

Remagine is the fourth studio album released by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It was released on 8 September 2005 by Transmission Records and followed the 2004 concept album Invisible Circles. It was the band's first album with keyboardist Joost van den Broek, and their last released under Transmission Records.

<i>Invisible Circles</i> 2004 studio album by After Forever

Invisible Circles is the third studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It was released on 25 March 2004, by the small Dutch label Transmission Records. It is After Forever's first full-length album since the dismissal of guitarist and composer Mark Jansen, whose musical tastes had strongly influenced the sound of their first work Prison of Desire (2000) and their successful second offering Decipher (2001). In this work After Forever choose a new musical direction, mostly revolving around elements of progressive metal instead of the gothic and symphonic metal of previous albums. The creative process for Invisible Circles took more than a year and required the use of three recording studios in the Netherlands and Germany. A long tour to support the album brought the band to some of the most important European rock festivals and to Central and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Jansen</span> Dutch heavy metal musician

Markus Hubertus Johannes Jansen is a Dutch guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. A prominent figure in the symphonic metal subgenre, he is known for his work with the bands After Forever (1995–2002), Epica (2002–present), and MaYaN (2010–present).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sander Gommans</span> Dutch musician and songwriter (born 1978)

Sander Gommans is a Dutch musician and songwriter. He founded the symphonic metal band Apocalypse with Mark Jansen in 1995, which later changed its name to After Forever. He played guitar and performed the vocal grunting parts in the band. He managed the band and was the main writer of After Forever's music.

<i>The Divine Conspiracy</i> 2007 studio album by Epica

The Divine Conspiracy is the third studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica as well as their first concept album. It was released through Nuclear Blast in Japan on 22 August 2007, in the US on 28 August, in Europe on 7 September, and in the UK on 10 September. The concept that guides the songs is that God created many different religions for humanity to figure out and overcome them so as to discover that, in nature and essence, they were all in fact the same one. Aside from the concept of such a conspiracy, The Divine Conspiracy finalizes The Embrace That Smothers, which began in After Forever's Prison of Desire and continued in Epica's The Phantom Agony. In short, The Embrace That Smothers is a collection of 10 songs, which talks about the dangers of organized religion.

<i>The Scarecrow</i> (album) 2008 studio album by Avantasia

The Scarecrow is the third full-length album by Tobias Sammet's German metal opera project Avantasia, released on 25 January 2008 through Nuclear Blast Records. It is the first part of "The Wicked Trilogy" and it is followed by The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon. Sammet explained in a 2016 interview that he managed to have Alice Cooper after drummer Eric Singer asked him. Cooper requested to have a listen to the song first and then accepted to be part of it.

<i>System Overload</i> (album) 2009 studio album by HDK

System Overload is the first album released by Dutch After Forever guitarist Sander Gommans's side project HDK. The music of this album is heavier and more extreme than the usual style of After Forever and Gommans created HDK in order to release the album by himself. The album was released on 23 February 2009 on the Label Season of Mist. The many guest musicians involved in the making of this album produced and recorded their parts separately in various recording studios, following basic tracks provided by Gommans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HDK (band)</span>

HDK is a musical project of Dutch guitarist Sander Gommans, best known as member, vocalist and one of the main composers of the now dissolved symphonic metal band After Forever.

<i>Design Your Universe</i> 2009 studio album by Epica

Design Your Universe is the fourth studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, released on 16 October 2009. It was the first album to feature officially new band members Isaac Delahaye on guitar and Ariën van Weesenbeek on drums.

<i>Kiske/Somerville</i> (album) 2010 studio album by Kiske/Somerville

Kiske/Somerville is the debut album of the melodic rock / heavy metal duet project Kiske/Somerville. The album features the collaboration of vocalist Michael Kiske with American singer Amanda Somerville. The album was released on 24 September 2010 with cover art credited to Stanis W. Decker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiske/Somerville</span> Heavy metal music project

Kiske/Somerville is a melodic heavy metal duet project, put together in late 2009 by Frontiers Records. The project features German singer Michael Kiske collaborating with American singer Amanda Somerville.

Magnus Karlsson is a Swedish heavy metal musician, songwriter and producer. He is currently a session musician and songwriter of the band Primal Fear, as well as for other projects like his own Free Fall.

<i>Alloy</i> (Trillium album) 2011 studio album by Trillium

Alloy is the debut album by heavy metal act Trillium. It was released in 2011 by the Italian record label Frontiers Records in Europe.

<i>Serenades of the Netherworld</i> 2014 studio album by HDK

Serenades of the Netherworld is the second album released by Dutch guitarist Sander Gommans's project HDK. "Revelation" and "Return from Tomorrow" were released as single tracks, while the entire album itself entered stores on 1 September 2014.

<i>City of Heroes</i> (album) 2015 studio album by Kiske/Somerville

City of Heroes is the second studio album by the melodic rock / heavy metal duet project Kiske/Somerville. The album features the collaboration between vocalist Michael Kiske and American singer Amanda Somerville. It was released on 17 April 2015 in Europe and on 21 April 2015 in North America.

Exit Eden is a symphonic metal supergroup that performs cover versions of well-known pop and rock songs, as well as releasing original songs.

<i>Chapter One</i> (Level 10 album) 2015 studio album by Level 10

Chapter One is the first album by project Level 10 featuring Symphony X and Adrenaline Mob vocalist Russell Allen and bassist/producer Mat Sinner. It was released via Frontiers Records on January 23, 2015 with Cry No More single lyric video and it was anticipated by single Blasphemy on December 15, 2014.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Flynn, Timothy Flynn (April 10, 2008). "Flushing native Amanda Somerville fronts Dutch heavy metal band Epica while lead singer recuperates". The Flint Journal. Archived from the original on 2008-04-14. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  2. ↑ Brian Rademacher (November 2011). "Interview with Amanda Somerville". Rockeyez.com. Archived from the original on 2012-01-31. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  3. 1 2 "AMANDA SOMERVILLE Talks About After Forever Guitarist's HDK Project". Blabbermouth.Net. May 17, 2009. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  4. ↑ "Freak Show :: AMANDA SOMERVILLE - To Marry Sander Gommans Next Summer". Freakshowlb.com. 2013-08-19. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  5. ↑ "Best. Weekend. Ever. ♥ - Amanda Somerville". Facebook. 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  6. ↑ "Christmas never ends! Blitz just found... - Amanda Somerville". Facebook. 2015-01-08. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  7. ↑ Begai, Carl (April 23, 2009). "AMANDA SOMERVILLE - Windows (Hya - 2009)".
  8. ↑ Metal Traveller (December 4, 2010). "Avantasia live in Kaufbeuren, Germany". Metal Traveller website. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  9. ↑ "New Year, New Priorities | Amanda Somerville Official Website".
  10. ↑ Bravewords (July 1, 2011). "Frontiers Records To Release Debut Album From Vocalist AMANDA SOMERVILLE's New Metal Project TRILLIUM In Fall 2011". Bravewords website. Archived from the original on February 28, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
  11. ↑ "Docker's Guild - The Heisenberg Diaries - Book A". Docker's Guild Official Website. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "Amanda Somerville Facebook Page". Facebook . November 9, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Frontiers Music Srl | Record Label". Frontiers.it. 2016-01-07. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  14. ↑ "EXIT EDEN Announce Debut Album". MetalKaoz.com. 2017-06-16. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  15. ↑ "Newsletter from Amanda Somerville". Amanda Somerville website. Retrieved 29 May 2014.

Notes

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.