Jane Comerford | |
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 Jane Comerford, lead singer of Texas Lightning | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1 January 1959 |
| Origin | Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia |
| Genres | Pop, country |
| Website | JaneComerford.de TexasLightning.net |
Jane Comerford (born 1 January 1959) is an Australian singer, songwriter, lecturer, and vocal coach working in Germany.
She has jazz dance training in Los Angeles. Further, she went on to study singing in Hamburg, Vienna and Amsterdam, [1] as well as learned to play ukulele.
In 1983 she released a Hi NRG cover version of "In the Year 2525" [2] under the pseudonym "Jane Rossi".
In 1998 she released her debut album Somebody Sent Me an Angel with a collection of her own songs under the Polydor (Universal Music) label. Apart from live performances, Jane is also an accomplished studio singer, songwriter and producer, running her own recording studio. [1] Jane also performed for a short while as part of the new line up of the Spanish duo Baccara, who had originally enjoyed success across the world with their hit “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie.”
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In 2005, Jane joined Texas Lightning, a Hamburg-based German country music-inspired band as lead singer. They released the single Like a Virgin (cover of Madonna's song), as well as an album called Meanwhile, Back at The Ranch , consisting mainly of country-flavoured covers of popular rock and pop hits.
In 2006, Texas Lightning, along with Vicky Leandros and Thomas Anders, was nominated by the German public broadcaster NDR to enter the Vorentscheid 2006 (German preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, which actually took place in Hamburg). Their entry was a typical country song No no never, written and composed by Jane Comerford. It came as a clear favourite with the viewers during the voting, and consequently Texas Lightning went on to represent Germany in the ESC. As Germany is one of the four biggest contributors to the EBU (organiser of the contest), their entries go straight to the final. On the final night, Texas Lightning came 14th, with 36 points, but the song had already reached no. 1 in the German charts.
Since 1984, Jane Comerford has been teaching the Popkurs at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. Within that education program for popular music, she teaches singing, songwriting, performance, and composition. She also provides coaching to artists and bands on an individual basis. Among her former students are Wir sind Helden, Die Happy, Cultured Pearls, Seeed, Rosenstolz, Lemonbabies, Fury in the Slaughterhouse and Cucumber Men. Other personalities she provided coaching for include Yvonne Catterfeld, Blümchen, Eva Herman, Bettina Tietjen, Katja Riemann and Uwe Ochsenknecht. [1]
Jane Comerford also worked as a singing and performance coach for the contestants in the 2003 German version of the TV show Fame Academy on RTL II. This involved daily work with them for three consecutive months.
Since June 2007 Jane has worked as a judge and coach on the sixth season of the German Popstars show.
Carola Maria Häggkvist, commonly known simply as Carola, is a Swedish pop singer and songwriter. She has been among Sweden's most popular performers since the early 1980s and has released albums ranging from pop and disco to hymns and folk music. Her debut album, Främling (1983), sold around one million copies and remains the biggest-selling album in Swedish music history. During her career, she has recorded many top-selling albums and singles and is referred to as Sweden's most prominent female singer. Some of her biggest hits are "Främling", "Tommy tycker om mig", "Fångad av en stormvind", "All the Reasons to Live", "I Believe in Love", "Genom allt", and "Evighet". Besides Swedish, she has also released records in Dutch, German, English, Norwegian and Japanese.
Kate Ryan is a Belgian singer and songwriter, and the winner of a World Music Award. She began her singing career in 2001 and later found fame with a string of dance hits. These included covers, mostly of Mylène Farmer and France Gall, such as "Désenchantée", "Libertine", and "Ella, elle l'a", and Desireless' "Voyage Voyage", as well as new material. Ryan represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with "Je t'adore" coming in 12th place in the semi-final.
Edyta Anna Górniak is a Polish pop singer. Górniak started as a musical theatre actress in 1990. She performed in the most popular musical in Polish history, the Tony Award-nominated Metro. Some of its shows took place on Broadway. Górniak was Poland's first representative in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 with the song "To nie ja". She placed second which still remains the country's best result at the competition. This started her decades-long career as a pop singer in her native country and internationally. She is also known for her 1997 single "One and One". She is the recipient of the Bronze Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis for her contributions to the arts.
Ilse Annoeska de Lange, better known as Ilse DeLange, is a Dutch country and pop rock singer-songwriter. In 1998, she gained fame with her single 'I'm Not So Tough', which later became multiple platinum in The Netherlands. Other hits were "Miracle", "So Incredible" and "The Great Escape".
"All Kinds of Everything" is a song recorded by Irish singer Dana written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith. It represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970 held in Amsterdam, resulting in the country's first ever win at the contest. The recording became an international hit.
Natalia Yuryevna Podolskaya is a Belarusian singer who performed for Russia at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest and was ranked No. 15. In 2008, she became a Russian citizen. In 2015, she won the Golden Gramophone Award.
Simone de Macedo e Oliveira, GCIH • GMC better known as Simone de Oliveira is a Portuguese singer and actress. She performed the Portuguese entries at the 1965 and 1969 editions of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Elena Risteska, sometimes known as simply Elena, is a Macedonian singer. She represented Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens with the song "Ninanajna", and finished in 12th place; this was the highest ever finish for the country until Risteska's record was beaten in 2019.
Texas Lightning is a German quintet from Hamburg which fits in the country music genre and describes itself as old fashioned and hip. Their music is a mix of country and pop drawing from country classic stars like Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash and Tammy Wynette and pop stars such as ABBA, Nancy Sinatra, Linda Ronstadt, Madonna, Michael Jackson and the Beatles, performed with some country humour. The band members are Olli Dittrich as Ringofire, Jon Flemming Olsen as The Flame, Markus Schmidt as Fastfinger, Uwe Frenzel as Friendly and Australian Jane Comerford. The band's first performance took place on December 23, 2000, in the music club "Knust" in Hamburg, as Texas Lightning & The Rodeo Rockets, although there have been various changes in the lineup of the band since.
Germany was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "No No Never", written by Jane Comerford, and performed by the band Texas Lightning. The German participating broadcaster on behalf of ARD, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), organised the national final Der deutsche Vorentscheid 2006 – 50 Jahre Grand Prix in order to select their entry for the contest. The national final took place on 9 March 2006 and featured three competing acts with the winner being selected through public televoting. "No No Never" performed by Texas Lightning was selected as the German entry for Athens after gaining 365,361 of votes.
Somebody Sent Me An Angel is the debut album of the Australian singer and songwriter Jane Comerford. It was first released in 1997 in Germany and re-released on 2 May 2006 after Jane Comerford and the band Texas Lightning represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006.
"Tom Pillibi" is a song recorded by French singer Jacqueline Boyer with music composed by André Popp and French lyrics written by Pierre Cour. It was released as a single on 10 April 1960. It represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 held in London, winning the contest. It was covered by several artists including Julie Andrews.
"La, la, la" is a 1968 song recorded by Spanish singer Massiel, written by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa –the members of Dúo Dinámico–. It represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 held in London, being the first song from Spain to ever win the contest.
"Vivo cantando" is a song recorded by Spanish singer Salomé with music composed by María José de Ceratto and lyrics written by Aniano Alcalde. It represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 held in Madrid, and became one of the four joint winning songs and the second song from Spain –and last to date– to win.
"No No Never" was the German entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, performed in English by Texas Lightning. While Germany had finished the 2005 contest in last place, their position as one of the Contest's "Big Four" ensured the song an automatic final berth. Thus, it was performed eighth on the night, following Malta's Fabrizio Faniello with "I Do" and preceding Denmark's Sidsel Ben Semmane with "Twist of Love". At the close of voting, it had received 36 points, placing 14th in a field of 24.
Tanja Gisela Hewer, known by the stage name Michelle, is a German schlager singer. She represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song Wer Liebe lebt, which placed eighth from 23 participating countries with 66 points. Since her debut in 1992 she has won numerous awards, including two Echo awards, two Goldene Stimmgabeln and two Amadeus Austria awards. She sold more than 6,2 Million Copies in Europe.
Germany participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Miss Kiss Kiss Bang" written by Alex Christensen and Steffen Häfelinger. The song was performed by Alex Swings Oscar Sings!, consisting of producer Alex Christensen and singer Oscar Loya. The German entry for the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia was internally selected by the German broadcaster ARD in collaboration with Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). The announcement of "Miss Kiss Kiss Bang" as the German entry occurred on 9 February 2009 and the presentation of the song occurred during the Echo Music Prize awards show on 21 February 2009.
"Long Live Love" is a song by Australian singer, songwriter, and actress Olivia Newton-John composed and written by Valerie Avon and Harold Spiro. It represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 held in Brighton.
Sandra Ann Goodrich, known by her stage name Sandie Shaw, is a retired English pop singer. One of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s, she had three UK number one singles with "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (1964), "Long Live Love" (1965) and "Puppet on a String" (1967). With the latter, she became the first British entry to win the Eurovision Song Contest. She returned to the UK Top 40, for the first time in 15 years, with her 1984 cover of the Smiths song "Hand in Glove". Shaw retired from the music industry in 2013.
Australia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Zero Gravity" written by Kate Miller-Heidke, Keir Nuttall and Julian Hamilton. The song was performed by Kate Miller-Heidke. The Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) organised the national final Eurovision - Australia Decides in order to select the Australian entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. Ten artists and songs competed in the national final and the winner was selected by a public and jury vote.
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