BIO

•	Born in Denmark, SIGNE (rhymes with Xena…) is a Canadian singer/song-writer, pianist, guitarist, producer and arranger currently based in the UK.

•	Delivering catchy alt & pop rock with accents of soul, SIGNE’s vocal has been compared to Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant and Dido.

•	Finalizing in five high profile Canadian and U.S. song-writing contests got her signed to Montreal based TGO Records as frontwoman of band Minervah. Several of her original songs were aired nationally on TV and commercial radio. Minervah was backed with distribution by SPG/Universal Music Canada.

•	Described as “even better live”, SIGNE has played hundreds of shows, including the CMT stage at the Calgary Stampede, and the Cavern in Liverpool.

•	SIGNE is an experienced freelance commercial session singer. Read more about her sessions here.

Total Internal Reflection - Upcoming Album

SIGNE has an impressive past in the music industry, and she is looking ahead to a promising future. Danish born, Scotland-based, but still adamantly Canadian, SIGNE is broadening her musical horizons with a foray into arranging and producing her original material.

She is also breaking new ground by collaborating with song-writers and producers in Sweden and Denmark, and some of the genres she’s writing for – including country, and dance - are well outside her usual alt-rock style.

The Present

Since arriving in Scotland in late 2009 (after a short stint in Denmark), SIGNE’s got her bearings, and things have been moving forward pretty quickly in her music career.

New Friends:

Thanks to a recent recording project, SIGNE’s already working with some impressive local talent.
When Denis Lynch isn’t touring Europe, playing packed venues as a professional drummer, he’s now working with SIGNE on both recording and live projects.

Martyn Rapley, a jaw-dropping rock/flamenco/you-name-it Glasgow guitarist, is featured on SIGNE's upcoming third single “All the Way” – and the good news is he’s keen to play on many more of her songs.

New Mixes:

As an aspiring producer, SIGNE is a big fan of Sound On Sound Magazine, particularly of the Mix Rescue section. SIGNE's been a long-time admirer of the work of Mike Senior, the mixing engineer who ‘rescues’ so many of the songs with his creative, inventive methods. SIGNE decided to contact him to find out if he could mix some songs for her independently.

“I could hear that he could give my songs exactly what they needed,” she says, “and when he offered to mix one of my songs for the magazine, I was really excited – and so grateful!”. Mike Senior not only mixed, but provided additional recording and production to SIGNE’s new single What Have You Done To Me, and he has done an outstanding job. The song is featured in Sound On Sound magazine’s July 2011 edition, and you can read it here. If you don't have a subscription, you’ll have to wait a few months before you can see the full version online. Alternatively, you can purchase SOS at magazine stores worldwide. "Thank you Mike Senior!"

Heartbeat Studios:

It was Magne Kolstad, a prolific Norwegian songwriter based in Denmark, who recommended Heartbeat Studios to Signe when she first got started in Edinburgh. She found herself instantly feeling at home with owner Dave Valentine and sound engineer Ed Logan.

“The warmth and experience of these guys makes every studio session a kind of divine musical retreat,” she says, “it’s also inspiring to hang out with the guys who were the first to work with Susan Boyle.”.

SIGNE’s gotten a number of live tracks recorded at Heartbeat to polish up her self-produced songs, and she’s been very happy with it.

In May 2011, SIGNE sent an experimental arrangement of You Spin Me Round to Ed and Dave, just to see what they thought. They responded within hours, asked for the tracks, and dedicated weeks to lifting the song to new heights with a stellar embellishment to her production.
“We knew what to do right away,” said Ed, adding that the crisp, clean final product was made up of a staggering 77 tracks.

Thanks to the generous backing of Heartbeat Studios, SIGNE is releasing her first cover song, You Spin Me Round, and while the hit remains instantly recognizable, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ve never heard a take on it like this before.

The Past

SIGNE got her start as front-woman of Calgary duo MINERVAH, a partnership with song-writer and producer Martin Cepicka, who released the album Everybody’s Naked in 2001 with TGO Records. Distributed by SPG/Universal Music, several singles from the album were aired on radio and TV all across Canada. Single Insatiable, originally penned by SIGNE, continued to air on Canadian commercial radio for seven years.

SIGNE has been a strong song-writer from the beginning. While she started composing instrumental songs on the piano at the age of ten, Sell My Soul was among the first lyrical songs she wrote, and it grabbed media and label attention for MINERVAH as it finalized in five high profile song-writing contests and was aired on CJAY 92 FM in Calgary. But her vocal is what caused A&R from BMG to write that they were "taken aback". Mike Bell, a top Canadian music editor, described SIGNE's voice as "buoyantly beautiful". She captivates live audiences with her raw talent and shy charisma.

Parting with MINERVAH and TGO Records in 2005, SIGNE found a new start with Montreal producer Arijit “Jit” Bhattacharya. She released her debut solo EP Se-na in 2006, and several singles from the album went on to receive airplay on radio stations in Montreal, Canada and New York City. The EP received several great reviews and was the Featured Album of the Month on PiK (Party in Kingston.com) for January 2007. As recently as in March 2011, one song from the EP – The Last Standing – was selected as the featured song Global TV’s Women of Vision Awards in Calgary, Canada.

RELEASES:

• Album: Total Internal Reflection, anticipated release late 2011

• Single (Cover): “You Spin Me Round”, 2011

• Single: “What Have You Done To Me”, 2011

• EP: Se-na in 2006, produced by Arijit “Jit” Bhattacharya.

• Compilation: Universal Music Canada promotion, 2001

• Album: Everybody’s Naked - Minervah 2001 (TGO Records, SPG/Universal Music Canada)

• Compilation: Shaw’s Project Discovery, 1998

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