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Her dark voice and her passion are what makes her music different from all the rest. Her radical emotionalism and the abyss-deep soul that she brings to her songs seem to turn her innermost self inside out. She is 24 years old, but you perceive that she has already lived a whole life: KOVACS!
Sharon Kovacs was already singing when she could hardly speak, but this Dutch singer first seriously discovered the magic of music when she entered her turbulent years as a teenager. Then she began to play in school bands and participate in talent shows, but didn't make any progress because she just couldn’t find the right people to nurture her talent. That finally changed when she left high school and took part in open mic evenings in the bars she worked at as a waitress. The audiences were instantly enthusiastic and one day someone advised her to take part in an audition at the Rock City Institute, a music school in Kovacs' hometown Eindhoven. There she sang two songs so convincingly that she was immediately accepted.
Kovacs' dark, soulful voice made a deep impression, but her training turned out to be a challenge for all involved. "Some of my vocal teachers simply didn't know what to do with me," she laughs. "Once they even advised me to leave and look for something else to do. According to their standards I applied my voice in a very wrong way. But that's how I am: I can't sing any other way."
Kovacs continued to work on her talent, collected her own experiences and wrote songs. On a decisive point in her musical career she succeeded in getting in contact with the producer Oscar Holleman (e.g. Within Temptation) via Facebook and sent him a link to her music. "Normally I wouldn't listen to stuff like this", admits the former Heavy Metal guitarist and experienced Rock producer. "But I happened to just be sitting around and was bored. And as soon as I heard the first words I was hooked. It almost sounded too good, so I contacted Sharon and asked her who was really singing. 'That's me', she answered and when I met her she looked completely different than I had imagined. Although her voice sounds unbelievably black, a white girl with a shaved head showed up. I was totally fascinated and so we began to collaborate." In addition to their sessions in the Netherlands, Kovacs travelled a lot and met songwriters in the different countries with whom she wrote songs.
The result: Kovacs' debut EP "My Love", with which she advanced from being an insider tip to one of the most exciting newcomer artists in 2014. The four songs included make a lasting impression, because on songs like the single "My Love" or "When The Lady's Hurt" and "He Talks That Shit" her personal approach becomes perfectly clear. "It has to be a little edgy to fit me. I take no prisoners and some things that I sing are certainly dirty, but always honest. That's what I am. I make music because I have to. It's the only way that I can express my feelings. That makes my music pure and genuine."
By the way, the key song with which everything began is the fourth song on the EP, "I've Seen That Face Before", that became famous by Grace Jones. This was the song that Kovacs sent to Oscar first and that she then recorded with local musicians in the Egrem Studios in Havanna, Cuba. And now Oscar and Kovacs are together putting the final touches on her debut album.
Her raw style and her dark voice lead to comparisons with Portishead or Amy Winehouse. "This gloomy sound results from my voice and the arrangements, but also from the fact that we compose everything in a minor key. I like these fluctuations of moods, my music has soul." Not surprising since her influences are mainly from the past. "I listen to lots of Billie Holiday, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Dinah Washington…Tina Turner and Janis Joplin are also favourites of mine. Female singers with a personality, who really lived or live. All of their emotions can be heard in their voices, that always attracted me."
Upon release Kovacs’ debut EP leaped straight into the Top 10 of the Dutch charts, she performed at aftershow parties of One Republic and Pearl Jam and already appeared this summer in the big Dutch festivals Bospop and North Sea Jazz Festival. The Dutch radio station 3FM nominated her as „Serious Talent“ and featured her single ‚My Love’ as „Megahit“. Her live debut in Germany took place at the influential Berlin Fashion Film Festival, and her next appearance is scheduled for the Reeperbahn Festival.
Kovacs is now poised to begin her biggest adventure and she can hardly wait: "I want to be in a position to always make music," she describes her ambitions. "I have a very complex personality, but as long as my environment is as dynamic as it is now, I'll stay stable. I need a goal and I have found it. I want to travel the whole world." It looks like she is getting close - and that is more than justified.