Selah Sue

Leuven, Flanders, Belgium

Selah Sue (born Sanne Greet A. Putseys, 3 May 1989) is a Belgian musician and songwriter. Her debut album, Selah Sue (2011), was a major success, selling over 720,000 copies in Europe, 320,000 in France alone. In 2011, she had chart success with the hit singles "Raggamuffin", "Crazy Vibes" and "This World". In 2011, Selah Sue won a European Border Breakers Award (EBBA). In January 2012 during the EBBA award ceremony she was presented with the EBBA Public Choice Award.

On 28 August 2012, her debut album was also released in the United States, where the album received positive reviews. More than 400,000 downloads were counted in one week. Rolling Stone magazine named Selah Sue as one of the new faces of 2012.

Sanne Putseys was born in Leefdaal (province of Vlaams-Brabant), near the provincial capital Leuven. At age fifteen she learned to play the acoustic guitar and started to write her own songs as well. When she was seventeen a Belgian producer asked her to sing some demos of his songs, after which Universal offered her a contract. She refused, because she wanted to sing her own songs. At the same time she performed as the youngest and only female artist at the open-song contest Open Mic-avond at Het Depot in Leuven. Organizer and singer Milow (born Jonathan Vandenbroeck) had noticed her talents and asked her to perform in his supporting programme. Initially, Putseys managed to work out her musical career path while studying psychology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. According to her, studying psychology helped her to understand more about human emotions, which also is something that she has to deal with in her musical activities. Eventually, she continued doing warm-up performances in collaboration with artists such as Jamie Lidell in London and Paris. Furthermore, she played with the Belgian band Novastar at the Paradiso in Amsterdam.

Selah Sue often covers songs of Erykah Badu and The Zutons, but she has assembled a whole range of her own songs. Two of her well-known songs are "Mommy" and "Black Part Love", both of which are carried out acoustically. She says that she is influenced by artists such as Lauryn Hill, M.I.A., Erykah Badu., Nneka, Meshel Ndegeocello, The Fugees.

Sue's first EP was released in January 2009, under the title Black Part Love. From September 2008 until August 2009, Selah Sue received some curricular guidance from the Belgian musical theater, Ancienne Belgique. The programme, in which she was involved, has been set up to support promising artists who aren't associated with any record company or other kinds of managing assistance. In 2009, Selah Sue attended the stages of the North Sea Jazz Festival and Lowlands. Additionally, she regularly appears on TV shows such as De Wereld Draait Door on Dutch television and several other Flemish TV shows. ...

Source: Article "Selah Sue" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.