candy dulfer : biography

Candy Dulfer was born in The Netherlands on 19 September 1969. She started playing the soprano saxophone at the age of six, with her father teaching her the groundrules. At the tender age of twelve Dulfer displayed her blossoming talent by playing a tune on her father's album. In that same period she performed with the band Upside Down at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, Holland.

In the early eighties she played with Funky Stuff, a band that would soon grow to be one of the most popular bands in the country. In 1987 Funky Stuff split up but it only took Dulfer six months to form a new band under the same name. That summer Dulfer played the warm-up act of Madonna and only a year later she played a solo in the show of His Royal Badness Prince.

Before heading to the States, Candy had recorded several tracks with Dave Stewart, best known as one of The Eurythmics. The simple and cool instrumental Lily was here is featured on the soundtrack of a Dutch feature film. When released as a single it went straight to Number One across Europe.

Lily was here broke new ground for Candy internationally. She signed with the record company BMG Ariola and released her debut album Saxuality, in May 1990, featuring 8 songs written by Candy and young and talented Funky Stuff guitar player Ulco Bed . The album was promoted by an extensive tour of The Netherlands, the rest of Europe and the States, as well as high profile appearances on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, Good Morning America and The Arsenio Hall Show. To top it all off the album was nominated for the prestigious Grammy Awards in the category Best Instrumental Pop Recording.

Saxuality ended up selling over a million copies worldwide. in

As a result of her work with Prince and Dave Stewart and her own highly successful debut album, Van Morrison asked her to join him on stage at the Pinkpop Festival. Impressed by her playing, Van The Man has used her for live performances and album recordings ever since. In June 1990 she played in front of her biggest crowd to date when she joined the legendary psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd at the renowned Knebworth Festival. Amids heavy winds and drizzly rain, the 130,000 spectators watched her perform prominent solos on the classic Floyd -tracks Shine on you crazy diamond and Money. And juxtaposed with these high profile gigs with the likes of Maceo Parker and Dave Stewart, she steadily continued with her solo career.

With the Saxuality team she recorded the new album, Sax-A-Go-Go, released in 1993, a tribute to her own musical roots with guest appearances from the likes of Tower of Power and Maceo Parker . It also featured a song specially written for her by Prince ! The tour that followed - with a new Funky Stuff - took her across Europe and Asia. The three hit singles from that album - the title track and cover versions of Pick up the pieces and I can't make you love me - became firm favourites in her shows. In Malaysia she was greeted by hundreds of fans at the airport; in Japan people recognised her on the street and travelled across the country to support on the tour. By now, Candy was an international star in her own right.

Candy Dulfer The release of her third solo album, Big Girl, was preceded by a high profile appearance at the World Liberty Concert in Arnhem, The Netherlands, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Europe and the end of World War II. Amidst tanks, planes, pyro technics, hundreds of actors and lasers, Candy joined stars like Joe Cocker, UB40, Wet Wet Wet and Art Garfunkel for an unprecedented spectacle, performing elaborate solos with Alan Parsons and her very own I can't make you love me. The show attracted over 100,000 fans and was broadcast world wide and watched by millions of people.

Big Girl - curiously titled as an inside joke to her father's album Big Boy and as a sign of her growing maturity - was released in the fall of '95 and featured the hit single Wake me when it's over , a duet with long-time idol David Sanborn . The album marked a transition between the work of Ulco Bed and newcomer Thomas Bank , a talented keyboard player and composer / producer. She gained many new fans by touring Eastern Europe, including much hailed shows in former Yugoslavia, while still finding time to contribute to recordings of Van Morrison , father Hans Dulfer and the Dutch hit sensation Total Touch - featuring former Funky Stuff vocalist Trijntje Oosterhuis .

In early May '97 the album For The Love Of You was released. Again, it sold well; adding to the over two-and-a-half million albums she had already sold world wide. From May to November she performed nearly a hundred shows in fourteen countries, including a sell-out tour across Japan. She travelled to the States in December for interviews, in-store appearances and an impressive live-on-TV jam at Sinbad's trendsetting talkshow Vibe. Smooth jazz radio is all over the title track, while the album peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Jazz Contemporary Albums chart and remained in the Top 10 for months.

In February of 1998 she kicked off the USA leg of her tour, which includeed a show at the prestigious Beacon Theatre on Broadway. She returned in the summer for more shows, including the renowned JVC Jazz Festival at the Avery Fisher Hall in New York. Following the shows in the USA, Candy undertook an an extensive, four-week tour of Europe.

While on holiday after these tours she received a call from Prince who invited her to join his USA Tour. Candy joined him for his New Power Soul Festival Tour, with an impressive bill that also included the musical legends Larry Graham and Chaka Khan. Candy joined the horn section of Graham Central Station for their set and also featured prominently when Prince hit the stage. The tour included gigs at Madison Square Garden in New York and the MCI Center in Washington DC.

During a break in the tour she met the legendary group Blondie, who at the time are recording their comeback album in New York. Candy contributed a sax solo on one of the tracks. And at the end of 1998, when Prince returned to Europe to continue his tour, Candy was again invited to join him. She also joined in some of Prince legendary unannounced aftershows. One of these was at the Tivoli club in Utrecht, Holland, where Candy jammed with Prince, Larry Graham , her father Hans Dulfer and surprise guest Lenny Kravitz 'till the wee small hours.

For her album Girls Night Out (released worldwide in 1999) she joined forces with some of the finest talents in the music business, including horn players Fred Wesley and Pee Wee Ellis (of JB's fame), jazz trumpeteer Arturo Sandoval, bass player Jerry Preston and popular smooth jazz artist Jonathan Butler . Mixing of the album took place in the USA, where Candy worked with top talents Booker T III and Ray Bardani in New York and Los Angeles. The album marked a return to the funky and danceable style that Candy was originally known for, but also revealed she was absorbing the newer styles like hip hop, house and jungle. The album included the song, Cookie, one of the new tracks she recorded with old friend Dave Stewart for the soundtrack of Robert Altman's new motion picture Cookie's Fortune .

After the album's release, Candy again toured across the world with her band Funky Stuff , performing dozens of highly successful shows in Japan, the USA and across Europe. In April 2000 Candy returned to Japan for a sell-out series of shows at the renowned Blue Note clubs in Osaka and Tokyo and through the Summer she performed across Europe.

In early October of that year she records her longawaited live album aptly titled Live in Amsterdam. The album, available on CD and DVD, featured special guests Dave Stewart, soul diva Angie Stone and Hans Dulfer. Of course, Candy classics like Lily was here, Sax-a-go-go and Pick up the pieces were included, but the album also featured two brand new songs, including a collaboration with Dave Stewart entitled Synchrodestiny.

Preceeding the release of Live in Amsterdam in February 2001, she started the year by performing five nights as part of the Vrienden van Amstel Live event at the Ahoy in Rotterdam, performing to a crowd of 10,000 each night. She also recorded a very special television show at the Paradiso in Amsterdam in front of a select crowd, performing not only with Funky Stuff but also with a string ensemble and special guests like Hammond-legend Joey DiFrancesco and her father, Hans Dulfer. Another highlight of 2001 was Prince inviting her to come to his Paisley Park studio in Minneapolis to perform on his upcoming album Xenophobia.

Candy kicked off 2002 with a Japanese Tour in February. In April she returned to the USA to join Prince on his critically acclaimed One Nite Alone Tour, playing to packed venues across the States. Not only did she get to perform alongside Maceo Parker in the horn section, she also jammed with artists like Alicia Keys, Sheila E. and Erykah Badu at Prince's renowned aftershows. She also toured with Prince when One Nite Alone hit Europe.

2003 projects included an album with her father Hans for Eagle Records and her own solo album, Right in My Soul, for the same label. Candy also performed several gigs as a special guest with Van Morrison during the rest of 2002.

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candy dulfer / hans dulfer
dulfer dulfer
exquisite cd. 2002.
buy: cd (uk) - cd (us)
cd (germany) - cd (france) - cd (japan)

candy dulfer
best of
cd. 1998.
buy: cd (japan) - cd (us)
buy: cd (france) - cd (japan)

candy dulfer
best of
japanese cd album. 1998.
buy: cd (us)
buy: cd (germany) - cd (japan)

candy dulfer
big girl
japanese cd album. 1997.
buy: cd (japan)

candy dulfer
for the love of you
studio album. 1997.
buy: cd (us) - cd (france)
buy: cd (germany) - cd (japan)

candy dulfer
for the love of you
japanese cd album. 1997.
buy: cd (us)
buy: cd (germany) - cd (japan)

candy dulfer
girls night out
cd album. 2001.
buy: cd (us)
cd (germany) - cd (france) - cd (japan)

candy dulfer
gititon
cd single. 1997.
buy: cd (us)

dave stewart feat.
candy dulfer
lily was here
cd soundtrack album. 1995.
buy: cd (us)

candy dulfer
live in amsterdam
live cd. 2001.
buy: cd (us) - cd (uk)
cd (germany) - cd (france) - cd (japan)

candy dulfer
live in amsterdam
japanese live cd. 2001.
buy: cd (france) - cd (japan)

candy dulfer
right in my soul
cd album. 2003.
buy: cd (us) - cd (uk)
cd (germany) - cd (france) - cd (japan)

candy dulfer
right in my soul
ltd edn digipack 14 track cd album. 2003.
buy: cd (us) - cd (japan)

candy dulfer
sax-a-go-go
sophiscated album despite the cover. 1999.
buy: cd (us) - cd (uk)
cd (germany) - cd (france) - cd (japan)

candy dulfer
saxuality
vintage dulfer incl. lily was here. 1991.
buy: cd (us) - cd (uk)
cd (germany) - cd (france) - cd (japan)

various artists feat.
candy dulfer
smooth jazz plays the hits
cd album. 2001.
buy: cd (japan)

candy dulfer
what does it take
cd album. 1999.
buy: cd (us) - cd (uk)
buy: cd (france)

candy dulfer
what does it take
japanese cd + 1 trk. 2002.
buy: cd (germany)
cd (japan)

prince feat.
candy dulfer
one nite alone live
3 cd set. 2002.
buy: cd (us)

various artists feat.
candy dulfer
live at knebworth parts 1 2 & 3
live dvd. 2002.
buy: dvd (us)

candy dulfer
live in amsterdam
live dvd. 2001.
buy: dvd (germany)

candy dulfer
for the love of you
us 3-track promo CD including Remixed Radio Edit, Mellow Mix & LP Version, back insert sleeve
N2KS-50010

buy cd: eil.com (uk)

candy dulfer
heavenly city
uk 3-track CD includes Club Mix plus Beat Side, picture sleeve (1990)

buy cd: eil.com (uk)

candy dulfer
heavenly city
uk 7" b/w Beat Side, picture sleeve (1990)

buy vinyl: eil.com (uk)

candy dulfer
let me show you
japanese 3-track promo-only CD, includes JHQ Drum 'N Bass Mix and Valdez In The Country, custom picture sleeve CDS-1529 (2003)

buy cd: eil.com (uk)

candy dulfer
right in my soul
uk press pack for the album presented in an Eagle Rock company folder and including 2 publicity sheets & a 10"x8" black & white publicity photo by Jennifer Hands (2003)

buy press pack: eil.com (uk)

candy dulfer
right in my soul
us 14-track Eagle promo CD-R acetate, custom printed disc and back picture insert (2003)

buy cd: eil.com (uk)

candy dulfer
saxuality
german 2-track 3" CD including Home Is Not A House, gatefold card picture sleeve

buy cd: eil.com (uk)

candy dulfer
saxuality
uk 4-track CD includes Susan Rogers, Super Sax Radio & Ben Leibrand mixes plus Home Is Not A House, picture sleeve PD43770

buy cd: eil.com (uk)

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