CANDY DULFER

Born September 19th 1969 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Candy Dulfer is six years old when she starts playing the saxophone. Her father Hans Dulfer, a renowned jazz saxophone player himself, recognizes the talent of his little girl and enters her into the local brass band Jeugd Doet Leven in Zuiderwoude. There she switches from soprano to alto saxophone - which is still her favorite instrument to this day. Aside from some basic musical training she receives in the brass band, Candy pretty much teaches herself the following years. Of course aided by her father who, after only a few months of music lessons, puts her on stage together with his band to perform her first ever solo. At eleven years old, Candy makes her first recording together with Hans. A year later, at the tender age of twelve, she performs at the famous North Sea Jazz Festival with Rosa King as a member of her Ladies Horn section. ‘Rosa taught me many things and encouraged me to become a bandleader myself,’ Candy says. She also teams up with a band called Own Cultivation - the band with the lowest average age ever to perform at that festival. By joining her father Hans on several occasions and doing many jam sessions in the club circuit of Amsterdam, Candy is getting known among musicians as a hot new talent. At fourteen, she starts her own band Funky Stuff, which quickly gains a loyal following. The media catches up on this rising star and Candy appears on national radio and television, while doing many interviews with the press. Several record companies offer her a deal. She turns them all down. After opening for Madonna at the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam in 1987 - a much-talked-about performance that the band largely improvised - Candy starts up a new, more professional edition of Funky Stuff in early ‘88. Fortunately, the people love the ‘new’ Funky Stuff. The band plays sell-out gigs across the country for more than a year. The final show, at the famous Paradiso club in Amsterdam, sells out weeks in advance. While being on tour, Funky Stuff is scheduled to perform as a support act for another megastar, Prince. At the last minute, Prince cancels the support act for his three shows in The Netherlands. Candy is furious. She writes Prince a note saying that he missed an excellent chance to see a girl ‘play her ass off’ on the saxophone. Two days later, Prince apologizes and invites her to join him on stage for an impromptu blues. Candy brings the house down. His Royal Badness is very impressed and asks her to work on some more projects with him in the States. There, Candy records saxophone parts for The Time, Jil Jones, Patti LaBelle and, of course, Prince - contributing to his soundtrack album ‘Graffiti Bridge’. She even plays a prominent role in the video of his hit single ‘Partyman’ and performs with Prince on ‘Saturday Night Live’. Although she enjoys every minute of it, Candy misses playing with her own band and being her own boss. After careful consideration Candy decides not to take Prince up on his offer to accompany him on a worldwide tour. ‘I loved working with Prince, but for my personal wellbeing it was better to go my own way.’ Their paths will cross again some years later... 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 surprises everyone - mostly Candy - by going straight to Number One across Europe. ‘I never would have thought of it,’ Candy says. ‘I recorded my part in five minutes. I was hoping they wouldn’t put it on the album. I was so embarrassed. It was so simple and I even played off-key. It wasn’t until later that I learned to appreciate it and saw what a genius Dave Stewart is.’ She should, because ‘Lily’ breaks new ground for Candy internationally. She finally accepts an offer from the record company BMG Ariola and decides the time has come for her own album - on her terms: total artistic freedom. This results in her smashing debut album ‘Saxuality’, released in May 1990, featuring eight songs written by Candy and young and talented Funky Stuff guitar player Ulco Bed. The album is 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 is nominated for the prestigious Grammy Awards in the category Best Instrumental Pop Recording. ‘Saxuality’ ends up selling over a million copies worldwide. In short: an astonishing debut. As a result from her work with Prince and Dave Stewart and her own highly successful album, she is asked by Van Morrison to join him on stage at the Pinkpop Festival. Impressed by her playing Van still invites her for live performances and album recordings to this day. In June 1990 she plays her biggest crowd yet when she joins the legendary psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd at the renowned Knebworth Festival. Amidst heavy winds and drizzly rain, the 130,000 spectators watch her do prominent solos on the classic Floyd tracks ‘Shine on you crazy diamond’ and ‘Money’. And despite other high profile gigs with the likes of Maceo Parker and Dave Stewart, she steadily moves along with her own career. With the ‘Saxuality’ team she also records 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 features a song specially written for her by Prince. The tour that follows - again with a completely renewed edition of Funky Stuff - takes 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’ - become instant classics in her repertoire. In Malaysia she is greeted by hundreds of fans at the airport, in Japan people recognize her on the street and travel along on the tour. Candy is clearly a star in her own right by now. The release of her third solo album, ‘Big Girl’, is preceded by a high profile appearance at the World Liberty Concert in Arnhem, The Netherlands; an elaborate spectacle 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 - and a superstar bill that includes Joe Cocker, UB40, Wet Wet Wet and Art Garfunkel - Candy performs elaborate solos with Alan Parsons and her very own ‘I can’t make you love me’. The show, attended by over 100,000 fans, is broadcast worldwide and watched by millions of people. ‘Big Girl’ - curiously titled as an inside joke to her fathers album ‘Big Boy’ and as a sign of her growing maturity - is released in the fall of ‘95 and features the hit single ‘Wake me when it’s over’, a duet with long-time idol David Sanborn. The album marks a transition between the work of Ulco Bed and newcomer Thomas Bank, a talented keyboard player and composer / producer. She gains 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, daddy 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’ is released. Again, fans line up to get their copies of the album; adding to the over two-and-a-half million albums she has already sold worldwide. From May through November she performs nearly a hundred shows in fourteen countries, including a sell-out tour across Japan. She travels 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 peaks at No. 2 on Billboard’s Jazz Contemporary Albums chart and remains steadily positioned in the Top 10 for months. In February of 1998 she kicks off the USA leg of her tour, which includes a show at the prestigious Beacon Theatre on Broadway. After many requests, she returns 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 immediately leaves for an extensive, four-week tour of Europe. While on holiday (her first in years) she receives a call from an old friend, Prince, who invites her to join his USA Tour. Candy joins him for his New Power Soul Festival Tour, with an impressive bill that also includes the musical legends Larry Graham and Chaka Khan. Candy joins the horn section of Graham Central Station for their set and also features prominently when Prince hits the stage. The tour - **** out of four according to USA Today - includes gigs at Madison Square Garden in New York and the MCI Center in Washington DC. During a break in the tour she incidentally bumps into the legendary group Blondie, who are recording their comeback album in New York. Candy contributes a smashing sax solo on one of the tracks. And at the end of 1998, when Prince returns to Europe to continue his tour, Candy is again invited to join him. On occasion, Prince’s regular concerts are followed by unannounced aftershows. Like at the Tivoli club in Utrecht, Holland, where Candy is able to show her stuff for her home crowd and jams with Prince, Larry Graham, daddy Hans Dulfer and surprise guest Lenny Kravitz ‘till the wee small hours. For her album ‘Girls Night Out’ (released worldwide in 1999) she joins 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 trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, bass player Jerry Preston and popular smooth jazz artist Jonathan Butler. Mixing of the album takes place in the USA, where Candy works with top talents Booker T III and Ray Bardani in New York and Los Angeles. The album marks a return to the funky and danceable style that Candy is known and loved for, but she is obviously also highly influenced by newer styles like hip-hop, house and jungle. The album also includes the song ‘Cookie’, one of the new tracks she recorded with Dave Stewart for the soundtrack of Robert Altman’s new motion picture ‘Cookie’s Fortune’. After the album’s release, Candy again tours 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 returns to Japan for a sell-out series of shows at the renowned Blue Note clubs in Osaka and Tokyo and through the summer she performs across Europe. In early October of that year she records her long-awaited live album aptly titled ‘Live in Amsterdam’. The album, available on CD and DVD, features 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’ are included, but the album also features two brand new songs, including a smashing new collaboration with Dave Stewart entitled ‘Synchrodestiny’. Preceding the release of ‘Live in Amsterdam’ in February 2001, she starts the year by performing five nights as part of the ‘Vrienden van Amstel Live’ event at the Ahoy in Rotterdam, performing with her band to a crowd of 10,000 each night. She also records a very special prime time 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 is the brand new collaboration between Candy and Prince when she’s invited by Prince to come to his Paisley Park studio in Minneapolis for recordings. The next year - 2002 - turns out to be one of the busiest in Candy’s career. She kicks off with a Japanese tour in February. In April she returns to the USA to join Prince on his critically acclaimed One Nite Alone Tour, playing to packed venues across the States. Not only does she get to perform alongside Maceo Parker in the horn section, she also jams with artists like Alicia Keys, Sheila E. and Erykah Badu at Prince’s renowned aftershows. In the summer she again tours across Europe with her own band. She also finds time to finish recordings for the long-awaited duet album with her father Hans Dulfer. ‘Dulfer Dulfer’ is released worldwide in October 2002. That same month she joins Prince for the European leg of his One Nite Alone tour, finishing the four week trek with a show in her own country - for which they are joined by Sheila E - followed by a spectacular aftershow lasting well into the night. She then immediately leaves for another tour with an old friend, Dave Stewart, as they perform across Europe with Da Univerzal Playaz. They are joined by reggae legend Jimmy Cliff. In December she again returns to Japan for concerts, this time with her father Hans Dulfer. Sell-out crowds greet them at the Blue Note Clubs across Japan. December also sees the release of ‘One Nite Alone... Live!’, Prince’s first-ever live album. It contains recordings from the American tour of March and April 2002 and features Candy on many of the songs. As a fitting finale to this amazing year she joins Van Morrison for a couple of shows at the end of the year. In January 2003 Prince releases his new album ‘Xpectation’, an instrumental album featuring Prince, Rhonda Smith, John Blackwell, Vanessa Mae and Candy. ‘Xpectation’ is exclusively available to members of Prince’s NPG Music Club. Candy also makes a special guest appearance on the new Maceo Parker album ‘Made by Maceo’. In April she releases her new solo album ‘Right in my Soul’, her first new studio album in four years. The album was mainly recorded in London. The album marks an exciting new chapter in Candy’s recording career. Not only is it her first album for her new record company Eagle Rock, also the vibe of the album is remarkably fresh, giving it a distinct contemporary sound. Her impressive lead vocals on many songs give the album a very personal feel. Saxophone legend Maceo Parker is special guest on the Donny Hathaway cover ‘Valdez in the Country’. Following the release of the album she starts her European tour with several performances in the Netherlands. She’s backed by a completely renewed band. She then heads to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and Belgium for well-received shows, and plays the world-renowned festivals in Juan les Pins, France, and of course the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague - both nights sharing the bill with none other than Maceo Parker. Another summer highlight is her three-show stint at the Madarao Jazz Festival in Japan. Meanwhile, Candy’s song ‘Finsbury Park, Cafe 67’ turns into a major smash at all smooth jazz radio stations across the USA and in October the song moves to the Number 1 position on the R&R Smooth Jazz chart. This makes it the most played smooth jazz song in the USA. The album ‘Right in my Soul’ reaches Number 2 on the Smooth Jazz charts at smoothjazz.com, also indicating massive airplay across the States. She again returns to Japan for another very successful tour, playing a massive thirty (!) shows at the Blue Note clubs in Fukuoka, Osaka, Tokyo and Nagoya. Candy and her band then make their way to the USA for a string of well-received concerts, including the major KYOT Smooth Jazz Fall Fest in Phoenix and the famous Key Club on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, finishing their USA tour at the B.B. King Blues Club on Times Square in New York City. Candy also performs on the new Jools Holland album ‘Jack ‘O’ The Green’, contributing a smashing solo to the Michael McDonalds track ‘Cry myself to sleep’. She ends the year by joining Prince for two shows on the beautiful islands of Hawaii. She continues to work with Prince in the spring of 2004 when she performs with Prince and Beyoncé at the biggest music event of the year, the annual Grammy Awards - definitely one of the highlights of Candy’s career. Immediately following the Grammy’s Prince & The NPG perform at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, a great show with special guest appearances by Angie Stone and Macy Gray. In February Prince & The NPG (including Candy) bring the house down with a smashing performance on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show, and in March they perform in New York when Prince is inducted into the prestigious Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. At the end of March Prince releases his new album ‘Musicology’, featuring Candy - on saxophone as well as vocals - on several tracks. Coinciding with the new album Prince and his band (including Candy) embark on a massive coast-to-coast tour of the United States, garnering rave reviews and sold-out arenas. As well as being part of the all-star horn section of the NPG Band, Candy also features prominently with solos on saxophone and vocals - including a duet with Prince entitled ‘Life ‘O’ The Party’. Candy continues to tour with Prince throughout the spring and summer, ultimately performing over 90 shows with him to 1.5 million ecstatic fans – making it the Number 1 tour of 2004. Despite these high profile shows for thousands of fans every night Candy also loves to perform in more intimate settings, so she finishes the year with an exclusive club tour with her own band across Europe in November and December. Candy also contributes to ‘Merry Christmas Baby’, a special Christmas single by former Funky Stuff vocalist Trijntje Oosterhuis. Also Candy and Thomas Bank compose the music for documentary ‘Dag dolfijn’, which chronicles the amazing life story of the Griffioen family and the extraordinary aspects of dolphin therapy. Following the tsunami disaster in Asia in December 2004 Candy contributes to the Dutch charity single ‘Als je iets kan doen’, which enters the Dutch charts at Number 1 upon its release. While starting work on her new studio album, Candy also contributes to Maceo Parker’s new album ‘School’s in!’. In April 2005 she makes a spectacular guest appearance during the TMF Awards at the Ahoy in Rotterdam. During the opening of the show she appears on stage to join famous Dutch singer Marco Borsato and none other than Jamie Cullum for a blistering solo. She also participates in a special show in honor of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands. In June Candy again returns to the Blue Note clubs in Japan for a two-week tour. Her band includes fellow Prince bandmembers John Blackwell (drums) and Chance Howard (keys / vocals). In July and August she plays several special shows across Europe, including her first ever solo concert in Spain. She also performs again at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague where very special guest Sheila E. joins her on stage. In September Candy’s memorable concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2002 is released on DVD and CD as part of the prestigious selection of releases by Eagle Vision from the archives of the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival. This is Candy’s second live DVD and CD, following ‘Live in Amsterdam’ (2001), but it marks the first time a live release by Candy is available worldwide. Candy closes the year with another very successful European tour, finishing with a sold-out performance at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. She kicks off 2006 with a guest appearance at the ‘Vrienden van Amstel Live’ event at the Ahoy in Rotterdam. She also appears on the new Prince album ‘3121’, contributing to the horn parts on four songs. In March she travels to the USA for a guest appearance at the Berks Jazz Fest in Reading, where she joins an all-star lineup for two major concerts at this festival. She returns to the States in the summer for a tour with her own band, featuring fellow Prince bandmembers Rhonda Smith (bass) and Chance Howard (keys / vocals), as well as keyboardist Jason Miles (of Miles Davis fame). In April and October she joins Dutch hip hop artist Extince for several shows in Holland. Together they perform their own interpretations of famous English songs translated into Dutch especially for these shows. By popular demand she embarks on another Blue Note tour in Japan in the fall. In between shows she continues to work on her next studio album. In early 2007 Candy joins the All Star Smooth Jazz Cruise for the ultimate smooth jazz vacation. Candy and her fellow performers depart from Galveston Island (TX) in the USA and visit Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Mexico, entertaining the many guests on the cruise with daily performances and jam sessions. In March Candy kicks off another tour of the USA, accompanied by a band that includes former Prince bandmembers Chance Howard and Kirk Johnson. That same month Candy joins the European tour of C.O.E.D., the supergroup featuring Sheila E., as a special guest. Together they perform sell-out shows across Europe, including three shows in Holland. In between two American tours and shows in Japan, Candy wows European festival crowds during the summer of 2007 with ‘Candy & Friends’. Spectacular concerts featuring her musical friends from around the world, including special guest star Rosie Gaines (of Prince fame). In the summer of 2007 Candy’s latest studio album ‘Candy Store’ is released worldwide by her new record label Heads Up International, one of the world’s top contemporary jazz labels. ‘I had a blast recording for my new label, Heads Up,’ Candy says. ‘They gave me absolute freedom to record whatever I wanted, so this CD truly represents how I feel about music. All the influences and lessons I received from my musical mentors are clearly here, but I also really feel I’m finally coming into my own.’ ‘We are very excited about working with Candy,’ says Dave Love, President of Heads Up International. ‘Candy is such an incredible saxophonist, and she plays with ease across a wide range of jazz and pop styles. She's also a great composer who has much to offer.’ The fans’ excitement and many rave reviews propel the album to #2 on the Billboard Jazz Contemporary Chart. In November Candy once again hits #1 on the R&R Smooth Jazz Chart in the USA, with the single ‘L.A. Citylights’. 2007 also sees another longtime dream come true for Candy, with the start of her own television show ‘Candy Meets’ on Dutch primetime television - a series of six personal documentaries in which Candy visits some of her musical friends and heroes on location to discuss their careers and love for music. Guests include Dave Stewart, Maceo Parker, Mavis Staples, Sheila E. and her own father Hans Dulfer. The show concludes with a rare interview and impromptu performance with Van Morrison. In 2008 she’s awarded the Golden Harp for her outstanding contributions to music in the Netherlands. Due to popular demand she once again tours the USA and Japan, and also performs all over Europe and visits South Africa for the first time for a show at the famous Cape Town Jazz Festival. In between tours she is a regular co-host of the popular Dutch prime time television talkshow ‘De Wereld Draait Door’. In September she joins superstar Lionel Richie on stage for four nights at the ‘Symphonica in Rosso’ spectacle at the Gelredome Stadium in Arnhem, The Netherlands. She finishes 2008 with a special New Year’s Eve performance in front of the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, where she and her band join some of the greatest Dutch artists for a celebration of the New Year - attended by over 30,000 people. Candy Dulfer’s new studio album ‘Funked Up & Chilled Out’ is released worldwide by Heads Up International in May 2009.