Zindy Laursen
Encyclopedia
Zindy Laursen is a Danish
American
singer, songwriter
, performer, model
and actress.
After beginning her career with the Danish band Smallstars that performed Laursen's original tunes, Laursen made her television debut in 1992 on Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, the Danish preselection program for the Eurovision Song Contest
, which earned her a second place finish. This paved the way for Laursen's rise to a lead singer in the dance/pop group Cut 'N' Move
. Already well known in Denmark, the group sold over one million copies of their single, "Give It Up
" (a KC and the Sunshine Band
cover), from their album Peace, Love & Harmony. Their next album, The Sound of Now, was also a hit, and propelled Laursen and the band on tours of Scandinavia
, Germany
, England
, Scotland
, France
, Spain
, Italy
, Hungary
, Austria
and Australia
.
In 1995, Laursen performed in Hair
in Danish and continued on with the show at the Mogador Theater in Paris
. The cast played daily to full houses of 1,800 seats.
As the production of Hair ended, Laursen returned to Denmark and began working on her first solo album. In 1998, she released her debut single, "Round n Round", which went straight up the charts to number one. It continued to be the most played song on the Radio Airplay chart for eight weeks. Her follow-up single, "Don't Wanna Say Goodbye", was equally successful, remaining on top of the charts for six consecutive weeks. Laursen toured Denmark for a year in support of the new album. She was then offered a role in the Copenhagen
stage production of The Snow Queen
by Hans Christian Andersen
. After a four-month run of the show, she joined Rent
, also in Copenhagen, where she accepted the role of a lesbian lawyer.
Following Rent, Laursen accepted a role in the Danish television reality show, Friends Forever (Venner for livet), which was ranked number one in the two years it was on the air. She performed on the show weekly with her band, Zindy Kuku Boogaloo, and they released a double platinum CD, selling over 120,000 copies.
Laursen returned to television, this time as a judge in the hit show Star for a Night
, a show similar to American Idol
. In October 2004, Zindy released the album Reach Out on the Danish CMC label. Laursen then landed the role of Sally Bowles
in the musical Cabaret
. She was the first African-American performer in this role. Tickets to the show sold out in just a few weeks. During and after the Cabaret run, Laursen continued to judge on Star for a Night.
Laursen wrote and co-produced her next single, "No One Does It Like We Do", which was released on Butterfly Entertainment in Danish during the summer of 2005. She toured Denmark with rappers Alex and Johnson, billed as J.A.Z (Johnson, Alex and Zindy).
In 2006, Laursen danced on the Danish version of Dancing with the Stars
, with her dance partner, professional dancer Tobias Carlsson. The show’s ratings were very high. Later that year, Laursen recorded, in Danish, the title song for the Disney motion picture, Chicken Little
, and also performed the voice track for one of the characters.
Laursen was also the face for the Danish lingerie and swimwear company Missya. She appears in a variety of advertising spots, modeling their creations.
Laursen is working on a new album, scheduled for release in 2011. The album will be accompanied by radio singles, a music video and extended tours across Europe and the United States
.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, performer, model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
and actress.
After beginning her career with the Danish band Smallstars that performed Laursen's original tunes, Laursen made her television debut in 1992 on Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, the Danish preselection program for the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
, which earned her a second place finish. This paved the way for Laursen's rise to a lead singer in the dance/pop group Cut 'N' Move
Cut 'N' Move
Cut 'N' Move was a dance/hip hop group from Århus, Denmark.Their debut album was released on Epic Records in 1991, which was a moderate success in dance clubs in Europe. In 1994, their remix of the KC & the Sunshine Band song "Give it Up" went to No. 1 in Australia for 4 weeks. The track reached...
. Already well known in Denmark, the group sold over one million copies of their single, "Give It Up
Give It Up (KC song)
"Give It Up" was a hit song for KC and the Sunshine Band, although it was simply credited as KC in many countries, including the US. Following the backlash against many disco artists on the charts at the beginning of the 1980s, the song was a comeback hit for the act in the US, where it peaked at...
" (a KC and the Sunshine Band
KC and the Sunshine Band
KC and the Sunshine Band is an American musical group. Founded in 1973 in Miami, Florida, their style has included funk, R&B, and disco. Their most well known songs include the disco hits "That's the Way ", " Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "Keep It Comin' Love", "Get Down Tonight", "Give...
cover), from their album Peace, Love & Harmony. Their next album, The Sound of Now, was also a hit, and propelled Laursen and the band on tours of Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
In 1995, Laursen performed in Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
in Danish and continued on with the show at the Mogador Theater in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. The cast played daily to full houses of 1,800 seats.
As the production of Hair ended, Laursen returned to Denmark and began working on her first solo album. In 1998, she released her debut single, "Round n Round", which went straight up the charts to number one. It continued to be the most played song on the Radio Airplay chart for eight weeks. Her follow-up single, "Don't Wanna Say Goodbye", was equally successful, remaining on top of the charts for six consecutive weeks. Laursen toured Denmark for a year in support of the new album. She was then offered a role in the Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
stage production of The Snow Queen
The Snow Queen
The Snow Queen is a fairy tale by author Hans Christian Andersen . The tale was first published in 1845, and centers on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by a little boy and girl, Kai and Gerda....
by Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...
. After a four-month run of the show, she joined Rent
Rent (musical)
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème...
, also in Copenhagen, where she accepted the role of a lesbian lawyer.
Following Rent, Laursen accepted a role in the Danish television reality show, Friends Forever (Venner for livet), which was ranked number one in the two years it was on the air. She performed on the show weekly with her band, Zindy Kuku Boogaloo, and they released a double platinum CD, selling over 120,000 copies.
Laursen returned to television, this time as a judge in the hit show Star for a Night
Star for a Night
Star for a Night is a British television singing competition that ran for five annual episodes from 1999 to 2002. It was presented by Jane McDonald and the judges were Nigel Martin Smith and Barbara Windsor.-Famous alumni:...
, a show similar to American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
. In October 2004, Zindy released the album Reach Out on the Danish CMC label. Laursen then landed the role of Sally Bowles
Sally Bowles
Sally Bowles is a fictional character created by Christopher Isherwood. She originally appeared in Isherwood's 1937 novella Sally Bowles published by Hogarth Press. The story was later republished in the novel Goodbye to Berlin...
in the musical Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
. She was the first African-American performer in this role. Tickets to the show sold out in just a few weeks. During and after the Cabaret run, Laursen continued to judge on Star for a Night.
Laursen wrote and co-produced her next single, "No One Does It Like We Do", which was released on Butterfly Entertainment in Danish during the summer of 2005. She toured Denmark with rappers Alex and Johnson, billed as J.A.Z (Johnson, Alex and Zindy).
In 2006, Laursen danced on the Danish version of Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...
, with her dance partner, professional dancer Tobias Carlsson. The show’s ratings were very high. Later that year, Laursen recorded, in Danish, the title song for the Disney motion picture, Chicken Little
Chicken Little (2005 film)
Chicken Little is a 2005 computer-animated science fiction family comedy film loosely based on the fable The Sky Is Falling. It was the 46th animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation...
, and also performed the voice track for one of the characters.
Laursen was also the face for the Danish lingerie and swimwear company Missya. She appears in a variety of advertising spots, modeling their creations.
Laursen is working on a new album, scheduled for release in 2011. The album will be accompanied by radio singles, a music video and extended tours across Europe and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.