Candy Dulfer
(born 19 September 1969) is a Dutch smooth jazz alto saxophonist. She started to play saxophone at the age of six. She has had her own band, Funky Stuff, since she was fourteen. Her debut album Saxuality
(1990) received a Grammy Award nomination. Over the years she released nine studio albums, two live albums, and one compilation album. She has performed and recorded songs with several other musicians, such as her father Hans Dulfer, Prince, Dave Stewart, René Froger, Van Morrison, and Maceo Parker. For the Dutch television series Candy meets...
(2007), she interviewed musicians she worked with.
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CANDY DULFER TICKETS
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Early life
Candy Dulfer was born on
19 September 1969 in
Amsterdam in the
Netherlands, as the daughter of
saxophonist Hans Dulfer.
[1] She played
drums at the age of five.
[2] On her own initiative, and never pushed by her father, she wanted to play the
saxophone. As a six-year-old she started to play on a
soprano saxophone, because her father's
tenor saxophone was too heavy.
[3] She switched to
alto saxophone at the age of seven, and played in the local
concert band Jeugd Doet Leven (
English translation: "Youth Brings Life") in
Zuiderwoude.
Apart from some basic musical training in a concert band and a few months of
music lessons, she taught herself how to play the sax.
Musical career
Candy Dulfer played her first
solo on stage with her father's band De Perikels (English translation: "The Perils").
At the age of eleven, she made her first recordings for the album
I Didn't Ask
(1981) of De Perikels.
In 1982, when she was twelve years old, she played as a member of
Rosa King's Ladies Horn section at the
North Sea Jazz Festival. According to Dulfer, King encouraged her to become a band leader herself. In 1984, at the age of fourteen, Dulfer started her own band
Funky Stuff.
In 1987, the band performed as
opening act at two concerts of
Madonna's European tour.
In 1988, the band's lineup was completely changed. In the following years, Funky Stuff gave sold-out concerts all over the Netherlands.
In 1988, Funky Stuff was booked as the supporting act for three
Prince concerts in the Netherlands. Prince canceled the supporting act, but invited Dulfer on stage to play an improvised solo.
After this encounter, she starred in the video of the single "
Partyman" (1989), where Prince sings:
Insert the text of the quote here, without quotation marks.
This appearance led to
session work with
Eurythmics guitarist and
producer Dave Stewart, who gave Dulfer a credit on "
Lily Was Here" (the title
song of a
Dutch movie starring
Marion van Thijn), reaching number six in the
UK singles chart and
number one in the Dutch
radio charts in 1990. She also played with
Pink Floyd at the band's performance at
Knebworth '90 in June 1990.
[4] [5]
Dulfer's
debut album,
Saxuality
, was released later in 1990. With her funky
alto sax stylings proving popular with
fans of contemporary
jazz at several recently launched smooth jazz
radio stations in the
United States,
Saxuality
was nominated for a
Grammy and certified gold for worldwide sales in excess of half a million. "Lily Was Here" also crossed over to the pop charts in America, reaching #11 on the
Billboard Hot 100. Though Dulfer has had no other pop hits in the
U.S., she has had a number of major smooth jazz chart
hits, including "For The Love Of You" and "Finsbury Park, Cafe 67".
Dulfer was also the featured saxophonist for
Van Morrison's
A Night in San Francisco
, an album made from live recordings in 1993.
[6]
Dulfer collaborated with her father Hans Dulfer on the
duet album
Dulfer Dulfer
(2001).
In 2007, she released her ninth studio album
Candy Store
. The album reached a #2 position in
Billboard's Top Contemporary Jazz charts.
[7] Of the album
Candy Store
, the song "L.A. Citylights" reached a #1 position in Smooth Jazz National Airplay charts in the United States.
[8]
Television
In 2007 Candy Dulfer was the presenter and interviewer in
Candy meets...
, her own television program for public broadcaster
NPS. In the series she met with
Sheila E.,
Maceo Parker,
Hans Dulfer,
Van Morrison,
Dave Stewart, and
Mavis Staples.
[9]
Discography
- Saxuality
(1990)
- Sax-a-Go-Go
(1993)
- Big Girl
(1995)
- For the Love of You
(1997)
- What Does It Take
(1999) [10]
- Girls Night Out
(1999)
- Dulfer Dulfer
(2002)
- Right in My Soul
(2003)
- Candy Store
(2007)
- Funked Up & Chilled Out
(2009)
References
- Candy Dulfer. Bio. Full bio
- {{nl icon}} Candy Dulfer biografie. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- {{nl icon}} Candy meets... Hans Dulfer. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
- Live at Knebworth 1990
- Live! at Knebworth
- Candy Dulfer. Bio. Discography
- Top Contemporary Jazz. Candy Store
- Smooth Jazz National Airplay
- {{nl icon}} Candy meets. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
- Candy Dulfer. Multimedia. Audio