Caro Emerald is the stage name of Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw (26-04-1981). She graduated in 2005 in jazz singing at the conservatory in Amsterdam.
Van der Leeuw sang in the Amsterdam close harmony group Les Elles and in the Philharmonic Funk Foundation, a 44-piece funk orchestra. She also regularly performed backing vocals at the Kinderen voor Kinderen song festival. Van der Leeuw took singing lessons from Jim Gilloffo in Amsterdam during secondary school. She herself gave singing lessons at the Babette Labeij singing school.
Van der Leeuw gained fame under her stage name Caro Emerald with the single Back it up. The song was written and produced by David Schreurs, Jan van Wieringen, Robin Veldman and Canadian songwriter Vince Degiorgio. Van der Leeuw was approached to sing the demo. The song remained unknown until Van der Leeuw performed it live in 2008 on the local Amsterdam TV channel AT5 under the stage name Caro. After this, Arrow Jazz FM picked up the song, making her known outside Amsterdam as well.
Schreurs, van Wieringen, Van der Leeuw and Degiorgio then decided to record a conceptual album in the same style, with Caro as the 'starring artist'.
Back it up was released on 6 July 2009 on Grandmono Records, a label founded by Schreurs with van Wieringen and van der Leeuw to release their music. The stage name was changed to 'Caro Emerald'. In August 2009, a Kraak & Smaak remix was released. The record was 3FM Megahit in week 32. Caro Emerald was named serious talent by 3FM. In April 2010, it was announced that Back it up was the most played Dutch record on 3FM in 2009. She received the Schaal van Rigter for this.
As Caro Emerald, she mainly sings in English.
Sunday Morning Classic
On 7 July 2019, the album "Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor" was spinning on our turntable during the Sunday Morning Classics.
Caro Emerald came out of nowhere in 2009 with the summer hit 'Back It Up', a catchy jazz-pop number with a dance beat. The follow-up, "A Night Like This", was an even bigger hit and topped the Dutch charts. By the time Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor was released, Emerald was well established as one of the most exciting new artists to come out of the Netherlands in some time, and her full album debut was eagerly awaited. It features the hit singles "Back It Up" and "A Night Like This", both written by Vincent de Giorgio, David Schreurs and Jan van Wieringen. The latter two Dutchmen are Emerald's producers. They released Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor on their Amsterdam label Grandmono Records.
Besides the couple of singles, the album contains ten new tracks that vary considerably in style. "Just One Dance" is straight dance-pop with hints of jazz, and "The Lipstick on His Collar" is based on both Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black (2006) and Portishead’s Dummy (1994). "The Other Woman" is another track reminiscent of Winehouse and Portishead. A track like "Dr. Wanna Do" leans heavily on jazz.
Emerald is a talented singer and she sings well in English, but ultimately it is the varied jazz-pop productions and slick dance beats that set her apart from the crowd. Fans of the first singles should find plenty of other things to enjoy on Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor, where Emerald tries out a number of different jazz-pop styles.
In 2022, Caroline van der Leeuw stepped out of Caro Emerald and started with The Jordan. On 30 September 2023, Caroline van der Leeuw opened De Platenbar with a small performance. This can be seen back on our YouTube channel.
Source: Wikipedia and Jan Liebregts
