Liv Kristine Explained

Liv Kristine
Birth Name:Liv Kristine Espenæs
Birth Date:14 February 1976
Birth Place:Stavanger, Norway
Years Active:1993–present
Label:Napalm Records

Liv Kristine Espenæs (born 14 February 1976) is a Norwegian singer who has performed and composed songs mostly for various subgenres of heavy metal music. She started her career in the music industry as a vocalist for the gothic metal band Theatre of Tragedy, and is the former lead vocalist for the symphonic metal band Leaves' Eyes. She is known for her work in close association with her then-husband and leader of the German band Atrocity, Alexander Krull. Currently she is a singer of a German band Midnattsol alongside her younger sister Carmen Elise Espenæs. She also released a number of solo albums in various genres.

Career

Kristine was born in Stavanger, and joined the Norwegian gothic metal band Theatre of Tragedy in 1994 as a backup singer, but was soon sharing lead vocals duties with Raymond István Rohonyi.[1] She was fired from Theatre of Tragedy in 2003, a fact she learned about via an e-mail.[2] She had been living in Germany since 1996 and collaborating with the death metal band Atrocity, whose singer Alexander Krull she married on 3 July 2003.[3] With the five musicians from Atrocity she formed a new band, Leaves' Eyes, in August 2003.[4] She has also released five solo albums, the most recent of which was released in October 2014 through Napalm Records.

Kristine has a soprano vocal range.[5]

In 2005, Kristine was nominated for a Grammy award with Cradle of Filth for the song "Nymphetamine".[6]

In 2016, she joined Eluveitie as a session vocalist for a couple of their live shows after the departure of their singer Anna Murphy.

On 16 April 2016, Leaves' Eyes stated that Kristine, who formed and had the idea of the band project, was no longer the singer of the band.[7]

In December 2017 it was announced that Kristine joined her sister Carmen's band Midnattsol. She was originally announced to be a guest on their new album but after some discussions, the band picked her up as a permanent member.

Personal life

On 3 July 2003, Kristine married Atrocity vocalist Alexander Krull.[3] They have a son, Leon Alexander.[3] Kristine and her husband split-up in early January 2016.[8] She married Michael Hansen, in June 2021.

Her younger sister, Carmen Elise Espenæs, is the vocalist of the German symphonic/folk metal band Midnattsol[9] and of the Norwegian gothic/folk metal band Savn.[10]

Contributions to music

Kristine helped to pioneer the beauty and the beast vocals approach, later used by many other successful bands such as Tristania, After Forever, Epica and Within Temptation in their beginnings. The term "beauty and the beast" refers to an aesthetic contrasting "angelic" female vocals with male growls or aggressive singing.[11] Paradise Lost and The Gathering had already made use of this technique on some songs from their earlier albums but it was the Norwegian Theatre of Tragedy, Kristine's former band, that first released an entire album devoted to this approach with their self-titled debut in 1995.

A second album Velvet Darkness They Fear arrived in the following year.[12] Theatre of Tragedy's third album Aégis in 1998 saw the band "venturing into fresh musical territory".[12] The piano was replaced by electronic keyboards while Raymond Rohonyi opted to discard his death growls in favor of a "soft, spoken, sometimes whispering voice".[13] The music was more clean and soft,[13] "stripped of guitar harshness" but with a "near flawless execution" that "prompted many European critics to award Aégis perfect review scores".[12]

For over a decade, this beauty and the beast aesthetic has flourished with many representatives across the European continent.[11] Cradle of Filth has also been known to make use of this approach through guest female vocalists such as Kristine and Sarah Jezebel Deva.[14]

Discography

Solo

Studio albums

Singles

EPs

Live albums

With Midnattsol

Studio albums

With Leaves' Eyes

Studio albums

EPs

With Theatre of Tragedy

Studio albums

EPs

Live albums

Guest appearances

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Liv Kristine – Official Website . Livkristine.de . 28 October 2013.
  2. Web site: Ex-THEATRE OF TRAGEDY Singer Says She Was Betrayed And Deceived By Her Bandmates . . . 27 August 2003 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20031003233614/http://roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?Mode=Archive&Date=8%2F27%2F2003 . 3 October 2003 . 14 April 2014 .
  3. Web site: Liv Kristine Espenaes Krull (Leaves Eyes) : Interview . Dunphy . John . Music Tap.net . 15 July 2005 . 16 April 2014 . 27 April 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180427150433/http://www.musictap.net/Interviews/LivKrullLeavesEyesInterview071505.htm . dead .
  4. Reesman, Bryan. "Atrocity: Twenty Years of Passion, Progression and Perseverance," Metal Maniacs, December 2006, p. 113
  5. http://www.metal-experience.com/interviews/Interview%20Leaves%20Eyes%202009.htm Interview with Liv Kristine about 'Njord'- Metalexperience webzine, December 2009
  6. Web site: Artists – Liv Kristine . . 2012 . 16 April 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140416174541/http://www.napalmrecords.com/band/?bandID=40&alphabetID=21 . 16 April 2014 . dead .
  7. Web site: Liv Kristine – Official Website » LEAVES' EYES announce new singer.
  8. Web site: Leaves' Eyes – Official Website » Brand new interview for ROCK COR / Russia!.
  9. http://www.emp.de/bin/shop.php?prog=shop&funktion=PRODUCTINFO&article=434028&origin=FROOGLE Nordlys – CD von Midnattsol
  10. Web site: Midnattsol, The Sins Of Thy Beloved Members Join Forces In Savn - Blabbermouth.net. BLABBERMOUTH.NET. 17 July 2013. 28 October 2014.
  11. Web site: Reesman . Bryan . They Will Rise: Metal's female ranks on the move . 1 November 2007 . . 9 August 2013.
  12. Web site: Sharpe-Young, Garry . Theatre of Tragedy . . 25 September 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130927131438/http://www.rockdetector.com/artist/norway/stavanger/theatre+of+tragedy . 27 September 2013 .
  13. Web site: Eldefors, Vincent . Aégis review . Tartareandesire.com . 18 April 2008.
  14. Web site: Sharpe-Young, Garry . Cradle of Filth . . 25 April 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080921133607/http://www.rockdetector.com/artist/united+kingdom/suffolk/ipswich/cradle+of+filth . 21 September 2008 .

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