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Background information
Birth name	Annie marie rizza
Also known as	internetta
Born	November 21, 1978 (age 28)
Origin	Norway
Genre(s)	Pop, Indie rock
Years active	1993-present
Label(s)	679 Recordings (2003-2007), Island Records (2007-present)
Website	Annie – the official website

Anne Lilia Berge Strand (born November 21, 1978 in Trondheim, Norway), better known by her stage name Annie, is a pop artist and DJ from Bergen, Norway. Her debut album Anniemal was released in 2004.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Discography 2.1 Albums 2.2 Singles 2.3 Videos 3 External links 4 References

Shortly after her birth, Annie and her parents moved to the coastal town of Kristiansand. Annie's father, a church organ player, died of cancer when she was just 7. Annie and her mother, an English teacher, moved to Norway's second largest city Bergen when Annie was 13.

Before she began her solo career, in 1993 Annie fronted an indie rock girl group called Suitcase at the age of 16. Suitcase only performed once, at a festival before a panel of judges. The performance was ill-fated; the guitar broke mid-set. A few years later, Annie's bandmates decided to switch from indie rock to trip-hop, and Annie quit the band.

Annie attended videregående skole, or secondary school, until around 1997. She chose music over higher education and began to DJ, getting acquainted with members of the Bergen music scene, including producer Mikal Tellé, owner of the Bergen-based Tellé label, and Norwegian house producer Tore Andreas Kroknes, known professionally as DJ Erot.

Annie and Tore became romantically involved, and began to collaborate musically. Annie launched her solo singing career in 1999 with the single Greatest Hit, released under the Tellé label, a song she wrote and recorded with Tore. The song, which samples Madonna's song Everybody, became an underground hit in the Bergen club scene and gained Annie some recognition overseas.

Annie went on to record I Will Get On with Tore in 2001 and made plans to release an album. Shortly after the release of the single, however, Tore became sick and had to be hospitalized repeatedly over the course of several months. Later that year, Tore died of complications due to a heart condition. He was only 23.

Though Annie went through a period of depression after Tore's death, in time she returned to DJing and writing music. With friend Fröken Blytt, she started a club night in Bergen at club Agora, called Pop Till You Drop, where she met Finnish DJ Timothy "Timo" Kaukolampi of Op:l Bastards. In return for booking him for Pop Till You Drop, Annie traveled to Helsinki to DJ at Timo's own club night, and later lent her vocals to some Op:l Bastards tracks.

In March of 2003, Annie was quickly signed to Britain's 679 Recordings label after sending in a demo tape. Around this time Annie met British producer Richard X and contributed vocals for the track Just Friends on his X-Factor Volume 1, released in August of 2003.

Annie and Richard X continued to work together, releasing the single Chewing Gum in Annie's name in September of 2004. The track was named single of the week by NME soon after its release, and charted in the UK at #25.

Later that year, Annie released her debut CD Anniemal, the name originally an idea of her late boyfriend Tore. Annie worked again with Timo Kaukolampi, as well as fellow Norwegians Röyksopp, and Richard X, who made a return to produce and co-write the track Me Plus One. Greatest Hit earned a spot in the tracklist, and the album's second single Heartbeat was voted #1 in Pitchfork Media's Top 50 singles of 2004 before the song was even officially released. Chewing Gum hit #11 on that same list.

In 2005 Annie won several awards for her work, including Best Pop Album and Best Newcomer at the Norwegian Alarm Awards (Chewing Gum had also been nominated for Song of the Year). Annie also won the Best Newcomer award at the prestigious Spellemannsprisen, the Norwegian Grammy Awards. Annie's February 5th performance at the Alarm Awards was one of her first ever live performances.

Annie toured around the world in 2005 to promote Anniemal, including a brief UK tour with Saint Etienne, to whom she had sent a demo tape while still in Suitcase in 1996. Annie performed at sold out club venues in the United States in the summer of 2005, and returned to the US later that year.

Annie recently started a record label with Timo Kaukolampi called Totally.

Annie rerecorded her songs Chewing Gum and Heartbeat in the Simlish nonsense-language for The Sims 2: Nightlife's Danish and Norwegian localizations.

In 2005, Annie released a compilation in the DJ-Kicks series on the !K7 label.

In 2006, Annie sang vocals on the Teddybears track "Yours to Keep" as well as the Ercola track "Follow Me."

On January 17, 2007, Annie signed an international deal with Island Records, owned by Universal Music Group. She is expected to release her first full-length album on the label in late 2007. Brian Higgins is confirmed as one of the album's producers.

• 2005 (March) Anniemal
• 2005 (October) DJ-Kicks: Annie

• 1999 "Greatest Hit"
• 2001 "I Will Get On"
• 2004 "Chewing Gum" - #8 Norway, #31 Sweden, #25 UK, #45 Europe Official Top 100, #46 Australia
• 2005 "Heartbeat" - #17 Finland, #18 Norway, #53 UK #77 Dutch Top 100 Singles
• 2005 "Happy Without You"
• 2005 "Always Too Late"/"Helpless Fool For Love"
• 2005 "Wedding"
• 2006 "Crush"

• 2004 Chewing Gum
• 2005 Heartbeat (Filmed in Helsinki)

• Annie – the official website

• Albums by Annie. Annie bio at rateyourmusic.com. Retrieved on October 7, 2005.
• A fan's encounter with Annie Annie reveals she was born in 1978. URL accessed on April 1, 2006.