Made in Europe — Caroline Henderson

From jazz to trip-hop and back again. Caroline Henderson is a smooth operator across a broad spectrum of genres. (from Boom Boom Magazine)

Jazz singer, pop beauty, actor, TV presenter and much more – Caroline Henderson has been nothing if not versatile since she started singing in jazz bands as a teenager. In 1989, she made it big in Denmark as the alluring frontwoman in the pop group Ray Dee Ohh, and then broke through again in 1995 with the seductive and genrebending album “Cinemataztic”, whose trip-hop finesse was a hit with both music fans and critics. After a brief attempt as a disco queen, Henderson has once again returned to jazz.

Her most recent album “No. 8” was lauded by critics – and even though jazz albums seldom make the charts in Denmark, this one climbed even higher than the number of its title. It has since gone gold. The impeccable “No. 8” also helped to cement Henderson’s position as an international jazz diva who performs all over the world. Surprises in store

Surprises in store
“I never take anything for granted, but my last four jazz albums have all been extremely well received and sold really well, both in Denmark and abroad. I do have to focus a lot on particular countries though. Right now it’s Germany, France and Scandinavia,” says Henderson. She also finds that life on the road sometimes brings its surprises. “My records have been released in 10–15 countries, and from time to time I find out that audiences in certain places are far more enthusiastic about my music than I xpected. For example, it was fun in Thailand last year when I discovered that I was the main attraction at a festival for 25,000 people. But things like that don’t happen overnight. Success is usually the result of a lot of hard work.”

The well-travelled, cosmopolitan singer doesn’t think her audiences vary that much around the world. Actually, I think the differences are surprisingly small considering the geographic distances. Whether it’s Japan, Norway, a village community centre in the Danish provinces or a sweaty nightclub in Paris, people are far less different that you might think.”

More drama
Henderson is well known as an actor in Spain for her role in the film “Tuya siempre”, which won three prizes at the Malaga Film Festival. In Denmark she has appeared in films and on stage and hosted a series of jazz programmes on TV. She believes that it’s all about thinking creatively in order to get your style out there, something Danish jazz musicians have traditionally been very good at. “All musicians – irrespective of genre – dream of an international career, and it’s great if you can expand your horizons. The live scene is in the best of health right now, probably more so than ever. You have to fight for it.

Read the full article about Caroline Henderson in this year’s MIDEM edition of Boom Boom Magazine.

Text: Anders Houmøller Thomsen
Photography: Stephen Freiheit