Angie Flare is a Dutch country rock/pop singer and songwriter. She reminds us that great things come in small packages, with her appearance, her voice and her origin.
On May 1st 2022 Angie released her brand new EP ‘With the Car Running’ with country rock/pop songs about ‘taking responsibility for your own happiness’. (Exactly two years after she released her debut EP, but immediatly after that everything shut down due to the corona virus.) Now Angie can finally step on the gas again after a long time of idling.
In March 2020 Angie Flare released her debut EP ‘Footprints in the Sand’. An ode to her big inspiration: the music community of Nashville and artists like Carrie Underwood and Luke Combs. Unfortunately she didn’t get the chance to promote it and play it live, because the world shut down due to the Corona virus. However, Angie decided to make the most out of the extra time Covid gave her so she planned different co-writes to write new material. Two years later there’s a brand new EP with a new chance to go on tour.
The style of the EP is modern country that leans mostly to rock but sometimes to the pop side. The catchy songs will give you wings and after that put you firmly with both feet on the ground. With this EP Angie hopes to build a live reputation and eventually play all over the world with her band.
Below you’ll find her full story.
Just a small town girl
I was born and grew up in a small town in the South of the Netherlands, surrounded by music. It’s always been self-evident in my family. For instance, my granddad was a professional musician, nobody could play the trumpet as beautifully as he did. So to me singing and making music has always been as natural as breathing.
My very first performance was at church when I was 7 years old, accompanied by my brother on the piano. Since then I’ve been dreaming of and working towards a professional singing career. Unfortunately I got rejected for every music academy I applied for. At that moment my heart was broken and I thought my dreams were crushed, but I never lost joy in singing, because it’s such a big part of me. And because it’s my most natural way of communicating. So I improved my singing and musical skills on my own. I studied every musical style, like rock, pop, musical theatre and even classical, and I performed a lot throughout the Netherlands. But then I discovered writing my own songs, telling my own story. Now that was something else…
In 2017, during a life-changing trip at the American West-Coast, on a horse at Bryce canyon, a cowboy told me if I had a dream I had to go out there and do it. Stop thinking and just start doing. After this horseback ride I decided to introduce the world to my own songs as ‘Angie Flare’.
And then there was Nashville
I think my love for country music started when I was about 10 years old and my dad gave me the very first album of Dutch country singer Ilse DeLange, called ‘World of Hurt’. He already had the CD for a while and gave it to me to listen to it because ‘I might like it’. And I sure did, I listened to it over and over again. I still know the whole album by heart.
Years later I fell in love with country music again, watching the Nashville series when it was released on Netflix. Every song in these series is a true masterpiece. That’s when me and my boyfriend Bas, also a musician, decided to visit Nashville during a roadtrip in 2018. It was love at first sight and a year later we went back.
I finally found my sound and my voice, Nashville felt like home. This city is full of making music at its finest. It’s warm and welcoming and every musician, big or small (in my case literally and figuratively speaking), is recognized. This city and its music totally resemble my message that everybody matters and everybody should be seen. One of the highlights? Recording my song that captures this feeling, called ‘Home’, at Beaird Music Group studio in Nashville with some of the best and kindest musicians.
Then, in 2020 I literally left my first musical ‘Footprints in the Sand’ with the release of my debut EP. Inspired by Nashville and its music and artists. And that’s actually just the start of this amazing adventure…
Why ‘Angie Flare’?
A lot of people ask me about the origins of the name ‘Angie Flare’. ‘Angie’ has always been my international nickname. Which works better when you order at Starbucks abroad… In addition ‘Angie’ means angel. And my goal is to write music that gives you wings. ‘Flare’ means to burn brightly and to become wider/bigger. And that’s the feeling I want to give my audience with my music.