Sophie Hunger

Sophie Hunger
Sophie Hunger at Haldern Pop Festival 2019
Background information
Birth nameÉmilie Jeanne-Sophie Welti
Also known asEmilie Welti
Born (1983-03-31) 31 March 1983 (age 41)
Bern, Switzerland
OriginZurich, Switzerland
Genresfolk-pop-blues
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, film composer
Instrument(s)Voice, guitar, blues harp, piano
Years active2002–present
LabelsTwo Gentlemen, Manimal
WebsiteSophieHunger.com

Sophie Hunger (born Émilie Jeanne-Sophie Welti on 31 March 1983) is a Swiss singer-songwriter, film composer, multi-instrumentalist (guitar, blues harp, piano) and bandleader, currently living in Berlin.

Early life

[edit]

Émilie Jeanne-Sophie Welti was born on 31 March 1983 in Bern, Switzerland. She was a diplomat's daughter and grew up, with two older siblings, in Bern, London, Bonn and Zurich. She graduated high-school in 2002, then subsequently studied German and English.[1]

While a child, Hunger took piano lessons for a time. She was familiar with jazz from an early age, since her father used to listen to it. Independently, she had a varying taste in music; as a teenager, she first was into hip-hop and R&B. Later she listened to rock – then, as a young adult, she discovered country, bluegrass and folk.[2]

Career

[edit]
Sophie Hunger 2015

From 2002 to 2006, Hunger was a guest singer for the project Superterz and appears on the 2006 album Standards released by that group.[3] Starting in 2004, Hunger was the lead singer of the indie rock group Fisher. The band split in 2007.[4][5]

Hunger plays guitar, blues harp, piano and composes most of her songs in English, French, Swiss German, German and Swiss Italian. In 2006, in a few days, she home-recorded her solo début album, Sketches on Sea.[6]

On 6 July 2008, Hunger and her band gave a concert in the Miles Davis Hall at the Montreux Jazz Festival, as well as Yael Naim and Camille.[citation needed] In July 2009, Hunger and her band closed out day 2 of TEDGlobal.[7]

Sophie Hunger performing with her band at TEDGlobal in the United Kingdom on 22 July 2009

1983, her third album after Sketches At Sea and Monday's Ghost, released in early 2010. This album was described as being a further development of her own mix of genres exhibited on the previous two albums.[8] In June 2010, Sophie Hunger and her band played the John Peel stage at Glastonbury Festival. Sophie Hunger was the first Swiss artist that has ever played there. In July 2010 she played at the 100 Club, London, in October 2010 at The Roundhouse, London. Later that year, it was announced that Sophie Hunger would release a début record for the North American market as Sophie Hunger: s/t on Manimal Vinyl in April 2011. The CD contained tracks from 1983 and Monday's Ghost.

In 2011, her version of Noir Désir's "Le vent nous portera", which first appeared on 1983, was featured in the film Café de Flore, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée.

In 2012, Hunger released her fourth Album, The Danger Of Light, which has been described to be influenced by jazz,[9] or as changing between the genres folk, rock, pop and chansons.[10]

She participated in the Bundesvision Song Contest 2013 as a featured artist on the song "Fremde" with rapper Max Herre. Representing the German state of Baden-Württemberg, they finished in eighth place with a total of 51 points. The song was included in a deluxe version of the 2012 German number-one album Hallo Welt!, in which Sophie also contributed vocals and lyrics to the song "Berlin - Tel Aviv".

Sophie Hunger performing with her band at Leverkusener Jazztage 2015 in Germany

Supermoon, her fifth album, has been released in 2015. This album was described as alluding to the jazz roots from Hunger's first few albums, while mixing musical genres on every track.[11]

In 2017 she made an appearance on the single "Song of I", a track from Steven Wilson's To the Bone.[12]

On August 31, 2018, Molecules, Hunger's sixth album, was released. This album, being produced by Dan Carey, makes heavy use of synthesizers and other electronic instruments, and was described as a "fresh new start".[13]

Continuing the cooperation with Carey, Hunger released her latest album, Halluzinationen (Hallucinations), in 2020. Having been recorded in two days at Abbey Road Studios, it was described as being "more versatile" than preceding works.[14]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sophie Hunger and fellow Swiss artists Faber and Dino Brandão formed Brandão Faber Hunger, a supergroup to release a single album, Ich liebe Dich (I love You) in December 2020. It is an album of love songs exclusively sung in Swiss German.[15]


Discography

[edit]

Studio albums

[edit]
List of studio albums, with selected chart positions and certifications
Year Album Peak positions Certifications
SWI
[16] 		AUT
[17] 		BEL
(Wa)
[18] 		FRA
[19] 		GER
[20]
2006 Sketches on Sea — — — — —
2008 Monday's Ghost 1 — — 105 —
2010 1983 1 — — 87 62
2012 The Danger of Light 2 57 — 52 50
2015 Supermoon 1 17 178 83 6
2018 Molecules 2 21 — — 16
2020 Halluzinationen 1 31 — — 11
Ich Liebe Dich
(as Brandão Faber Hunger with Dino Brandão & Faber) 		2 38
[21] 		— — 54
[22]

Live albums

[edit]
Year Album Peak positions
SWI
[16] 		GER
[20]
2013 The Rules of Fire 21 89
With the band Fisher, under the name Emilie Welti
  • 2006: Fisher – Fisher (Kuenschtli.ch)
  • 2006: Superterz: Standards

Singles

[edit]
as Lead artist
Year Title Peak positions Album
BEL
(Wa)
[23] 		FRA
[24] 		GER
[20]
2010 "Le vent nous portera" 20 154 — 1983
2013 "Walzer für niemand" — — 94 Monday's Ghost
as Featured artist
Year Title Peak positions Album
GER
[20]
2013 "Fremde"
(Max Herre featuring Sophie Hunger) 		32 Hallo Welt!

Soundtrack

[edit]
as Emilie Welti
  • 2008: Der Freund (with Marcel Vaid):
  • 2010: Zimmer 202[25]
as Sophie Hunger

Filmography

[edit]
as Emilie Welti
  • 2008: Der Freund
  • 2012: Der Kumpel
as Sophie Hunger

Awards and nominations

[edit]
Organisation Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.
SwissAwards 2010 Best Show Herself Won [26]
Swiss Music Awards 2016 Artist Award Herself Won [27]
Best Female Solo Act Herself Nominated [28]
Swiss Grand Award for Music Swiss Grand Prix Herself Won [29]
Lumières Awards 2017 Best Music My Life as a Courgette Nominated [30]
César Award Best Original Music Nominated [31]
Swiss Film Award Best Music Won [32]
Award for Pop Culture 2019 Favourite Female Solo Artist Molecules Won [33]
Deutscher Fernsehpreis 2020 Best Music Rampensau Won [34]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Erik Brandt Hoege: „Man braucht irgendeine Bewusstlosigkeit“ Interview for Jetzt.De, published 28 December 2008. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  2. ^ Jakob Buhre: „Ich glaube, das Ganze ist ein Zufall.“ Published 3 March 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  3. ^ Martin Fritsche (2010). "Background Superterz" (PDF). Superterz. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  4. ^ Fisher Archived 5 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine at kuenschtli.ch. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  5. ^ Tobi Müller: Sophies Welt Published 14 December 2007. Published in: Das Magazin, number 50/2007.
  6. ^ "Sophie Hunger Electronic Press Kit – Streaming Music, Photos, Videos, Lyrics and Info". SonicBids.com. 2008. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
  7. ^ "Program Speakers A-Z". TED.com. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
  8. ^ "Pop-CD - Hunger, Sophie: "1983"". Wiener Zeitung (in Austrian German). 21 May 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  9. ^ "Sophie Hunger - The Danger Of Light". Werkre. 25 January 2013. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  10. ^ "Extra - Hunger, Sophie: The Danger Of Light". Wiener Zeitung (in Austrian German). 19 October 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  11. ^ "Album Review: Sophie Hunger – Supermoon – Renowned For Sound". Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  12. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Steven Wilson - Song Of I ft. Sophie Hunger". YouTube. 9 June 2017.
  13. ^ "The Hunger games: Sophie Hunger and Dan Carey on the making of Molecules". ProSoundNetwork.com. 7 September 2018. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  14. ^ "Sophie Hunger - Halluzinationen - Album Review". Loud And Quiet. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  15. ^ "Mundart-Album "Ich liebe Dich" - "S glänzt scho lang überhaupt nüt me"". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 14 December 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  16. ^ a b c d "Swiss Chart". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  17. ^ "Austrian Chart". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  18. ^ "Sophie Hunger – Supermoon". ultratop.be. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  19. ^ "French Chart". lescharts.com. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  20. ^ a b c d "Discographie von Sophie Hunger". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  21. ^ "Brandão Faber Hunger - Ich Liebe Dich". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  22. ^ "Brandão Faber Hunger - Ich Liebe Dich". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  23. ^ "Sophie Hunger – Le vent nous portera". ultratop.be. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  24. ^ "Sophie Hunger discography". Les Charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  25. ^ ps-72.com: Zimmer 202 (in German)
  26. ^ "SwissAward 2010" (in German). SRF. 8 January 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  27. ^ "Artist Award – Sopie Hunger" (in German). SRF. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  28. ^ "Swiss Music Awards 2016: Patent Ochsner räumen drei Steine ab" [Swiss Music Awards 2016: Patent Ochsner clears three stones]. SRF (in German). 15 February 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  29. ^ "Sophie Hunger receives the Swiss Grand Award for Music 2016". Federal Office of Culture. 15 September 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  30. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (16 December 2016). "'Elle,' 'The Dancer,' 'Frantz,' 'Staying Vertical' Vie for Lumiere Awards". Variety. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  31. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (25 January 2017). "'Elle,' 'Frantz,' 'Slack Bay' Lead Cesar Awards Nominations". Variety. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  32. ^ "'My Life As A Courgette' wins top prize at Swiss Film Awards". Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  33. ^ "So war die Preisverleihung 2019" [That was the award ceremony in 2019] (in German). Preis für Popkultur. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  34. ^ "Preisträger:innen und Nominierte 2020" [Winners and nominees 2020] (in German). Deutscher Fernsehpreis. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
[edit]
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