Sophie Hunger

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, living currently in Berlin.

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
Bern, Switzerland
OriginZurich, Switzerland
Genreselectro folk
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, film composer
InstrumentsVoice, guitar, blues harp, piano
Years active2002–present
LabelsTwo Gentlemen, Manimal
WebsiteSophieHunger.com

Early life

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
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 British 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] three tracks of which featured trombonist Michael Flury (ex-Keller’s 10).[7] The album was initially self-released in 2006,[6] then re-released the following year on Gentlemen Records.[7]

Flury became an impermanent band member and, since before 2007, Hunger has played with multi-instrumentalist Christian Prader (flute, piano, guitar).[8] Her band also includes drummer Marc Erbetta and bassist Simon Gerber. Former drummers include: Alberto Malo, Julian Sartorius and Dominik Chansorn. Former bassists include Balz Bachmann.

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.[9]

In October 2008, Hunger released her first solo studio album, Monday's Ghost, on Two Gentlemen Records.

In July 2009, Hunger and her band closed out day 2 of TEDGlobal.[10]

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.

In September 2010, Sophie Hunger and her band played the Plaça del Rei stage at La Mercè in Barcelona.[11]

In late 2010, 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.

On 29 June 2011 Sophie Hunger played at International Jazz Festival in Montreal, Canada, opening for Madeleine Peyroux. Also at the Festival, she opened for the Erik Truffaz Quartet the following Monday, 4 July 2011 for two shows — at 6 pm and 10 pm — and received a standing ovation at the later show. She was also featured on two songs that she recorded on Truffaz' latest CD entitled "in between" produced by Two Gentlemen Records in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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

She features on "Song of I", a track from Steven Wilson's To The Bone album.[12]

Discography

Studio albums
Sophie Hunger performing with her band at TEDGlobal in the United Kingdom on 22 July 2009
Sophie Hunger performing with her band at Leverkusener Jazztage 2015 in the Germany
Year Album Peak positions
SWI AUT BEL
(Wa)		 FRA GER
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

Live albums
Year Album Peak positions
SWI AUT FRA GER
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
Year Title Peak positions Album
BEL
(Wa)
 FRA
[13]
2014 "Le vent nous portera" 20 154

Soundtrack
as Emilie Welti
  • 2008: Der Freund (with Marcel Vaid):
  • 2010: Zimmer 202[14]
as Sophie Hunger

Filmography
as Emilie Welti
  • 2008: Der Freund
  • 2012: Der Kumpel
as Sophie Hunger
gollark: ABR has no "fishing" capability presently.
gollark: You have to actually add whatever bad bot you want for that to work.
gollark: Ah yes.
gollark: ++help ach
gollark: I forgot how they work.

References
  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. "Sophie Hunger – Sketches on Sea (CD, Album)". Discogs. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
  8. Fr.Wikipedia user Rfloris (17 October 2008). [:fr:Special:PermanentLink/34434887 "Sophie Hunger"] Check |url= value (help). Fr.Wikipedia. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
  9. Last.FM user malakym. "Montreux Jazz Festival Sophie Hunger + Yael Naim + Camille at Miles Davis Hall (Montreux) on 6 Jul 2008". Last.FM. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
  10. "Program Speakers A-Z". TED.com. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
  11. "Grups Sophie Hunger". BCN.Es. 2010.
  12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGTsN0L6x84
  13. "Sophie Hunger discography". Les Charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  14. ps-72.com: Zimmer 202 (in German)
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