Born in Israel and raised in France, the sultry voice of singer/songwriter Nancy Danino has been the highlight of everything from film soundtracks to Scandinavian pop hits. Her very first collaboration was with the Yellow Production team of techno/acid jazz sound designers, appearing on their 1999 Psychodelico album (Bob Sinclar). Techno artist SNOOZE heard the album, fell in love with Nancy’s voice, and selected her to record vocals for his first album on Belgian label Crammed. With Nancy as lead vocalist, she and Snooze recorded two albums and toured all over Europe together. Snooze introduced Nancy to one of his composer friends, resulting in her providing the vocals to the main theme of Tokyo Eyes, a very “Nouvelle Vague” French movie which went to the Cannes Film Festival. She also collaborated with two very talented songwriters in Miami, Corrado Bailone and Simone Giuliani a.k.a Formula (SFP Records and Emunity Records, their New York City-based label). In 2002, a new opportunity came knocking. Jay-Jay Johansson, a Swedish singer whose first album was very successful in France and in the U.S., by chance heard Nancy’s voice on the Snooze album. He passed her name to his friends, Sweden’s leading pop act Kent (BMG Music Publishing Scandinavia), who were looking for a French singer to collaborate with. Nancy and Kent wrote and recorded a duet together "Ff" and the song became a huge hit in Scandinavia. While she was in Stockholm for the recording, she met with the Eclectic team, Anders Hansson and Johan Åberg (the BMG Music Publishing Scandinavia writer/producers are responsible for hits for Christina Aguilera, Cher and many other artists). The meeting began a long partnership in songwriting, both for Nancy’s own album and for songs to plug to other artists. In 2004, Nancy recorded a French/English duet "Ordinary Day" with Irish artist Perry Blake, which was released by the label Naïve in France. The song stayed at number three on the Irish singles chart for an amazing eight weeks. She kept busy with other projects, collaborating with French DJ and Saint Germain’s former partner Shazz on his last album in 2005. Nancy has also collaborated with Llorca (F.COM), and most recently with Marc Collin, producer of the fantastic Nouvelle Vague albums. They recorded a song for his new project coming out soon, "Hollywood, mon Amour", a beautiful cover of the "Reality" of Richard Sanderson. Since bursting on the scene with Snooze, Nancy has worked with the most eminent electronic minds in France and Europe. Nancy’s album is now almost ready. The album features acoustic and jazzy songs written by Nancy (most are co-writes with Anders Hansson). Based in New York since 2006, she built her band and as a dream come true, she started to perform her own original songs in the city. She already met and wrote some beautiful songs with the amazing NYC based songwriters Jeff Cohen, Jeff Franzel and Cliff Goldmacher, as well as Tom Kimmel in Nashville. She is always ready for new challenges, and contemplates her future as a solo artist with great excitement...


Interview with Nancy Danino:

S: How and when did all begin with music ? 

N: As far as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to sing.

S: What are the positive and negative sides of being a musician in France?

N: There are many talentuous artists in Paris, and I had the chance to work with many of them. I think it’s a very personal question, it all depends on the artist’s personality and his musical style.
Personally, I had to realize I wasn’t at the right place if I wanted to take risks… If I was to talk about my projects and dreams, I often felt like an alien. I understood what I had to do when I arrived here and when I saw the extremely positive feedbacks I was getting… and I had been dreaming of it for a long time!
Now that the environment I’m in matches my needs, I enjoy Paris a lot more, and I only see the good side of things. But it took me some time…I left because I had to. Another artist could answer totally differently, you cannot generalize.

S: Do you think the emotion is different between a song in English and in French?

N: Absolutely. Even though I speak both languages fluently, French remains my mother tongue and inevitably, the choice of words allow me to communicate very strong emotions. But I also enjoy English a lot. I’ve often been told that my voice changes from one language to another.

S: What musicians or artists had an influence in your life and in your work?

N: So many different artists have influenced my life… Prince very early… I had the chance to be majorly influenced by him, and through him I’ve discovered other great artists whom expanded my musical culture. By uncovering his covers of Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Sly and the Family Stone, Miles Davis, Marvin Gaye or Georges Clinton, it made me want to know their whole discography, and to have very eclectic tastes up to now.

S: Do you remember what was the first CD you bought?

N: I don’t remember my first CD, but my first vinyle yes… "Let’s Groove" of Earth Wind and Fire!


S: Do you feel anxious before a show ?

N: Yes a lot… and it doesn’t get better with time.

S: How could you define the music of Nancy Danino?

N: It’s very difficult for me to define my own music… I’d say that my songs are written with pop melodies and arranged by jazz, which gives a dynamic modern jazzy album.

S: When you write a song you follow your heart, your brain or your hand ?

N: I almost always write my texts on melodies. Sometimes, the first words come to me as we are working on the melody, sometimes, I have to listen to it and let myself be carried away until a theme inspires me. So I’d say I follow my heart at first.

S: What is your favorite song of Nancy Danino and why?

N: I wrote so many songs that are close to my heart with my producer Anders Hansson in Sweden, that we had to debate for a while to decide which ones would be in the album or not ! Simply because I like them all!

S: Between elegance, nostalgia and sweetness I guess it's naturally that Marc Collin thought of you for his project "Hollywood Mon Amour" ?

N: I was already in NY for a few months when Marc wrote me a very nice message. He said he came to Dominique Dalcan’gig at the “Europeen”, where I sang with him our duet “L'air de rien”.

He said he’d been following my career for a while now, and had been waiting for the right project to propose to me. This one seduced me immediately. I would have loved to experiment more with Marc, but I also wanted very much to try "Footloose" or "A View To a Kill’, but it wasn’t really possible for me living this far. He is a lovely and very talentuous guy.

S: Have you already worked with the other singers who took part as well in this album?

N: No, I actually only know Cibelle whom I’ve met a few times.

S: Can we say that "your dreams are reality" ?

N: I live my dreams, and that’s why I’m this happy to be here.

S: As musician, what's your feeling about Internet?

N: Artists had to manage already for a long time the album crisis, well before this recession about which everybody’s speaking. There are those who decided to be creative and to find a way to continue to exist as artists in spite of the evolution of the market of the disk, and there are those who positioned as victims and who didn’t know how to adapt themselves.
Once the crisis was revealed, it was necessary to study and to understand how things were going to evolve and personally, I understood that you should wait after nobody and to know how to be proactive.
Of course it requires much enthusiasm, positivity and passion, and I am sure that in a few years I will wonder where I found all this energy to come here and begin once again everything from the start.
I decided to take my album in my own hands and so to finance it alone, which I produce with Anders Hansson, I met fantastic artists here as the very talented photographer Marlon Krieger who works with me on the pictures of my project and on the 1st video, I formed my band with whom I play live for already 2 years.
It's not easy, but I think that artists have to form their own band, play live as much as possible to share their music with the most of people as possible and feel the enjoyment to be on stage. It is necessary to learn how to record good albums without spending a lot of money, and especially to learn how to live in this new world that is Internet, to tame it and take advantage of what it offers of more incredible, rather than to be afraid of it!
I am sure that this crisis is an opportunity for us to return to the main thing, the good songs, the pure emotion… after all, it's what people need to escape from their hard reality, it’s to us to offer it to them..

S: Can you describe what an "Ordinary Day" looks like for Nancy Danino ?

N: Right now, I would say music, music, music… much work cause I have a lot of projects that I would like to see coming true. But I also try to take time to enjoy this amazing city, I know that I don’t make it enough.

S: What are your hobbies aside music?

N: Oh my God…I don’t have much…music is my main hobbie.
When I have free time, I take pleasure with very simple things…like to have dinner with my friends, see a good film, discover new artists and to see some live music, go to museum… I would like to travel more but now since I’m living here, I tend to limit a bit myself in the triangle Paris/ Tel Aviv/ NY to see my family and my friends. Oh, and from time to time, when one of my favourite Djs is scheduled in Cielo (my favourite club here), I physically need to go to the dancefloor one or two hours, it’s of vital importance!

S: Are you venturesome person?

N: I don’t always realize risks which I take when I’m taking them, it’s often after that I realize what I did.

S: Where would you like to play in the future, is there a place in the world you would love to visit ?

N: I’ve still not played in Israël, it would be great… I dream of Brazil, South America in general, Andalusia and of India… but I would especially like to return in Morocco where my parents were born, Casablanca et Essaouira… and finally return to sources.

S: Are there any things, which you are afraid of? Do you have any fears?

N: Yes I even prefer not to think about it.

S: What is the best moment and best place to listen to your music ?

N: In the car, when you know that you have one small hour of road and that you really want to escape and refind yourself. Many people often say that my music calms.

S: As our website is dedicated to Manic Street Preachers maybe can you say some words about them?

N: I find them great, I like their energy and the voice of the singer…very nice their cover of Umbrella ;-).

S: Do you agree with Victor Hugo who said : "Melancholy is the pleasure of being sad" ?

N: Maybe… but I answer absent to this assertion. I tend a bit to avoid everything that could make me sad or depressed, I avoid too dark or too melancholic music. I tend to fill my iPod with sounds that give me a lot of energy.
In my music, even if the story I tell is sad or nostalgic, there is always some hope!
S: I know it’s a difficult question, but if you would have to keep just one album from your CD collection what album would it be?

N: A good Prince, sorry…I can’t get enough of it.


S: What was the last song you listened to before the interview? And, if you know, which one will be the next?

N: I was just listening the album of Mishell Ndegeocello Confort Woman…and I have a concert tonight and I will begin with my song Someday.



S: What are your plans for the nearest future?

N: To come back in Paris for 2 weeks and enjoy my family and my friends.

S: And finally, what’s the most important thing in life for you?

N: People I love, to surround myself with positive energy, to live in the present.


MANY thanks to Nancy for the interview!

More informations about Nancy Danino:

- on her site:
http://www.nancydanino.com

- on her Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/nancydanino1