Anne-Marie Helder

Anne-Marie Helder
Origin England, UK
Genres Acoustic, acoustic rock, experimental rock
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter
Years active 2004–present
Labels Firefly Music, Esoteric Antenna
Associated acts

Anne-Marie Helder is a British singer and songwriter, best known for fronting the UK rock band Panic Room. She has also performed internationally as a solo artist and with various bands since circa the year 2000.

Helder released her solo EP The Contact in November 2004, which received strong reviews and secured airplay on BBC Radio 2, with the legendary DJ Bob Harris declaring: "this is very dramatic music". UK national music magazine Classic Rock gave the EP an 8/10 review, and since its release Helder has toured across the UK, Europe and the USA, playing both headline shows and supports for established artists.

In 2005 she supported Fish on his major Return to Childhood tour, and since then she has opened shows for artists including Midge Ure, Nick Harper, Glenn Tilbrook (of Squeeze) and then landing the support for the major Ultravox tour in 2010, where she performed to thousands each night in venues across the UK, including the Birmingham Symphony Hall, London Roundhouse and Glasgow SECC.

Creamy Jobe

From 1999 to 2002, Helder was a member of the New South Wales band Creamy Jobe in which she was one of three lead vocalist. Helder also played the keyboard and flute. Writing and performing their own music the band also included Guy Wendon, Chris Woodman, Mathew Dermody and Steve Lott.

Creamy Jobe were selected to play for the BBC Music Live Week in 2000, which saw them tour music venues around the Swansea area and culminated in a performance on the BBC stage in Singleton Park, Swansea on 20 May 2000. This coincided with their only album release – Creamy Jobe Greatest Hits II – Voices on Vinyl.

Helder appeared with Creamy Jobe on 23 August 2014 in a reunion to celebrate 15 years since the original formation of the band.

Karnataka

From 2001 to 2004, Helder was a member of the Welsh band Karnataka, along with Jonathan Edwards and two other members of Panic Room (Paul Davies and Gavin John Griffiths). When the band split in 2004, these four continued to work together, which is where the ideas and music for Panic Room were born. Karnataka bassist Ian Jones later reformed the band without any of the other former members.

Panic Room

In 2006 Helder began working with a group of musicians, including Paul Davies, Jonathan Edwards, and Gavin Griffiths, all of whom she had performed with previously in Karnataka, to start a new band project, which she wanted to be both rocking and experimental, dynamic, and full of creative freedom. This band evolved to become Panic Room.

In 2008 they released their debut album Visionary Position, and in 2010 the follow-up album Satellite was released, which shot the band to the top of the newest leading lights in UK music.

The multi-award-winning album also secured Helder her first award as an individual, for her voice: she was voted Best Female Vocalist in the 2010 Classic Rock Presents Prog magazine Reader's Poll (voted for by over 30,000 people), and has since then gone on to win the award for an unprecedented second year running.

Panic Room toured extensively to promote the Satellite album, and in 2011 played their largest run of dates yet, performing over 20 shows in 6 weeks in the UK alone.

At the beginning of 2012 the band signed a record deal with Esoteric Antenna and Cherry Red Records, for their next album S K I N. This would be Panic Room's first album released on a label, having been purely independent up until this point. The first two albums and Incarnate from 2014 were released on the band's own label Firefly Music, of which Helder is a business partner.

In 2013, Helder and fellow Panic Room member Jonathan Edwards formed the acoustic music duo Luna Rossa. They released their debut album Sleeping Pills & Lullabies in 2013 with the follow up Secrets & Lies being released in November 2014.[1]

Other projects

Anne-Marie Helder also plays sessions and records guest vocals for other musical artists.

  • She tours with fellow UK rock band Mostly Autumn, playing keyboards, flute and backing vocals. Helder first collaborated with the band when she played some solo supports for them in 2007, and later that year she agreed to 'dep' for flautist and keyboardist Angela Gordon while the latter took maternity leave to have her first child. In early 2008, there were many shuffles to the line-up of the band, and as both Gordon and keyboardist Chris Johnson left to pursue other projects, Helder was invited to join them to play keyboards, acoustic guitar, flute and backing vocals. Helder recorded vocals and flute with Mostly Autumn on the 2008 album Glass Shadows, and has appeared on every album since.
  • She has supported Steve Hackett in 2013 on his Genesis Revisited II tour.
  • She has also performed guest vocals on the Icon project by John Wetton and Geoff Downes, the dance album Electronica by Geoff Downes, and albums by other artists including Dave Kilminster, Parade (now Halo Blind) and The SKYS.

Personal life

Helder went to art college, but opted out and studied philosophy instead and earned a degree in Swansea. She has been vegetarian since the age of 15.[2]

Helder is a scuba diver qualified by PADI.[2]

Discography

Solo
  • The Contact EP (2004)
Creamy Jobe
  • Greatest Hits II – Voices on Vinyl (2000)
Karnataka
Mostly Autumn
Luna Rossa
  • Sleeping Pills & Lullabies (2013)
  • Secrets & Lies (2014)
Panic Room
Tigerdragon
  • Life Stories (2001)
  • The Universal Key (2002)

Guest appearances

Dave Kilminster
  • Scarlet (2007)
Fish
  • Communion (2007)
John Wetton and Geoff Downes
  • Icon 3 (2009)
Parade
  • The Fabric (2009)

References

  1. ↑ http://www.lunarossa.co/news.html
  2. 1 2 "Anne-Marie Helder". PanicRoom.org.uk. Archived from the original on 31 January 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
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