Darling Nikkie - www.darlingnikkie.com (2001)

Darling Nikkie is just one of the many incarnations of Anita Dominika Cornelia van Lierop, a woman without whom my musical universe would be a lot less fabulous. A wild child, she was born in Germany but somehow ended up in Belgium. She linked up there with producer Chris Inger, who got her to sing lead vocals on the song "Rock To The Beat", released in 1988 under the name 101. It was one of the first and most popular songs to emerge from the New Beat movement, which was a sound that incorporated techno, acid house and underground house beats and often had a sexual under-or-overtone (the song was remade into a more pop friendly and popular version a year later by Lisa M). At the same time, Nikkie recorded the album Jade's Dream as Jade 4U, which was also New Beat, and had many club hits in Belgium and forged her close partnership with Praga Khan, a techno god. She would release three more albums over the next five years as Jade 4U, becoming known as the Queen Of New Beat (which was the name of her second album). This is around the time I became aware of her, as the American entertainment program A Current Affair did a feature on her, calling her the Belgian Madonna. Of course I was intrigued, but, alas, her music wasn't released here. I managed to get my hands on various singles and compilations over the years, however, and liked what I heard. She released music under many aliases over the years as well and was part of several groups like Milk Inc., Miss Lie and Digital Orgasm, becoming more entrenched in the rave music scene. But my next notable brush with her work was in the group Lords Of Acid. I was getting into the techno sound and became aware of their music and first album, the mostly instrumental Lust. But it was their next album, Voodoo-U, that really hooked me, as I was also getting into Industrial music. The album was a mix of techno and industrial and, best of all, featured her on production and backing vocals. I was in heaven. Their next album, Our Little Secret, was even better, as it featured her on lead vocals. The group quickly became one of my all-time faves, and I followed their work faithfully, even after she gave up doing lead vocals. She continued working with other artists, but it wasn't until she released this album as Darling Nikkie that she would take the spotlight for her own again. Alas, the album was only released in Europe and didn't generate much buzz, but it took some of the edge of her previous work and mellowed it out for her poppiest yet most soulful work ever. It's the only album she's released using the Darling Nikkie moniker, though she did release an album in 2005 as part of Goddess Of Destruction, which went back to her Industrial roots. Since then she's continued to do guest vocals under different aliases, and even appeared in a short documentary with CJ Bolland in 2009 which you can view HERE. But one thing is for sure, whatever she does in the future, I will be eagerly following her every move.

Video for Sugarcane

Download  www.darlingnikki.com

1		Sugarcane
2		So Easy
3		Still My Nr 1
4		Waitin On U
5		Boom Boom Baby
6		Immortal
7		As The Water Flows
8		Teach Us
9		Cloud 9
10		What To Do
11		Flowers
12		One More Time
13		Starstruck
14		Yehiyo / Sugarcane (Remix)