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Candy Dulfer
Grammy nominated Dutch saxophonist and vocalist Candy Dulfer has been performing since age seven, leader of the band Funky Stuff since age fourteen, an international recording artist since age nineteen, and has toured world-wide since age twenty.
Dulfer has recorded and / or performed with numerous noted artists such as Prince, Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Van Morrison, Maceo Parker, Beyoncé, Pink Floyd, Chaka Khan, David Sanborn, Larry Graham, Aretha Franklin, Jimmy Cliff, George Duke, Blondie, Jools Holland, Jamie Cullum, Angie Stone, Tower of Power, The Time, Alan Parsons, Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, Joey DeFrancesco, Jonathan Butler, Mavis Staples, and the list goes on and on. Perhaps just as impressive is the thought that even jazz sax legend Sonny Rollins may be counted among Candy's fans and has commented favorably upon her work.
In 1989 "Lily was here" - her first collaboration with former Eurythmics member Dave Stewart - was a Number 1 hit all over Europe. In 1999 they worked together on the soundtrack of the Robert Altman motion picture Cookie's Fortune and in 2002 they toured Europe with Stewart's new project Da Univerzal Playaz, featuring reggae legend Jimmy Cliff.
Candy Dulfer's solo debut album Saxuality (Arista, 1991) sold over a million copies worldwide and was nominated for a Grammy. Her fourth album For the love of you (1997) was a major hit in the USA and remained in the Billboard charts for more than forty weeks. Sales of Dulfer's solo albums now total well into the millions worldwide.
Dulfer appeared with Prince in the Partyman video, was featured on the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack, and performed with him on a special anniversary edition of Saturday Night Live. In 1998 and 2002 she once again toured with Prince, appeared on his 3-CD live box set One Nite Alone... Live! (Npg, 2002) and performed on his internet-only album Xpectation (Npg, 2003).
She again joined Prince in 2004 for the massive Musicology tour, playing over ninety shows in sell-out arenas across the USA to more than 1.5 million excited fans. Prior to the Musicology tour Dulfer performed with Prince and Beyoncé at the prestigious Grammy Awards and also performed with Prince on Jay Leno's Tonight Show. She was featured prominently - with sax and vocals - on Prince's hit album Musicology (Sony, 2004), including the smashing duet "Life 'o' the Party".
TV appearances include Jay Leno's Tonight Show, Good Morning America, CNN's Showbiz Today, Saturday Night Live, The Sinbad Show, and a recurring spot on The Arsenio Hall Show. Dulfer has also appeared on numerous major television shows in Japan. Her European TV appearances include Ohne Filter, The Harald Schmidt Show, Rockpalast and Pepe Linhardt.
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Candy Dulfer: Funked Up!
by Woodrow Wilkins
Let's not get confused. Candy Dulfer's music isn't jazz so much as it is soul without lyrics. And that's just fine.
The Holland-born saxophonist was raised in a musical family. Her father, Hans Dulfer, founded the Bimhaus, a jazz club that was subsidized by the government as a means of promoting the arts. Candy Dulfer broke away from the traditional after seeing her father outcast by puritanical jazz thinking. Her career has been marked by playing pop, R&B and funk, ...
Continue ReadingCandy Dulfer: Funked Up!
by Jeff Winbush
Let's get something straight. Candy Dulfer is not a jazz saxophonist. Candy Dulfer is a funk saxophonist who can play jazz, but her preference is playing funk.If you're going to call your new album Funked Up!, you had better bring the funk loud, proud and strong. No worries here. The Dutch-born saxophonist delivers 11 tracks of pure funk on wax (or highly polished plastic, to be exact).From the incandescent lead-off First In Line," and through the ...
Continue ReadingCandy Dulfer: Prodigy Turned Pro
by Mikayla Gilbreath
It's an age-old question--What's the secret of success? For Candy Dulfer, arguably the most commercially successful female saxophonist ever, the answer seems to include first-rate musicianship combined with a healthy dose of stage presence. To those attending their first Candy Dulfer concert, she must seem somewhat of an enigma. When she first takes the stage, tall, blonde, and beautiful, Dulfer seems more fashion model than musician--until she starts to play. Her towering spontaneous solos immediately grab one's attention. Her aggressive ...
Continue ReadingCandy Dulfer: Candy Store
by Woodrow Wilkins
Candy Dulfer was just twenty years old when she scored her first international hit, Lily Was Here, a duet with Eurhythmics guitarist Dave Stewart. At that time, she was already an experienced saxophonist, having started at the age of six, heavily influenced by her father, jazz saxophonist Hans Dulfer. Though Lily Was Here performed well on the pop charts, Dulfer has been more of a soul/funk artist, evidenced by Candy Store. Dutch-born Dulfer led her first band, ...
Continue ReadingCandy Dulfer Band in New Jersey
by Larry Geiger
Candy Dulfer and Band Shrine Auditorium West Collingswood, New Jersey October 13, 2007
The intimate art deco theater helped launch many conversations among the attendees until the band started a funky rhythm, which grew stronger, with chants of Candy emanating from the stage, and then the featured artist entering from the back of the auditorium, walking up some steps and down a ramp leading to the stage, all the while blowing into her alto ...
Continue ReadingCandy Dulfer: Candy Store
by Jeff Winbush
This is what it sounds like when an artist dabbles in a variety of styles on an album and doesn't really commit to any one of them.Candy Dulfer has nothing to prove to anyone, especially any stuffy old jazz critics. She's blonde, hot, and knows her chops on the alto saxophone like a butcher knows his cuts of pork. So why is Candy Store so distressingly ordinary? Maybe because, like her frequent band mate Prince, Dulfer does a ...
Continue ReadingJazz This Week: Candy Dulfer, Warren Wolf and Peter Martin, Erin Bode, Melton Mustafa, Miles Davis Jazz Festival, and More
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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
We're still in a transitional period between spring and summer music schedules here in St. Louis, but there nevertheless are a number of noteworthy jazz and creative music performances happening around town over the next several days. Let's go to the highlights... Tonight, the Sheldon Concert Hall puts on a benefit concert for tornado relief, featuring performances from traditional jazz band the St. Louis Stompers, pianist Carolbeth True with harmonica player Sandy Weltman, guitarist Rick Haydon, and pianist Stephanie Trick, ...
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Candy Dulfer to Perform Saturday, May 21 at the Pageant
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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Saxophonist Candy Dulfer (pictured) is coming to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, May 21 at The Pageant. As best as StLJN can tell, the Dutch-born saxophonist last appeared here in 2004 at the Saavis Center (now the Scottrade Center) as part of the backing band for Prince. Her most recent CD Funked Up and Chilled Out came out in 2009. Dulfer's show at The Pageant also will feature bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Chance Howard, a longtime member of her band, ...
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