Featured Artist

Bio:

Wingy is a 23 year old Belgian girl, who goes by the name of Mieke Vervloet during the day. And at very young age she discovered the joys of art, an event that shaped her into the girl she is today, outlining her whole future. It all started at the age of five, when she went to learn the violin, and a few years later, the piano. And since that wasn’t enough for her, she also joined the local church choir when she was nine years old.

She dedicated her life to her art, but she didn’t keep herself to just music. Other arts, such as drawing, writing and photography weren't left untouched. And when she was roughly twelve years old, her love for singing began to mature. And soon she was able to perform at various occasions. One of the most outstanding performances was when she sang 'Castle on a Cloud', from 'Les Miserables' at the opening ceremony of a brand new theatre.

But eventually Mieke encountered more than her share of hardships. Illness struck and some things had to be abandoned, such as school, and her lessons at the music academy. She then tried to do some things such as charity work at a nearby animal shelter, which enabled her to indulge in another one of her life’s main joys, animals.

Fortunately, the now diagnosed illness, Addison's disease, and on top of that, Ehlers Danlos, didn't break her spirits. Wingy her life is still one big fight, but she goes on regardless, finding even more joy in her work than ever before. She got up to the point where she had gathered enough attention to be a guest at a convention where she could sign autographs and make sketches for the visitors, continue her photography, do a few successful auditions here and there (like auditioning by video for singing at Lord of the Dance / Celtic Tiger), write music, and last but certainly not least...work on a CD.

Something that once was thought impossible, came true. And now it's here, her big dream achieved, the release of 'Bloodwings', the first truly major event of her singing-career. A bold step onto a new path.

And so she continues down this new path. As she had gathered a bit of a reputation as a singer/songwriter, she has been asked to compose and record songs, such as for a documentary about Keerbergen, her home-town. Now having done that, she once more focuses all her energy in working on her full CD, which promises to be even more interesting than her debut ‘BloodWings’. It will be a mixture of alternative rock, pure piano and vocals, instrumental tracks, and other assorted melodic things.

 

Interview:

Tell the world who is Wingy in 20 words or less?   A young girl, that enjoys life but does not really live in 'this' world.
 
What's your genre? My genre is a mixture of many styles, I have never been able to really give it a name. Often I just say Alternative Rock for the upbeat ones, maybe with a touch of electronic, but I also have a melodic style, and touches of classical influence can be heard in all of my songs as well.
 
Where are you from? I was born and raised in Belgium
 
What makes you stand out from the average recording artist in your genre? I think it is the fact that everything I do is just me, and done by myself. I compose and write everything myself, everything is self made, even the arts and such. Only ‘Bloodwings’ is a two-man job, but it all originates from pure piano and vocal songs. Also that my style is just much differently in a way.
 
When did you first become introduced to music? Pretty much the day I was born, I sort of grew up with listening to classical music
 
How would you describe your style? My style I would describe deep and emotional, where you really have to listen to the picture, the music, the lyrics, everything.

What is a typical day like for you? A typical day for me is, first of all, being home. Through-out a day I can keep myself pretty well occupied of course, with my music, or other arts (photography, drawing) and with my own 'mini-zoo'. A lot of pets can keep you well occupied! Otherwise I just relax, I have to admit I am quite a geek, so I do sit a lot in front of the computer as well, doing things like playing the MMO Aion, haha.
 
Tell us about your current project(s)?  Currently it is mainly the working on the upcoming album, which’ll hopefully be done by summer. Besides that I’m hoping I can get some more commissions for song writing in the meanwhile.
 
Who in your life intrigued you to get into the music business? Not really anyone I suppose, I just always felt it in me that I wanted to go in to the music business, from when I was really young.  I never said that I wanted a 'normal' job, I said 'I'm going in to the music industry'. I was too stubborn to take advice or examples, from others as well, so it’s just completely my choice.
 
In 2010 what was your greatest accomplishment(s)?   Nothing big happened in 2010 sadly enough, besides the preliminary work for the full CD, though composing the soundtrack for that documentary lingered on for a while, because I started near the end of 2009, so the events for it went on even after the year had become 2010.
 
What are your goal(s) for 2011?   Completing my album and hopefully spreading out the word of my music more successfully. I also hope to focus more on my other arts, I've been slacking off with my drawing you see.
 
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Hopefully much more further in my career and wiser than I am now, I don't want to become 'majorly' big but I want to grow enough to be able to continue making my music as it is now.
 
Where do you see the industry in 5 years?   I rather not think of anything about the industry. Though seeing digital distribution becoming even more widespread would be nice!
 
If you could work with any artist(s) in the music industry who would it be? I have so many artists I could pick, but I suppose right now, people like 'Mika'. He's one of those few that nearly does everything himself as well, his music is his own...I like that in musicians.
 
What’s your secret, how do you come up with your material? My secret is just life in general. I can not really write my songs when 'too happy'. I have faced many obstacles sadly enough, but I'm not all that sad about it in the end as it gives me good writing material.
 
What's your final words you want to express to your readers?   'It doesn't matter what you do, or what you are, what matters is WHO you are.'

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