Astrid Roelants (; born 18 April 1983), known professionally as Ameerah, is a Belgian singer and songwriter based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, United States.

Early life

Roelants was raised by

adoptive parent Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

s in

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

Flemish Brabant Flemish Brabant ( ; ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and East Flanders. Flemish Brabant also ...

. She is of Tunisian and Algerian descent.

Career

In 2003, Roelants was a contestant in the first season of , the Belgian version of the ''Idol'' franchise. She participated in the live shows and got a record deal right after. In 2004, she competed to represent Belgium in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2004 The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Istanbul, Turkey, following the country's victory at the with the song " Everyway That I Can" by Sertab Erener. Organised by the European B ...

with the song "Don't Stop the Music", placing seventh in the national final. With the song she achieved chart success in Belgium. In 2009, her single " The Sound of Missing You" became an international hit, reaching number three on the ''Billboard''

Hot Dance Airplay Dance/Mix Show Airplay (formerly Hot Dance Airplay) is a monitored electronic dance music radio chart that is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart came about as a result of the small but influential impact of electronic dance musi ...

chart in the United States. A

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

ed version by Wildboyz released in 2010 charted in Belgium, the Netherlands and Romania. In 2010, Roelants appeared as a featured artist on the single " Freaky Like Me" by the Norwegian duo

Madcon Madcon is a Norwegian musical duo formed in 1992 by Yosef Wolde-Mariam and Tshawe Baqwa. They have released eight albums as of 2018, and became known for their 2007 cover of the 1967 song "Beggin'" by The Four Seasons. They took their name from ...

. The song charted in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Romania and the United Kingdom, and reached number one on the Norwegian singles chart. She achieved a golden record in Germany and went double platinum in Norway. Roelants has also featured in songs by Regi,

Turbo B Durron Maurice Butler (born April 30, 1967), known as Turbo B, is an American rapper and beatboxer. He was once the frontman of the German electronic music group Snap! After completing a period of service with the United States Army in Germany, ...

and

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

. In November 2022, Roelants was announced as one of seven participants in ''Eurosong 2023'', the Belgian national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2023 The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, as , the winner of the with the song "Stefania (song), Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, was unable to host the eve ...

. Her candidate entries "Armageddon" and "The Carnival" were both co-written with American singer-songwriter

Zac Poor Zachary Scott Poor is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, California who first appeared on the music scene in early 2010 with his EP, "Let's Just Call it Heartbreak", a collaboration with Glee producer Adam Anders. Universal Motow ...

and produced by Morgan Taylor Reid. She ultimately selected "The Carnival" as her entry for the final, held on 14 January 2023.

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ameerah 1983 births Living people Belgian expatriates in the United States Belgian people of Tunisian descent Belgian people of Algerian descent Belgian songwriters Belgian women pop singers Belgian pop singers Musicians from Leuven English-language singers from Belgium