Eilera, born Aurélie Potin Suau, is a French songwriter, guitarist, and producer known for her work within

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

genres.

Biography

Early life

Eilera was born Aurélie Potin Suau in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

, France on 13 August 1986. She began taking

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

lessons at the age of twelve. At the age of seventeen, Eilera began playing

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

and experimented with

metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

. At the age of nineteen she attempted to form her own metal band, but was unsuccessful in recruiting other players until she entered the metal scene in

, where she formed a band, Suspiria. The band's name was later changed to Chrysalis and they released ''Between Strength and Frailty'', a demo distributed by French record label Adipocere Records. Eilera and Chrysalis guitarist Loïc Tézénas worked on a side project called Bliss, which mixed

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

with metal music.

2003 - 2011

Chrysalis disbanded in 2003, and Eilera and Tézénas focused on the side project, now known as Eilera. In 2003, they

self-released Self-publishing is an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fr ...

their first album, ''Facettes''. In 2004, the band Eilera signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with Finnish label

Spinefarm Records Spinefarm Records is an international record label. Founded in Finland in 1990, Spinefarm was acquired by Universal Music Group in 2002. History Spinefarm Records began as a mailorder distribution company, founded by Riku Pääkkönen. The c ...

. They worked with record producer Hiili Hiilesmaa, cellist

Max Lilja Max Lilja (born 27 October 1975) is a Finnish cello player. He is best known as a founding member of the Finnish cello metal band Apocalyptica, a band he left in 2001 to join the Finnish thrash metal band Hevein. Beginning in 2007, Lilja has ...

, and drummer Antti Lehtinen to record their first album for Spinefarm, an EP titled ''Precious Moment'' (2005)''.'' In 2007, Eilera released her first solo studio album, ''Fusion,'' which she had recorded with Hiilesmaa, Lilja, and Lehtinen.

2011 - 2019

Eilera began working independently after the purchase of Spinefarm by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

. In 2011, Eilera self-released the album ''Darker Chapter… and stars''. This featured Jan Sormo on Bass, Loïc Tézénas on Guitar, and Eilera's Vocals. After touring France, Eilera ended her collaboration with Tézénas and moved to

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, where she currently resides. In Finland, Eilera worked on new collaborations, including one with Pariisin Kevät on a first album, ''Meteoriitti'', which featured French and Finnish songwriting and original compositions by Eilera. She also began collaborating with Celtic harp player Lily Neill. They practised together at

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy (, ) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki ...

and re-recorded many of Eilera's earlier songs, as well as the

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

song ''Winter''. Eilera began recording her next studio album, ''Face Your Demons'' (2016), at Finnvox with old friend

Tero Kinnunen Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Ne ...

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neval ...

, but ultimately opted for a more intimate sound and recorded the remainder of the album live in studio. Five official videos were released in support of the album, three of them shot live in studio for the songs ''Angel Made Temptress'', ''Deadly Together'' and ''Your Way''. The videos were shot by Eilera's friend Mitja Harvilahti, who collaborated with Chilean visual artist David Letelier for two of the videos for "Face Your Demons" and "Male Female Balance." In January 2019, Eilera released an acoustic-based album, ''Waves'', with a photograph taken from the

Finnvox Studios Finnvox Studios is a recording studio located in Pitäjänmäki, Helsinki, Finland. It was founded by Erkki Ertesuo, Kurt Juuranto and Lejos Inc. in 1965 and is the longest running studio recording facility in Finland. The original multi-track ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. She stated on Facebook that ''Waves'' was a Franco/Finnish/Chilean collaboration.Eilera Official Team

Discography

References

External links

www.eilera.com – official website
* https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eilera/7099274934?ref=bookmarks {{Authority control Women heavy metal singers French women singers French women singer-songwriters French singer-songwriters Living people Musicians from Montpellier Year of birth missing (living people)