Nicole Bus is a Dutch singer who is currently signed to

Roc Nation Roc Nation is an American entertainment company founded by Jay-Z in 2008. Headquartered in New York City, the company is a successor to his previous Roc-A-Fella Records label, with additional offices in Los Angeles and London. It serves as a re ...

. Her 2018 single, "You", is tied for the fastest debut single to reach the top of the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Adult R&B Songs The Adult R&B Songs chart (formerly called Adult R&B Airplay) is an airplay chart that is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on urban adult contemporary radio stations, whose playl ...

chart. She released her American debut studio album, ''Kairos'', in October 2019. Prior to signing to Roc Nation, Bus had released a variety of music in the Netherlands and won the

Grote Prijs van Nederland The Grote Prijs van Nederland (Dutch for "Grand Prize of the Netherlands") is a series of music awards handed out yearly since 1983 to recognize talented new Dutch musicians, both solo artists and bands. It is the largest and longest-running pop mu ...

("Grand Prize of the Netherlands") in the singer-songwriter category in 2010. She also appeared on the Dutch singing competition programs, ''

X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'' and ''

The Voice of Holland ''The Voice of Holland'', also known by its acronym ''TVOH'', is a Dutch singing reality competition television series that became a global TV format franchise, created by media tycoon John de Mol Jr. and musician Roel van Velzen in the Net ...

''.

Early life and education

Nicole Bus was born in

Nieuwegein Nieuwegein () is a municipality and city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is bordered on the north by the city of Utrecht, the provincial capital. It is separated from Vianen to the south by the river Lek and borders on IJsselstein in the ...

, Netherlands and grew up partially in the municipality of

Houten Houten () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. Population centres The municipality consists of the following towns: * 't Goy * Houten * Schalkwijk * Tull en 't Waal Houten (town) The main town in the municipality i ...

. Her father is

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

and her mother is Afro-Curaçaoan. Bus was raised in church where she sang and learned how to play a variety of instruments, including guitar, piano, drums, bass, and synthesizers. She began writing songs at age 11. When she was 16, Bus was briefly homeless after her parents separated. In 2006, however, she was a supporting act for American

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

musician,

Canton Jones Canton Dorrelle Jones (born January 9, 1977) is an American Christian rapper. Biography Early years Canton Dorrelle Jones, was born on January 9, 1977, in Deerfield Beach, Florida, and began singing at the age of five in a vocal group found ...

. She also toured as a gospel singer to locations like Israel,

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, Nicaragua, and Indonesia in 2008. She would later attend the Pop Academie in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

and the

Conservatorium van Amsterdam The Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA) is a Dutch conservatoire of music located in Amsterdam. This school is the music division of the Amsterdam University of the Arts, the city's vocational university of arts. The Conservatorium van Amsterdam ...

where she studied music and vocal work and received her diploma in 2016.

Career

In 2009, Bus won a gospel music competition. She followed that by being awarded the Grote Prijs van Nederland ("Grand Prize of the Netherlands") in the singer-songwriter category in 2010. The following year, she released the studio album, ''The Heart of the Matter'' on Bladehammer through

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Netherlands. In 2013, she auditioned for the fifth season of the Dutch singing competition series, ''X Factor'', but did advance beyond the judges. Later that year, she appeared on the fourth season of the singing competition series, ''The Voice of Holland'', where she advanced to the quarterfinals. In May 2016, she released an EP of Dutch-language tracks called ''Nederlandse Bodem'' with the singles, "Zonnestralen" and "Lopen". The project was released by the Dutch label,

TopNotch TopNotch is a Dutch record label specializing in hip-hop. The label was founded in 1995, and is run by Vincent Patty. After some commercial success (with rap acts such as De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, The Opposites, Def Rhymz, Postmen, and Extince) ...

. She later opened for Sandra van Nieuwland on several dates in November and December 2016. In March 2017, she released a Dutch-language album entitled, ''Magnolia'', also through TopNotch. She also taught music lessons at various schools during that time. Later in 2017,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

-based producer,

Needlz Khari Cain (born April 19, 1978), professionally known as Needlz, is an American record producer and songwriter. Early life and career Cain was born on April 19, 1978, in Lansing, Michigan. He began to DJ while an undergraduate in Florida ...

, posted an

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

video featuring Bus' vocals. The Instagram video caught the attention of Roc Nation executives and prompted them to contact Needlz and Bus. In the meantime, she released an independent English-language EP entitled, ''T.O.T.A'', in late 2017. She was ultimately signed to Roc Nation in 2018. In December of that year, she released her first Roc Nation single, "You", which was produced by Needlz. The single features quoted lyrics from The Charmels' "As Long as I've Got You" and a sample of the

Wu Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop collective formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its members include RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and, until his death in 2004, Ol' Dir ...

's " C.R.E.A.M.". It also became a radio hit in the US, reaching 5.5 million listeners by January 2019 and ultimately topping the ''Billboard'' Adult R&B Songs chart in a record-tying amount of time for a debut single (8 weeks). "You" also received several remixes, including those from

Ghostface Killah Dennis David Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang ...

and

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. An influential figure in modern Hip-hop, hip hop music, Rick Ross has become known for his "Wiktionary:booming, booming" vocal perfor ...

. In the ensuing months, Bus performed at a number of events, including Summer Jam, Femme It Forward, and the

Essence Music Festival The ESSENCE Festival of Culture is the largest African-American culture and music event in the US. The annual music festival started in 1995 in New Orleans, Louisiana to celebrate the 25th anniversary of ''Essence (magazine), Essence'' magazine. ...

. She also opened for

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

on his "Let Love Tour" in July 2019. That month, she released her second single, "Mr. Big Shot", which would also reach the Adult R&B Songs chart, peaking at number 19. In August of that year, she performed a

Tiny Desk Concert ''Tiny Desk Concerts'' is a video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of former '' All Songs Considered'' host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C. The first ''Tiny Desk Concert'' came about in 2008 after Boilen and NPR Music ed ...

for

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

. On 18 October 2019, she released her American debut studio album, ''Kairos'', on Roc Nation. "Kairos" is the Greek word for "appointed time". The album is co-produced by Bus herself, Needlz, and TL Cross.

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bus, Nicole Dutch women singers Roc Nation artists English-language singers from the Netherlands Dutch people of Curaçao descent Dutch soul singers Capitol Records artists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)