Biography
Annisette serves as lead vocalist for Savage Rose and has long performed and been credited under that single forename, although her birth name was Annisette Hansen and she later adopted the full name Annisette Koppel upon her marriage to the band’s Thomas Koppel. Her piercing, high-register delivery—marked by a keening quality that echoes aspects of Kate Bush’s style, despite Bush’s recording career beginning a decade afterward—has formed a core element of Savage Rose’s sound from the moment she entered the lineup in the late 1960s. Like the work of certain other stylistically singular vocalists such as Bush and Bob Dylan, her approach tends to divide audiences sharply, with some listeners finding it intolerable while others remain transfixed; regardless, once heard it proves unmistakably distinctive and impossible to mistake for any other singer.
Public performances began for Koppel at age seven, when she appeared with traveling amusement shows and on children’s recordings. During her teenage years she absorbed heavy influence from soul music and performed with the Danish group the Dandy Swingers, taking the lead vocal on their version of Ike & Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High,” a track that gained popularity in Denmark. Drawn by the prospect of interpreting original songs, she departed the Dandy Swingers—accompanied by two fellow members—to join Savage Rose ahead of the ensemble’s first album in 1968. She subsequently married the band’s keyboardist and composer Thomas Koppel; by the middle of the 1970s the two Koppels constituted the sole survivors of the original lineup. Since that period Annisette and Thomas Koppel have sustained Savage Rose’s activities, recruiting additional musicians for both live appearances and studio work. Whereas the group’s earliest recordings were largely the product of co-writing between Thomas Koppel and his brother Anders Koppel, Annisette herself began contributing songwriting alongside Thomas in subsequent years.
Public performances began for Koppel at age seven, when she appeared with traveling amusement shows and on children’s recordings. During her teenage years she absorbed heavy influence from soul music and performed with the Danish group the Dandy Swingers, taking the lead vocal on their version of Ike & Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High,” a track that gained popularity in Denmark. Drawn by the prospect of interpreting original songs, she departed the Dandy Swingers—accompanied by two fellow members—to join Savage Rose ahead of the ensemble’s first album in 1968. She subsequently married the band’s keyboardist and composer Thomas Koppel; by the middle of the 1970s the two Koppels constituted the sole survivors of the original lineup. Since that period Annisette and Thomas Koppel have sustained Savage Rose’s activities, recruiting additional musicians for both live appearances and studio work. Whereas the group’s earliest recordings were largely the product of co-writing between Thomas Koppel and his brother Anders Koppel, Annisette herself began contributing songwriting alongside Thomas in subsequent years.
Albums
Singles
