This text is taken from the Official home page from Ilse delange

Photo's by Willem Walderveen

Hi everyone! Thank you for visiting ! A year back I could have never thought that I someday might have one... Also a year back I still dreamed of all the things I experienced in this last half year.... Sometimes I sit alone and I think about it , I feel very lucky to be given such a great opportunity!

It all started 4 years ago in a small town in Holland where the dutch country music awards were being held. I never performed at that show and was nervous about it... I did a beautiful song called :"Where I used to have a heart" written by Craig Bickhardt.That night probably was one of the most important nights of my life, but I didn't know that at that time. After the show was over I met Menno Timmerman who at that time worked for BMG Holland. Menno stayed in touch with me over the last couple of years sending me loads of cd's and also trying to push me forward on projects that BMG did.

Nothing really happened there but when Menno started to work for Warner Holland everything changed. You see, at the awardshow there was also someone there from Warner Nashville, Bob Saporiti, who also had heard me sing but I didn't get introduced to. When Menno made the connection to Nashville about me, with plans to maybe do some kind of "joint venture" , Bob still knew who I was and not only because of the awardshow but also because my booking agent saw him at the Canadian country music awards and quickly gave him a demo tape of mine while Bob was already in the elevator! Bob was someone who was already looking around Europe to find someone who could make his dream come true and that was "Global Peace Through Countrymusic"... Well, he started to believe he found it when all the little pieces of the puzzle fell in place. Instead of a "joint venture" I got signed right away in Nashville!!! My dream had come true! I had a say in everything, I made a list of producers I wanted to work with and and after meeting some I chose Barry Beckett. That was one of the best choices I made in my life! (anyone who knows him, knows!) I picked all the songs myself and even co-wrote four of them.... I also chose the background singers and I'm very proud to say that Vince Gill is one of them.

Well I guess what is most important in this whole story is that you have to follow your heart and put the willpower behind it together with a stubborn head and you can go far! Don't get me wrong I know this all can come to an end with the blink of an eye, I'm probably the most skeptic person I know, but they can never take away this experience and I feel blessed that a Godgiven gift has taken me this far!! It showed me never to let go of dreams. I have a lot of people to thank for showing their belief in me and guiding me into the right direction, of course most of all my parents for giving me the freedom to do this and showing their support always! Now I could make a list with all the names but I think that the persons

I'm talking about know who they are, they should ...... Anyway, this is my story so far..... so far so good...... As I climb the ladder further or go down on it , the most important thing is to remember who I am and where I came from! Thank you for taking the time to read this..