Jessy

Jessy De Smet was born on 8 July 1976 in Zottegem, Belgium, into a family of musicians. Her mother is the singer Rita Roelandt, and her parents regularly performed with Belgian artist Willy Sommers, who invited the young Jessy to record a single with him, “Twee Vrienden”, when she was only eight years old.

She later collaborated with Marijn De Valck on the song “Vang het licht”, with all proceeds donated to the Belgian Autism Federation. At twelve, she joined her parents’ group, the “Jennifer Band”, as a singer.

Her electronic music career truly took off in 1996 when she met The MacKenzie. Their first single, “I Am Free”, became a major club hit. As Mackenzie featuring Jessy, the duo went on to score hits with tracks such as “Love”, “You Got to Get Up”, and especially “Innocence”, released in June 1998.

“Innocence” was a huge success, selling more than 25,000 copies in Belgium, earning them a gold record and the distinction of being the longest-charting song of 1998, which brought them the UltraTop Dance Chart Award. They confirmed this success with “Falling in Love” in September 1998, which also went gold, followed by songs such as “Alive”, “Out of Control” and “The Rain”.

In April 1999, the album “Angel” entered the charts directly at number one—a first for a dance album in Belgium—and won the TMF Award for Best Album of 1999. Jessy was also nominated for Best Female Singer and Best Dance Act.

The collaboration with Mackenzie continued with the singles “Emotions”, “Be My Lover”, “For You” and “All I Need”, and ended with “Walk Away” in April 2001. After this very intense period, Jessy decided to take a break to rediscover the pleasure of singing, and performed with the cover band “Made In Belgium”.

In 2001, she left the The Mackenzie project for good to start a solo career. She then began a new project with renowned Belgian producers Regi Penxten and Filip Vandueren.