Lenka Dusilová

Career

Dusilová began her career in 1988, joining the Bambini di Praga children's choir at age 13 after singing in family band RSP with her mother and brother. RSP played folk music, set to Czech and Polish poetry. During the 1990s Dusilová belonged to several groups (most notably the popular Czech pop-rock band Lucie), playing guitar and singing on several CDs. The band opened for the Rolling Stones in their 1995 show at Prague's Strahov Stadium.

Between 1991 and 1995 Dusilová led the rock band Sluníčko (Little Tiny Sun), which released an eponymous CD in 1994, won the Marlboro Rock '94 competition and opened the Open Air Gampell music festival in Switzerland. Dusilová was nominated for the 1994 "Discovery of the Year" Angel Award.

After Sluníčko she formed Pusa (Kiss) with two other former members of Lucie. Their song, "Muka" ("Wheels of Desire") was nominated for an Angel Award in 1996. She and Lucie's David Koller collaborated on two soundtracks, and several of her recent songs have been included on other soundtracks.

Dusilová won the Angel Award for best female vocalist in 2000, and has been voted best female vocalist every year since 2000 by readers of Czech music magazine Report. She performs and records with her band, Secret Service.

In addition to her solo work, since 2000 Dusilová has recorded and performed with the Czech folk-rock band Čechomor. She appeared on the band's album Proměny (Transformations), produced by Jaz Coleman. Coleman merged Czechomor's electrified traditional sound with the symphonic power of the Czech Philharmonic Collegium. Dusilová's duet with Czechomor's Franta Cerny on the CD's title song was on the Czech charts for several months in 2001 and won the Angel Award for song of the year. Proměny went multiple-platinum and won the Angel for album of the year.

Dusilová records for Universal Music, tours regularly in the Czech Republic and appears on stages throughout Europe. Her earlier solo efforts, "Lenka Dusilová" and "Spatřit světlo světa" went gold, and the single "Pro Tebe" ("For You") from her debut CD spent eight weeks in the IFPI Top 20.

2005: Mezi Světy (Between Worlds)

Dusilová's 2005 CD, Mezi Světy (Between Worlds), went gold within weeks of its release. It won the 2006 Czech Academy of Music Angel Award (the Czech Grammys) for best rock album, and Lenka won for best female vocalist. The CD was produced by Ben Yonas at Coast Recorders in San Francisco and New York with Dusilová and guitarist Martin Ledvina as co-producers. Also playing on the CD were San Francisco session musicians Jon Evans (bass) and Scott Amendola (drums).

2006–2008

During this period Dusilová toured the United States with her American band (playing with Emmylou Harris) and the Czech Republic with her Czech band, which included Czech musicians Beata Hlavenkova, Peter Binder, Rasto Uhrik and Danko Soltis from the Vertigo Quintet. She also performed and recorded with other musicians such as the Vertigo Quintet (Live u Staré Paní) and Czech songwriter and poet Jan Burian (Dívčí Válka and Muži jsou křehcí).

Eternal Seekers

Dusilová's latest project, Eternal Seekers, is a collaboration with Clarinet Factory and Beata Hlavenková. For songs she turned primarily to Bogdan Trojak, poet and winner of the Jiří Orten Prize and the Magnesia Litera literary award. Other songs draw on the poetry of František Halas; another, never recorded, was written by Dusilová at age 15 for Sluníčko.