Rachel Denis
Rachel was born in 1978 in Poortugaal, the Netherlands. A few years later the family van Weissenbruch moved to Paramaribo, Suriname. When Rachel was about six years old her parents discovered she had a talent for music; she had a cute little toy-piano, where the black keys were painted on the white ones. One day she played the intro of Kool and the Gang's "Cherish my love" for her parents. They were very surprised, especially when Rachel complained about missing keys (obviously the painted black ones!) that she couldn't find on the piano!..... That's when mom and dad decided to have Rachel take piano lessons and that is when it all began.......
Growing up in a musical family Rachel enjoyed the perfect conditions to develop her talent. Her father Marcel van Weissenbruch plays the guitar and is a former member of the band "The Devils", which was very popular in the sixties. Booker T and the MG's, George Benson, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Nat King Cole, Otis Redding, Diana Ross, Natalie Cole, Astrud Gilberto, Tom Jobim..... those were the sounds that were heard in the house while growing up.
By the time she was twelve, Rachel played the piano very well. By now her interest in classical music began to fade and shifted to pop-music. Rachel listened to songs such as Promise Me by Beverly Craven and It Must Have Been Love by Roxette and played them from just listening to the music. This was "more fun" than reading from sheet music! In this period, Rachel also started singing. "I never intended to have a singing career, I just started singing along with the songs I played on the piano and tried to imitate the artists as well as I could...."