Suzanne Doucet Bio (english)

SUZANNE DOUCET Biography 2021 by Jonathan Widran

In 2015, the 50th anniversary of Suzanne Doucet’s German language single “Bunter Drachen,” director Guy Ritchie tapped the singer’s hipster tune for the soundtrack of his spy film “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” Released on the heels of her breakthrough hit, a German version of The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” the song primed Suzanne for a stellar career in pop music – including signing with Liberty Records and releasing her first U.S. single (the Bee Gees’ “Swan Song”) and her album Suzanne Doucet International, recorded in seven different languages.

Deciding to take a sabbatical from the music business in 1970, the visionary artist and multi- instrumentalist embarked on a deeply spiritual, consciousness expanding odyssey which led to the recording of Trip/Flip-Out/Meditation (under the name Zweistein), a krautrock sound collage on Phonogram Records that launched her expansive, multi-faceted career in new age music. Nearly two decades before there was a Billboard chart and Grammy category devoted to the increasingly popular genre, Suzanne released groundbreaking albums like Body and Chakra Meditation and The Meadow and the Tree, which provided the soundtrack for spiritual teachings by renowned German psychologist Thorwald Detlefsen. In 1974, she recorded In Essig & Oel, and in 1979, “Reisefieber,” the very first New Age Song Album in Europe. With “Reisefieber,” she started her own record label ISIS MUSIC in Germany – a first, since at the time there were no other artist owned labels in Europe.

Over the past five decades, Suzanne has established herself as one of the foremost authorities on the genre worldwide. While releasing an incredible total of more than 60 popular, influential albums, she has launched three record labels (including Beyond and Only New Age Music) and the publishing company Only New Age Music; opened and ran the world’s first specialized new age music retail outlet (also called Only New Age Music) in Los Angeles; co-founded the globally popular sites NewAgeMusic.com and NewAge Universe.com and the New Age Music Circle (https://Newagemusik.ning.com. Founding the International New Age Music Network in 1987, she produced and directed three international New Age Music Conferences (with over 500 members of the community attending) and the first New Age/World Music Festival at L.A.’s Wiltern Theater that featured performances by, among others, Paul Horn, Steven Halpern, Steve Kindley, Dik Darnell, Tim Wheater and Jai Uttal. The New Age Network currently has a membership of 2,000-plus. In the 2000s, Suzanne released the albums Resonance with Gary Miraz, Tantra Zone with Tajalli, Shasta – Sacred Mountain and As It Is Now, a collection of tracks from various previous albums. Over the past decade, reflecting her range of styles within the new age realm, she has released a dynamic array of digital singles, including “Spirit Walk,” the ambient introspective track “Moon Valley,” the desert meditation and shamanic drumming piece “Gobi,” “Before Dawn” (with Paul Landry). Her other releases on Only New Age Music include her Sounds of Nature series (20 albums) and Tranquility (20 albums) and two compilation albums with 20 • excerpts each with Chuck Plaisance. When “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” was released, she also enjoyed a resurgence of interest for “Bunter Drachen.”

These past years have also been a fertile time for re-issues of some of Suzanne’s best loved earlier projects, starting with the vinyl re-release and first-time digital releases of several key mid-80s recordings, including her two Reflecting Light albums (Vol. 1 and 2) and Brilliance (with Tajalli), and the vinyl re-issues of Transformation and Transmission (with Christian Buehner) from this same period. In July 2019, the Dark Entries label in San Francisco reissued a unique five pack vinyl collection featuring all five albums. In addition, Trip/Flip-Out/Meditation was released on vinyl on Wah Wah Records in Spain and CD Captain Trip in Japan. “Shiva’s Dance,” a track from Brilliance, was included on the I Am the Center 3-LP vinyl set of European pioneers of New Age Music by Light in the Attic. Fans eager to explore the artist’s early pop days were rewarded with the release of Wo sind all die schonen Jahre, a collection culled from her German singer-songwriter albums, released by the Sireena/Fuego label in Germany. Suzanne’s renown and expertise in the production, distribution and promotion of new age music has led to her current busy practice as a creative music consultant for small genre labels and artists. From signing with labels and securing royalties via SoundExchange to hands-on production and album art issues, she has provided valuable information for Sequoia Records, Real Music, TruArtRecords, First Light Music, Liquid Mind, Sonic Images (with ex-Tangerine Dream member Christopher Franke), the Chilean group Akwara and Aladdin Records. In this capacity, she also directed and co-produced with Chris Toussaint the video for “Star Flight,” which received the Silver Award at the Houston International Film & Video Festival.

Suzanne’s Grammy winning and Grammy nominated clients have included Michael Hoppe, Steven Halpern, Peter Kater, Omar Akram, Laura Sullivan, White Sun and Ricky Kej/Wouter Kellerman. Suzanne earned a Grammy participation certificate for her contributions to the Grammy winning Kej/Kellerman album Winds of Samsara. Her roster also includes genre greats Sangeeta Kaur, Liquid Mind, Paul Adams, Anaya Music, Lawrence Blatt, Fiona Joy, Ann Licater, Grayhawk, Lia Scallon, Golana, Valerie Romanoff, Samir Bodhi and a.m.o. She has been working for many years with a team of top professional PR, marketing and distribution specialists, including Beth Ann Hilton (The B Company), Greg Steffen (National Music Marketing), Ed and Stacey Bonk (LAZZ Promotions), Clay Pasternack (CPI Distributions). Suzanne’s early pop success led to her become a prime- time TV pop show hostess whose guests included Yes, the Bee Gees, Grateful Dead, Keith Emerson and David Bowie. In 1972, she starred in the musical “Godspell” with Donna Summer in Munich, Zurich and Vienna and later performed in numerous TV plays and musicals with top European actors. Fifteen years and a lifetime away from those experiences, she had relocated to Los Angeles, where she connected with so many new age artists and fans that the only logical step was to open the New Age Only store on Melrose. For five years (1987-92), paralleling the early years of 94.7 KTWV The Wave in Los Angeles when the station played a lot of new age artists, the store became a hub for artists and • aficionados alike, attracting a high profile clientele that included Robert Redford, Sylvester Stallone, Prince, Steve Martin, Michael Nouri, William Shatner, Sonia Braga and others. The stores quick success led to a high-profile article in the LA Times and on the local CBS News affiliate.

“I devote my total being to whatever I’m doing,” Suzanne says. “I was always an artist, and when I was a little girl, I was painting, writing poems, always finding new ways to express myself. My mother was a theatre actress who noticed that I had a nice singing voice signed me up for music competitions in Munich, which led to many of my early opportunities. My father who was a psychologist had studied with Carl Jung, and my fascination for his work led me to my passion for researching the metaphysics of music, specifically the Pythagorean school of harmonics. “Along the way,” she adds, “I’ve learned from my own experiences as an artist and from those of my wonderful clients the qualities musicians and composers need to become successful in the new age genre. The music should be impersonal, designed to encourage listeners to get into a certain open conscious state of mind, free of stress. It should have meditational, healing and relaxation qualities, with a conscious intentional message. New age music should never be about the ego or brilliance of any individual artist but about serving the emotional and spiritual needs of people and uplifting the soul.”

"I devote my total being to whatever I'm doing," says Suzanne Doucet, co-founder of Only New Age Music and the International New Age Music Network & Conference. This principle is the underlying factor in Doucet's success and has seen her through many transitional phases of her illustrious career.

Suzanne Doucet is a former entertainment Star from Europe, Co-Founder of NewAgeMusic.com, NewAgeUniverse.com and the New Age Music Circle. She became one of the pioneers in the NEWAGEMUSIC industry in West Germany and is now recognized as one of the foremost authorities on the subject worldwide. She has lived in the USA since 1983.

It all began in West Germany where as a three year old, Doucet discovered an innate talent for all art forms. Instinctively, she was always drawing, playing music, singing, writing, etc. By the age of 18, Suzanne was an established POP-STAR in Germany. Her earliest songwriting ventures centered on poetic lyrics dealing with life, love and other deep issues. But in order to get an opportunity to record these 'message' songs, she initially performed a variety of POPTUNES. She was several times #1 in Germany with songs such as the cover version of "Be my Baby" and many others. Her first self produced visionary album was called "Red as a Ruby," which today still receives consistent air play in Europe.

She also made her mark as a composer , as an actress and a T.V. Moderator and was seen regularly on nationwide T.V. in Germany and Switzerland. During this period she also learned everything from dubbing, directing, scriptwriting, engineering and editing to producing and marketing. All these skills would later be put to the test when Doucet wrote several TV plays, wrote and produced Radio & TV Commercials and began manufacturing and distributing her own products.

Suzanne signed with LIBERTYRECORDS in 1968 and recorded with LESREED (Tom Jones' producer) in England. She released her first single in the US "Swan Song" (Bee Gees) and recorded "Suzanne Doucet International" an album in seven different languages. Suzanne had already traveled all Europe, the far East and the United states by the age of 25, when she took a sabbatical from the music business to go on a spiritual odyssey. She financed her travels by releasing a consciousness - expanding sound collage trilogy Trip/Flip out/Meditation. on Phonogram in 1970. She returned in 1971 and continued her work in the music business.

For the next ten years, she developed her own style of new age music while exploring many areas of metaphysics including astrology, music therapy, tarot, yoga and the cabbalah. "This was my going within period," says Doucet. "My father who is a psychologist had studied with Carl GustavJung and this led to my researching the metaphysics of music, specifically the Pythagorean school of harmonics." She also headed up the A&R department for a small record label in Munich and produced over 30 records with German and French artists. She wrote many songs for herself and her colleagues. Well known artists such as Mirreille Matthieuw, Wencke Myrre, Mike Brandt, Rex Gildo, Margot Werner, Udo Juergens, Vivi Bach, Anja Hauptmann, Judy Winter, Thomas Fritsch a.m.o have recorded Suzanne's songs, and she worked with Stars such as Donna Summer, Keith Forsey, Harold Faltermeyer and many others. In 1974 she married the actor Raphael Wilczek. She recorded "In Essig & Oel" in 1975 the first New Age Song Album in Europe. And in 1976 Suzanne's daughter Natascha was born in Munich.

Suzanne formed her own Isis Music record label in 1979 and released her second New Age Song Album "Reisefieber". This revolutionary label included her music as well as collaborator, Christian Buehner and artists Karl Schaffner, Lothar Grimm, and Al Gromer Khan. Inspired by the success of producing and composing two guided meditation albums for Thorwald Dethlefsen (a famous spiritual teacher in Europe), she released her first instrumental album "Transformation" (1982) followed by "Transmission" (1983) then a Sampler entitled Sounds of the New Age. In 1983 Doucet realized her life-long dream of moving with her daughter Natascha to California. With new husband James Bell, they began a grass-roots campaign of distributing Isis Music via the alternative - holistic network.

After traveling cross country several times James and Suzanne moved to Santa Cruz in Northern California where Shaman, their son was born in 1986 - to the sounds of New Age Music of course! Joel Andrews had sent Suzanne a special tape he composed to be used at childbirth. Paul Andrews, the owner of the Whole Life Expo convinced Suzanne and James to return to Hollywood where they established Only New Age Music, in 1987 the world's first specialized new age music retail outlet. From the moment the store opened in the trendy Melrose district, it became the local hub for aficionados and other visionary artists. Robert Redford, Sylvester Stallone, Prince, Steve Martin, Michael Nouri, William Schattner, Sonja Braga and other Stars bought regularly at Only New Age Music. Simultaneously, Doucet established the International New Age Music Network which has grown from 15 members to over 400.

During late 1987, Doucet established the U.S. Record label Beyond which was a combination of her creative efforts with Isis Music and with other international artists with whom she shared a passion for traditional new age music. There were 10 releases in the Only New Age Music publishing catalog including 8 Beyond titles, and two new 1990 releases. They are Sensitive Heart's debut album Heart Life & Tom Doerr's Andromeda. Also included was the award winning visual music Videotape Star Flight.Suzanne's Music "Forever" from her album "Reflecting Light was used by Shirley Maclaine on the best-seller Video and Audio Tapes "Inner Workout" and "Going Within".

Doucet's non-profit association, the International New Age Music Network met annually to connect the worldwide community at-large. INAMC 91 was the third annual international New Age Music Conference which attracted over 500 international members of the New Age Music community to gather and share their ideas. Suzanne also produced the first "New Age World Music Festival" at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles with 22 different New Age Music Artists, such as Paul Horn, Steven Kindler, Dik Darnell and Stephen Halpern.

Suzanne also maintains a busy practice as a music marketing consultant. She provides valuable information to small labels and she is currently spearheading the distribution & marketing efforts for Sequoia records, TruArtRecords, First Light Music, Liquid Mind . Previous clients included Sonic images with Ex Tangerine Dream member Christopher Franke (Celestine Prophecy), Akwara (a group from Chile) Aladdin Records. and other small labels as well as the video Star Flight, which she directed and co-produced with Chris Toussaint. Star Flight received the Silver Award at the Houston International Film & Video Festival.

She met the producer, singer and voice teacher Chuck Plaisance in 1992. They visualized a binaural audio production concept, that became reality in 1997. "Sounds of Nature". Chuck and Suzanne produced a series of 35 CDs with pure Nature Sounds and 23 CDs with Nature Sounds and Music for special markets.

Looking to the future, Doucet is optimistic about the new age music genre. Doucet's career has placed her in the forefront of the mushrooming new age music movement. "People all over the world become more and more inner directed", she says, "New Age Music is the music of the new millenium. We are all pioneers, our work is on the vibrational level, which is the essence of all being. Our inner environment and the outer environment are co-dependent. This is the reason why music is so important for our lives. Whatever I can do to bring consciousness expanding music to as many people as possible, I'll do... and I'll devote my total being to whatever I am doing!"