Kerli Biography

Kerli Kõiv was born in the small town of Elva in southern Estonia on February 7th, 1987, and has one younger sister Eliisa. At the time of her birth and through the first four years of her life, Estonia was Soviet occupied, which Kerli found restrictive and the mindset of people in her town was discouraging to her creativity, as the expectation was to be 'normal' and aspirations of success were looked down upon. Kerli has said that while communist rule in Estonia ended while she was very young, the attitudes of the people, especially in small towns such as Elva, took a much longer time to change.

As a child music was a notable absence from Kerli's life as she only owned one cassette by Bonnie Tyler. When Kerli began to develop an interest in singing, she went to a record shop and asked for 'something good', which turned out to be a Best Of Björk CD, which she fell in love with. She has cited Björk as a major influence in her music, and although she, at the time, hated living around such a communist mindset, it actually gave her the will to strive to do well for herself as she knew she would have to work hard to break into the music industry coming from such an obscure place.



In 2002, Kerli entered the singing competition Laulukarussell, and won with her rendition of the song "Bridge Over Troubled Water". In the same year, Kerli competed in Fizz Superstar by lying about her age, and again won, leading to her being signed to the record label Universal Sweden. However, before releasing any material, Kerli was dropped from the label when the person who signed her was fired. Recognising her talent, she was signed to an independent label by the same person, but this label went bankrupt, leaving Kerli with little to show for all the hard work she had done at such a young age.



In her early teens while Kerli was discoverng music, her negative surroundings and oversensitivity to the negative emotions around her cused her to experience suicidal periods, duing which time she used music as an escape. Though not religious, Kerli sought on supernatural spirits to give her strength, and she reated her own 'fairy world' within her own head to escape from the pain in her life. Whie her upbringing in Estonia was tough, she does not resent the country, as her experiences there shaped her into the success she is today, and she often talks of it as a beautiful country. Recently, Kerli also shot the music video for her set-up single 'Army of Love' in Estonia.

At the age of 16, Kerli decided to move to Stockholm to continue trying to seal a record deal, and competed in the Melodifestivalen in 2003, but was eliminated in the semi-final stage. The following year, Kerli came second in Eurolaul competing to represent Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song she had written called 'Beautiful Inside'. Kerli spent 2 years in Stockholm, and while working with many producers during that time, she was making very little money and has since said she had to live off rice for 3 months and lived in very shabby accommodation.

It was around this time Kerli felt suicidal, and her song lyrics were very dark as she struggled to sign a record deal, and having left school early, she knew it would be difficult for her to get a good job outwith music. More important to her, however, was her need to make music and her will to prove the world wrong which kept her going through the hardships when no-one else believed in her. By the age of 18, Kerli realised she was not going anywhere in Stockholm, so made the difficult decision to move to the United States.

At the age of 18, Kerli decided moving to the US was the best option for her career, which turned out to be the best move possible because in 2006, she had an audition with L.A. Reid, CEO of Island Def Jam Music Group and responsible for the success of a wide spectrum of household names, and was quickly signed to Island Def Jam.

Though by this time Kerli had been writing songs for many years, it was only then she could definitely begin putting songs together for an album release, and she worked with songwriter and producer David Maurice on her debut album. The songs written were honest and autobiographical, as even at such a young age, Kerli had been on a long emotional journey and Maurice was keen to allow her to transpose this into her song lyrics. The resulting album is atypical of the stereotypical 'blonde bimbo' pop singer, which would have been an easy path to fame for Kerli to take, but she wanted to keep integrity and be honest in her lyrics, even if it the result would not gain much radio airplay.

A self-titled EP was released in 2007, containing the songs "Walking On Air" and "Love is Dead" from her subsequent album, and a cover of the Bauhaus track "She's In Parties".

1. Love is Dead
2. "Walking on Air"
3. "The Creationist"
4. "I Want Nothing"
5. "Up Up Up"
6. "Bulletproof"
7. "Beautiful Day"
8. "Creepshow"
9. "Hurt Me"
10. "Butterfly Cry"
11. "Strange Boy"
12. "Fragile"
13. "Heal" (iTunes bonus track)

Kerli has lent her voice and songwriting talents to several causes to try and gain more exposure for her music.

Kerli's song "Walking On Air" was used in the US show "So You Think You Can Dance?", and her song "Creepshow" was used in the video game "Burnout Paradise". "Walking On Air" was also used in an ad for the American TV show "Fringe" before it premiered on Fox. She was also chosen to write and sing the song "When Nobody Loves You" for the "Quantum of Solace" video game, and her song "Bulletproof" was used in the soundtrack of the game "Punisher: War Zone". Furthermore, Kerli performed at the horror film "Scream Awards", and in 2009, won a "European Border Breakers Award" for her album "Love is Dead".

In January 2010, it was announced that Kerli would be contributing two songs to the upcoming Disney film by Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland's accompanying album Almost Alice. The first is "Tea Party", which she wrote with her friend Brian Ziff, and of which a music video was later made, and the other is a collaboration with German rock band Tokio Hotel called "Strange."

These songs alongside "Walking On Air" were performed by Kerli in February 2010 at the Alice in Wonderland Ultimare Fan Event.

Kerli is currently working on her second studio album, which should be released by this summer, perhaps even in spring, but as of yet, she is keeping almost all details close to her chest. She coined the phrase 'Bubblegoth' to describe the style of her new music, but beyond that, she is revealing very little. Kerli has said the tone will be lighter than that of 'Love is Dead' and the sound will be more poppy with ethereal tones, as she wants it to become a radio hit, but promises not to compromise her integrity and will never use sex to sell her music. The theme of the album is 'overcoming obstacles' but she says it is tackled in a more light-hearted way, though with that slightly creepy twist we have come to expect from Kerli.



Kerli has revealed she has a definite theme for the album, but revealing any specific details about it would give it away, so as of yet, a name has not been given out. She is however confident that her label believe in it enough to push it far enough into the public view for it to be picked up by radio stations across the US, and hopefully into other parts of the world as well.

On December 16th, 2010, the music video for the promotional single "Army Of Love" designed to create buzz before the release of her first single, was released after a series of 5 video blogs on the website Popeater, and a free download is provided on her website. This music video was filmed in Estonia, where she spent two weeks making props and costumes for herself and the other cast, and the song describes the power of love, rather contrasting to the tone of "Love is Dead".

"Army of Love" is now available on US iTunes, and while it was not intended to become a single, it is doing well, so far reaching No. 2 in the Billboard 100 Dance charts.

Since 2006, Kerli has developed a fan community which she calls 'Moonchildren." She often wears three dots on her face, representative of the three qualities of a Moonchild -

Integrity, Love and Unity

. She has said that one does not need to be a Kerli fan to be a Moonchild, and the only requirements are to believe in and represent those three human qualities.

In October 2010, Kerli announced her new website Moonchild Academy, on which she posts contests, Moonchild 'missions', games, video tutorials, personal blogs and photos.

Kerli has some interesting beliefs and unusual perspectives on life, that I think are better described through direct quotes than simply an explanation, which would never do them justice.

"I make dark things beautiful and beautiful things dark."

"I think sex and food in society are two things that should be just natural, but we've turned them into something perverse by over focusing."

On her new album: "Let's build this house with our own hands and by the time people come around to see, it will be the most beautiful, special house ever built."

"I'm not wearing my struggle as a badge of honor cause that's not what it's about."

"The little creepy girl was my persona for the last album. This album will have a new persona, new voice, new sound, new outlook. I think I'm always gonna make concept albums."

On the sound of her new album: "It's all poppy but the soundscapes are totally fantastical and the concepts are not poppy. I think it's gonna be totally different from anything else out there."

On spirituality: "When I feel dark, I just ask for the angels to be with me and clear the space around me of all energy but the energy of love."

"I guess if I had to define art, I would say it's someones interpretation of whatever energy they're surrounded by"

"Life is just epic with all it's beauty and pain but we're oh so insignificant and if the world disappeared, it wouldn't matter much."

On Karma: "I believe that what you put out, you will receive tenfold."

"My concepts and visuals are heavily inspired by a lot of spiritual material and ethereal beings"

Thank you very much for reading - I hope you enjoyed it! I will update as news is revealed about Kerli's new album, so watch out for updates. Please leave a comment or a suggestion on what else I could add in the Guestbook below.