Tess Merlot

Lightning struck, the first time Tess Merlot heard Jacques Brel. From that moment on, music was all around. After playing hundreds of shows, the essence remained: allowing the human soul to reach the surface the way only French torch songs can. With original songs from Brel, Piaf en Aznavour and her own catalogue.

Motivated to share her passion and unite cultures, Tess released her first EP Chansons pour non-francophones in 2017. In 2019 she enchanted a jam-packed Paradiso with her song ‘Mon Paris’. In 2020 she toured the country with her Moutons, selling out venues such as PAARD in The Hague and TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht. Leading up to the release of her debut album ‘Laissez-moi’ in July 2021, Tess’s songs received extensive airplay on multiple popular Dutch radio stations, such as NPO Radio 1, 2, 5 and the Belgian VRT 2. In 2022 she continued her tour through the Netherlands with internationally renowned trumpet player Michael Varekamp and The Legends, bringing their show ‘Swingin’ Paris’ to a broad audience. In the first quarter of 2023 the shared the stage again with their new show ‘Helden van Toen’, right before Tess went back to WA, Australia for a two month tour. This summer she made her debut in front of an exclusively French audience while touring in the South of France. At the end of november 2023, she played a sold out show in the main hall of music venue PAARD, together with the renowned Residentie Orkest.

Whether she takes the stage with an entire orchestra or with her band, an irresistible joie de vivre is a given while chansons in their purest form are sprinkled across the room. Sometimes it’s stripped down and pure, other times grotesque and bold. Whatever it takes to do them justice. And every time Tess allows the chansons to do their work, magic appears.

In short: Tess Merlot is the perfect addition to any room that doesn’t mind a little wine getting spilled.