Lenka

Lenka (born Lenka Kripac) is an Australian singer and songwriter, known for her song "The Show" from her album Lenka, which was in advertisements, including for Old Navy. Previously known in Australia as an actress, she has appeared in Australian television serials and feature films. Lenka was born in 1978.

Early life

The daughter of a jazz musician father who had immigrated to Australia from then-Czechoslovakia and an Australian schoolteacher mother, Lenka was born and raised in "the bush", until age seven when her family moved to Sydney, where she received her schooling and music training, and started work as a musician.

Career

Acting

As a teenager Lenka studied acting at the Australian Theater For Young People, where she trained with actress Cate Blanchett at the school.[6] Lenka starred in the Australian ABC-TV drama series GP as Vesna Kapek in the 1990s. She also hosted Cheez TV and has guest starred in other Australian TV series including as Home And Away, Wild Side, Head Start, and Spellbinder. She appeared in Australian feature films The Dish and Lost Things, as well as in theatre productions.

Music

Decoder Ring

As Lenka Kripac, she was a member of the Australian electronic-rock crossover band Decoder Ring for two of their albums. She then moved to California in 2007.

After adopting her first name as her sole artistic name ("Lenka" is a common Slavic girl's name, and a common diminutive of the Slavic girl's name "Elena"), Lenka released her eponymous debut album on 24 September 2008, with "The Show" chosen to be the first single release from the set. The album peaked at number 142 on the US Billboard 200.

Lenka creates paper art type of stop-motion animated music videos for each of her singles with James Gulliver Hancock, a visual artist from Australia. The childlike appearance to all her music videos is done on purpose by the duo. Her vocal stylings are a juxtaposition of pop and layered, complicated influences.

She provided vocals on two tracks ("Addicted" and "Sunrise") on German artist Schiller's album Atemlos, released in Germany on 12 March 2010.

Exposure

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Lenka performing on the Hotel Cafe Tour at Doug Fir, in Portland, Oregon, 2008

"Don't Let Me Fall" was featured in a television commercial for Telus in Canada as well as in a Sears 2009 Christmas commercial.

"The Show", produced by Stuart Brawley, has been featured as soundtrack for an Old Navy as well as an Ugly Betty promo, the film Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, and the 2009 Spring Campaign of the Polish TV station TVN, and was promoted as an iTunes Free Single of the Week.

The songs "Trouble Is a Friend" and "Live Like You're Dying" were featured in Grey's Anatomy.

"Trouble is a Friend", "Don't Let Me Fall", "The Show", and "We Will Not Grow Old" were featured in the teen drama 90210.

"The Show" was featured in the promotional ad of InuYasha the Final act" on Animax.

"Dangerous and Sweet" was featured on an episode of The Hills.

Lenka has performed on the late-night United States network television interview shows Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and The Tonight Show singing "The Show" with her full band.

The beginning of 2009 saw Lenka tour extensively throughout the US and Canada. On 2 February 2009 Lenka performed her first sold-out show in Toronto, Canada.

In mid-2009 Lenka's album was released in Europe and Asia, with coinciding tours and festival appearances.

In Vietnam, "The Show" and "Trouble Is A Friend" were huge hits and became most played songs in public and most downloaded songs. Radio VOV3 was the first radio entity that put Lenka's "The Show" and "Trouble Is A Friend" in Vietnam.

Indian lifestyle and entertainment television channel Zee Café, part of Zee network, uses a part of the song "The Show" with lyrics "Dum Di Dum... just enjoy the show" at the end of every commercial break.

"The Show" was featured in the promotional ad of TM Malaysia.

"We Will Not Grow Old" was used in a promotional ad for Olay in the Philippines.

"Don't Let Me Fall" was used in a Coca-Cola advertisement entitled "Follow the Bubble".

"Trouble Is A Friend" is featured in TV advertisements for "The Mentalist" on TV3 in Sweden.

The Show and Trouble is a Friend were both played on the British drama Waterloo Road.

The Show is used in short adverts for DFS on the British TV channel ITV.

"The Show" is used for a short shampoo advert in Hong Kong.

"The Show" was used in the trailer for the 2010 film Easy A, which also featured the song "Trouble is a Friend".

Visual art

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Lenka's live performance and visual image has become synonymous with a naive-art, vintage craft style. These works, (known as "Lenka" on stage), are the result of collaborations with James Gulliver Hancock, an Australian visual artist and illustrator. In 2009 they had their first gallery exhibition, which took place at No. 12 Gallery in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. The exhibition included a collection of works revolving around her music including set pieces and original drawings and prints. A manifesto outlining the philosophy behind their collaboration, "We Will Not Grow Old" was written to coincide with the exhibition. Lenka sometimes involves fans in art-making, with events so far in Los Angeles (in collaboration with Poketo), Hong Kong and Malaysia. Lenka has a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in sculpture from the College of Fine Arts Sydney (COFA).