Suzanne Doucet
Biography 2000Suzanne Doucet is a former pop star from Europe, the President & Founder of Only New Age Music, Inc. and the International New Age Music Network. She became one of the pioneers in the new age music 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.
"I devote my total being to whatever I'm doing," says Suzanne Doucet, president of Only New Age Music, Inc. (a conglomerate that includes, the Onam/Beyond record label and marketing-consulting services) and founder of 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.
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 17, 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 pop tunes. 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," (Rot wie Rubin) which today still receives consistent air play in Europe.
She also made her mark as a composer , as an actress and a television host 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 Liberty Records in 1968 and recorded with Les Reed (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 travelling 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 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 in 1998 for special markets.
She has been serving on the GRAMMY screening committee for the New Age Genre since 13 years, helping to define the guidelines for New Age Music. In 1995 Suzanne and James reserved the URL for NewAgeMusic.com and have been working on creating the # 1 resource site for New Age Music.
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!"