Sanne Boomhouwer (born April 8, 1984 in Aalsmeer), who performs as Susana, is a Dutch trance music vocalist. She has collaborated with trance artists Armin van Buuren, Aly & Fila, Ernesto vs. Bastian and RAM.
Susana grew up in the Amsterdam suburb of Aalsmeer[1] and took classical singing lessons in her youth. She attended the De Brug primary school. [2]
Susana was inspired to become a songwriter after hearing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill; other inspirations include Mariah Carey and Tori Amos.[3] As a teenager she sang in a rock band named '010?, named in the classroom the band rehearsed in.[4]
At age 19, a neighbor of Susana's introduced her to producers Raz Nitzan and Adrian Broekhuyse after seeing her perform live.[4]. The meeting led to her singing on "Dark Side of the Moon", a collaboration with Dutch producers Ernesto van der Meij and Edwin Koelewijn (credited as Ernesto vs. Bastian.) The track, released on Virgin Records and Nebula Records, was featured on BBC Radio 1's "Essential Selection" show with presenter Judge Jules[5] and later remixed by Axwell and Ingrosso. Susana collaborated with Ernesto and Bastian again on their 2007 release "Stranger in Paradise".
Susana's second single was "Shivers," a collaboration with Dutch megaproducer Armin van Buuren that reached #27 on the Netherlands Single Top 100. She accompanied van Buuren on his Armin Only: Imagine tour.
Following these releases, Susana became the first trance vocalist to be signed by Armada Music as a solo artist.[2] She released her solo debut, Closer, on Armada in 2010. The album includes collaborations with Dash Berlin, Mike Shiver, Josh Gabriel and Stoneface & Terminal. Following the release she appeared again with van Buuren on his Mirage tour, performing four songs including one from Closer, "Desiderium 207."[2]
Further collaborations include "Without You" by Egyptian trance duo Aly & Fila on their album Quiet Storm which she performed in front of the pyramids of Giza,[9] and "Unbreakable" by Aly & Fila on FSOE Recordings, in which she sings in Spanish.[10] She sang on "Nothing at All" and "All Time Low" with Rex Mundi, the former of which was voted #15 in A State of Trance's year-end poll and the latter of which was promoted by Markus Schulz on his Global DJ Broadcast show.[11]
Susana won the annual Trance Podium Award for "Best Vocalist" five years in a row from 2014 to 2018.[1]
In 2016, her track "Unbreakable" with Aly & Fila was voted Tune of the Year 2016 in Armin van Buuren's radio program A State of Trance.[14]
In 2021, her track with Armin Van Buuren, "Shivers" was voted as the #1 song in the 20-year history of A State of Trance as a part of episode 1000.[15][16][17] She appeared in Armin van Buuren's studio for the presentation at the end of the episode and was given a commemorative plaque showing her performing the song at the Tomorrowland Festival. Susana had ten songs in total in the ASOT1000 list of the top 1000 songs.
