Linda Mertens
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Linda Mertens, born July 20, 1978, in Wilrijk, Belgium, is the female singer for the group Milk Inc. She currently resides in Herentals, Belgium. Her childhood was very nice, only her parents divorced when she was 3. Furthermore her brother died in a car accident. She studied Art and after high school, she went 2 years to a Hairdresser school. She never really liked hairdressing, so she did some other jobs.
It was Linda's dream to be an performing artist. She started her dream with a group called Secret Fantasy, but it never broke through. Linda went to club Illusion with some friends and she found the courage to ask Regi if needed a singer for a project and if she could do some auditions. She didn't knew Regi was looking for a new Milk Inc. singer. He gave her his number and after a few weeks she contacted him for a first audition. After a second audition where she had to sing and dance, she was chosen to be Milk Inc.'s newest singer. Before Linda heard the decision, she just had started working in a factory. So she was very happy she got the job and finally her singing carreer started.
Land Of The Living was the first song by Linda in 2000 and of course, she also had to start performing together with Regi. The launch of the new Milk Inc. was at Hitkracht. Her first trip to Africa was in October, where they stayed 5 days. Also something new was recording a video for Land Of The Living. To finish her first months as Milk Inc. singer, they received the award "Best national song Walk On Water" and also released the album "Land Of The Living".
In 2001, she got used to performing and another song was released, "Livin' A Lie" and they made a second video. In the Netherlands, they won the award for "Best International Dance Act". Never Again was the third single for Linda, together with a 3rd video. Touring in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Germany,... releasing walk on water in The Netherlands and Germany, Milk Inc.'s success was getting bigger. To proove they were so successful, they even won 2 awards "Best Dance National" and "Best Video National". Song number 4 "Wide Awake" was released and also a "Best Of"-album Double Cream. In December she released a cover called "Oh Baby I" together with 4 other singers (Kate Ryan, Pascale Feront (Absolom), Maaike (The Quest) and Esther). She also posed twice for the magazine P-magazine in 2001.
In 2002, they released Sleepwalker and Breathe Without You. They won the award for Best Dance Act. In the UK, they released In My Eyes, Walk On Water and Land of The Living, but also the album Milk Inc. In March, Radio Donna celebrated their 10th Birthday, Milk Inc. transformed a part of the song Never Again into Donna 4 Life. They toured in the UK, Spain, Canada,... Together with other artist, Linda and Regi made a song called "Feest voor iedereen" for the childrens hospital at Leuven.
2003, touring and releasing new songs. Time and The sun always Shines On Tv were released. Touring in Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, but also performances in Poland, Denmark,... In October, they received the award for Best Dance Act and released the new album "Closer". The Sun Always Shines on Tv was released in several countries, like Switzerland, Germany,... For the 3rd time, Linda posed for P-magazine.
In 2004, they released I Don't Care, a duet with Linda's best friend Silvy (from Sylver). A nice video was made and this song almost reached the top of the charts.
During these years, Linda prooved several times she can sing live. At programs like "Notenclub", she showed everybody she's more then a pretty face. On stage, you'll always see a sheerfull Linda with one goal, making her fans happy.
