Yesterday (12), Xandria revealed they had no choice but to cancel their North American tour, which was supposed to kick off at the end of this month. Their reasons were unclear, aside from stating, “our singer Dianne cannot perform with us for the time being.” The group found a quick solution by recruiting Aeva Maurelle from Aeverium to step in for their European tour in November and December.
The German symphonic metal outfit hasn’t had much luck with long-lasting vocalists since the departure of Lisa Middelhauve from 2008. Back in 2013, the group parted ways with their vocalist of three years, Manuela Kraller, and replaced her with Dianne van Giersbergen. Four years and two albums later, the Dutch vocalist announces, “I AM LEAVING XANDRIA.”
Read her full statement below:
“I’M LEAVING XANDRIA.
The moment I promised you and me that would never come is here: I am leaving Xandria. And the reason is simple: staying in the band would cause further damage to the health problems the band has caused me.
For nearly 2 years now I’ve been trying to put band and management issues on the table, with the soul reason to keep this band healthy, together and ready for the future. Today I am sad to say that my attempts failed and have been ignored, that my cries for help have been met with financial threats and emotional extortion and that my persistence to keep on going, ignoring all the warning signs, has left me with uncontrollable stress symptoms (confirmed by doctors). I am a fighter, but I’ve come to see that this is one I cannot win. I don’t want to leave, I love the music that I got to write for you – which is 100% me – but I can’t live, can’t perform, can simply not exist in an environment that harms me. This environment does not care for me nor for the fans (even proposed me to playback in order to do more shows in a row) and somehow miraculously never generated any financial outcome and therefore no stability for any of its band members.
Yesterday evening the last hope I had of ever reconciling with the boys was shattered when they made a statement announcing that ‘I’ could not perform with the band anymore, forgetting to mention that I am in this unhealthy position because of Xandria & management. Not surprisingly they also already have a replacement for me and kicked me out of every Xandria social media page. With that they’ve send me one last clear message: they are not interested in fixing the situation nor are they willing to support me if that means (partly) stepping away from the business perspective (quote: ‘we are not friends’) which leads me to conclude what I know now: it is time for me to close this chapter and wish them the best of luck in continuing the band I loved so much.
Now, I don’t know where we will meet again, but I didn’t follow my passion, study all those hours and travel all those roads to simply give up. I’m sad to close this chapter, but I’m sure there will be another one to write. In the meantime I will be focussing on what does make me happy and I will be posting my daily business and updates on my Precious Metal Jewelry and Ex Libris stuff as usual. I very much hope to see you online so we can stay in touch and who knows, maybe one day in an audience again.
Thank you all for understanding, for your love and support!
I am forever grateful ♡
Dianne”
