Biography
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Born
1 July 1976
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Born In
Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
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Died
18 April 2016 (aged 39)
Aleah Liane Stanbridge (born Julia Liane Stanbridge1 July 1976 – 18 April 2016), better known mononymously as Aleah, or Aleah Starbridge, was a South African singer-songwriter based in Örebro, Sweden where she lived until her death. In 2009, she and Finnish guitarist Juha Raivio founded death/doom inspired band Trees of Eternity. Aleah became well known in the rock and metal genre for her collaborations such as Swallow the Sun and Amorphis.
She released a dark folk/gothic rock demo under the name "Aleah" in 2007.
Some time in 2008, Stanbridge became lead singer of an obscure band, That Which Remains.
In mid-2009, she met guitarist Juha Raivio from Swallow the Sun, who was looking for a soloist to work on the song "Lights on the Lake" for the upcoming album New Moon. The plan was to feature Aleah's vocals on part of the song already prepared by Juha, but when they instead began to experiment with a vocal line Aleah had written for the occasion the session quickly headed off in a new direction took on a life of its own. Stanbridge and Raivio new musical collaboration project was named Trees of Eternity, a doom metal band with an ambient folk sound and ghostly female vocals, with Stanbridge as the vocals and lyricist, and Juha on guitars. The band worked on a four-song promo, Black Ocean and was released in 2013 on the internet with great response, as well sent limited signed physical copies to fans.
In 2012, Aleah returned as a guest for Swallow the Sun's album Emerald Forest and the Blackbird and appeared in the music video for song "Cathedral Walls", which featured Swedish singer Anette Olzon who was in Nightwish at the time.
In 2015, she sang as a guest on Under the Red Cloud by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis.
The same year she was yet again on Swallow the Sun's album Songs from the North I, II & III. Not only did she provide vocals, she also worked on the band's photo shoot and coverart for the album.
On 18 April 2016, at 2:13 pm, the Swedish band Draconian's Facebook page announced the death of the singer, the news was also carried by several online articles. Her death was confirmed, two days later, by Juha Raivio. Juha also confirmed that the Trees of Eternity debut album will be released as planned and was in the post-production phase. The album was released on 11 November 2016 through Svart Records.
In April 2020, it was announced that Stanbridge's solo record will finally be released July 1st 2020, and that it will be a double record that contains newly mastered songs as well as unreleased songs.
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