“[My siblings and I] didn’t have a normal childhood. We grew up in a musical family where my father took my mother’s hippie guitar, and we started singing in hospitals and at our extended family’s holiday parties. We could barely walk, and we were already performing because that’s what we loved to do,” Ana María explained. “Our mother sort of became our manager and booking agent, which lead us to perform in restaurants. We would also prop up my father’s guitar case and wait to receive a couple of coins so we could go grab a bite.”
Ana María Lombo was born in Medellin, Colombia, to a Colombian father and an American mother. At an early age, her family moved to her mother’s hometown in Wisconsin, where their love and musical aspirations were harvested. When Lombo turned four years old, they migrated to Mexico to continue working on and recording their art. The Lombo family proceeded to stay until the rising star was eleven years old.
“It’s been a hard and arduous journey. At some point, my parents thought we had reached the hight of our success and started turning down shows and contracts. They never strove for fame or fortune; my mom and dad were not fame-hungry, which was a wonderful thing,” Ana María reminisced. “At some point, I felt I needed to leave and go my own way. I needed to find a way to make something out of my talents.”
Lombo, at the turn of the millennium, joined the all-girl band Eden’s Crush, which also included Nicole Scherzinger, Rosanna Tavarez, Ivette Sosa, and Maile Misajon. Their debut single “Get Over Yourself” made it to number eight on the Billboard 100. Following the success of their first single, the five-pronged bubblegum pop group appeared on * NSYNC’s Pop Odyssey Tour and Jessica Simpson’s Dream Chaser Tour. Unfortunately, not too long after, their record company London-Sire Records folded, and the group disbanded.
“The experience was great, but I felt like I wasn’t true to myself. I had to step back from it. [...] I needed to find my voice”, Ana María affirmed. Through trial and error, the Colombian-American artists paved the way for the birth of Annie Trousseau.
“[Years later] the person who was directing the band suggested the group should not be represented by just my name. It made all the sense in the world as- due to my upbringing- I have never thought of myself as being self-centered,” the singer chuckled. “The stage name came about because my sister used to call me Annie. ‘Trousseau’ is a word I stumbled upon in a book; it’s the clothes and belongings collected by a bride for her marriage. I thought it was a sweet word.”
The creation of Annie Trousseau brought a sense of confidence to Ana María Lombo. “People were coming to see Annie, and Annie could be anyone she wanted. At one point, I even started wearing wigs!”, Ana María stated. “Me, myself, and my insecurities all took a backseat because I knew people were here to see Annie. People that know me off stage cannot believe we are the same person. I consider myself an introvert, and Annie is anything but that”.
Due to her unique style and luring talent, her collaboration with Roland Emmerich and Lionsgate brought her to the silver screen. “They invited me to participate in the film late on in the filming process. They had already been working in Montreal when I received the phone call that they wanted to extend the ballroom scene, [...], but it was a complicated time. Universal had the rights to the music, and they weren’t sure they were going to give them up. Fortunately, it all worked out”.
At the end of the film, the audience can experience Annie Trousseau in her full splendor with her hypnotizing voice. “The filming of the credits was an additional thing, and, to be honest with you, it’s one of the best compliments one could ever receive.”
Midway is a 2019 American war film based on the attack of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent Battle of Midway during World War II. Roland Emmerich directed the movie, Herald Kloser produced and was written by Wes Tooke. The cast includes Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, Tadanobu Asano, and Woody Harrelson. The upcoming DVD/ Blu-ray release of the visually spectacular WWII war-epic film which will be available for Digital Download and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on 9th March.
