Singer DIANA LEAH Exits DELAIN After Making Only One Studio Album With The Band

Singer Diana Leah has announced her departure from DELAIN after recording just one studio album with the band, "Dark Waters", which came out in February 2023 via Napalm.

Earlier today (Monday, October 19),DELAIN released the following message via social media: "Diana has decided to step away from DELAIN after many years with the band to pursue other things in life.

"While her departure naturally brings a sense of sadness, we look back with great gratitude on everything they have shared together.

"We fully respect Diana's decision and wish her all the best in this new chapter of her life. She will always have a place in the DELAIN family, and the door will always be open to her.

"We have been reflecting on our future and ultimately chose to embrace a new and exciting creative direction, bringing together a wide range of artists and musical perspectives.

"At the heart of DELAIN remains our founder and songwriter, Martijn Westerholt. Alongside him, Ludovico Cioffi, Ronald Landa and Sander Zoer form DELAIN's core.

"Rather than looking for a direct replacement for Diana, we have chosen to embrace collaboration on a much broader scale. Different voices, personalities and musical perspectives can now come together around the band, allowing each song and performance to take on its own character.

"For the upcoming album, each artist contributes their own voice, personality and musical identity, creating a record that remains unmistakably DELAIN while opening the door to an entirely new range of musical possibilities.

"The concept extends beyond the album. Many of the artists will also join DELAIN live, creating a dynamic musical collective that can take different forms from song to song and from show to show.

"The timing could hardly be more fitting.

"Twenty years after the debut, we are carrying forward the collaborative spirit of the beginnings while taking the idea further than ever before.

"The very first album 'Lucidity' introduced a creative formula built around bringing together different artists and musical worlds. Now, two decades later, that spirit returns in a completely new form.

"Among the artists joining DELAIN for the new album are two musicians who were already part of that first chapter: [former NIGHTWISH bassist/vocalist] Marko Hietala and [WITHIN TEMPTATION singer] Sharon Den Adel."

Martijn Westerholt commented: "DELAIN has always been about bringing different musical worlds together. Twenty years ago, 'Lucidity' started with that idea. Now, twenty years later, we are taking it further than ever before."

Leah said in a separate statement: I'm thankful for the experiences and memories I've made during my time with DELAIN, and to everyone who has supported me throughout these years. I'm now fully dedicated to DYYA, with my new single 'Too Tired To Be Dead' already out and my debut EP 'Welcome To Nowhere' coming very soon. I'm looking forward to what comes next, and I hope you'll continue to be part of it."

DELAIN's first post-Diana Leah single will be released tomorrow (Tuesday, October 20) via Napalm Records.

This past March, Leah released the official music video for "Holy Water", the first single from her new solo project DYYA. She has since released three more singles from DYYA: "Eternal Trophies", "Black Honey" and the aforementioned "Too Tired To Be Dead".

Diana joined DELAIN in 2022 as the replacement for the band's longtime vocalist Charlotte Wessels.

Regarding how she came to be the new singer of the long-running Dutch metal act, the now-36-year-old Leah said back in 2022: "It's really simple, actually. I knew they were looking for a singer so I just left a comment on their Instagram page. So a couple of days later I received an e-mail from Martijn [Westerholt, DELAIN keyboardist, founder and main songwriter], and we talked a bit about how I could audition and he sent me some material that I could sing on. And the rest is history."

Asked how she decided to sing in a metal band, Diana said: "Well, I've always wanted to sing in a metal band. It was really my desire to do it. In fact, I did sing in a couple of rock bands, but it wasn't really heavy music, which I loved at the time. It was really hard to find the right people to form a band with and also to get along together and all that. But I've always wanted to be in a metal band. Always."

Leah also talked a bit about her background, saying: "I was born in Romania, in a city called Alba Iulia. It's in the middle of Transylvania. And then I moved to Italy when I was 15, and I lived in Italy for, I think, 10 years or something. And then I moved to Canada, in Ottawa, and I lived there for five years. And then I came back to Italy. And now I currently live in Italy, near Torino, so up north."

Diana previously discussed her early musical influences in a 2023 interview with Heavy Consequence. She said at the time: "I've always wanted to be in a band since I was 16. I started listening to bands like EVANESCENCE and LINKIN PARK, because those bands were big at the time, and then artists like Avril Lavigne. I had that phase in my life when I was into disco rock music, and I started singing at that time, as well. I was just exploring whatever my voice could do. That's when I started taking singing lessons and the thought of doing this just crossed my mind. I thought, 'Wow, if I can sing, maybe I can do this one day. And, if I learned how to do it properly, I could learn how to not hurt my voice and keep longevity in my voice.' That's how music stated for me."

Elaborating on how watching other singers perform inspired her to work on her own skills, Diana said: "I was fascinated by all these vocalists I was following, like Amy Lee of EVANESCENCE. Then I started merging into symphonic metal and listening to bands like NIGHTWISH or WITHIN TEMPTATION. When I started to listen to that kind of music, I felt like I was home. I could relate so much to that style of music and the vibe and the way it sounded, so cinematic and epic. At one point. I thought I would love to sing in a band like this one day."