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Helena Josefsson

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Helena Josefsson
Josefsson at the Bospop festival in Weert, The Netherlands, 9 July 2011
Josefsson at the Bospop festival in Weert, The Netherlands, 9 July 2011
Background information
Birth nameHelena Marianne Josefsson
Born (1978-03-23) March 23, 1978 (age 46)
OriginKalmar, Sweden
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter
InstrumentVocals
Years active1996–present
LabelsEMI,
Elevator Entertainment
WebsiteOfficial website

Helena Marianne Josefsson is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She is the lead singer in the band Sandy Mouche and has been singing in Per Gessle's projects since 2003. In February 2007 she released her first solo album, Dynamo.

Biography

Helena Marianne Josefsson was born in Kalmar, Sweden on March 23, 1978. Her parents, Per Olof and Margareta, divorced when Helena was seven years old, and she and her sisters moved with their mother to a village called Björnstorp (outside of Lund, Skåne County, southern Sweden) when she was ten. Helena has four sisters (Charlotta, Sofia, Hanna and Carolina). She is left-handed and can play keyboards, tambourine and harmonica. Helena married Martin Nilsson (a.k.a. Martinique Josefsson), her longtime boyfriend, in 2003; they live in Malmö and became the parents of a boy, Charles-Didrik, on November 8, 2008.[1]

Helena's thoughts on life and her career;

- "What do you want to become when you grow up? Either a troll or an artist!, I replied to that question at 7 years of age. When I think about it, trolls and artists do have rather much in common. What I wanted, and still try to achieve, is the sense of liberty, being part of nature, getting room in the city, finding a spot for mushrooming. That it is all right to be the way one is and still being able to receive love. Being an artist and composer is probably one of the few lifestyles where one can be a troll simultaneously!" [1]

- "When you are born, you are complete but then shell after shell is added as protection against dangers around. Or society forces you to take different parts, needs and patterns you don't really need or want. Then one can spend the rest of one's life finding and removing the bad shells, and saving the good ones, one by one. At least that's what I want to do" [1]

First groups and Sandy Mouche

Main article: Sandy Mouche

Helena began to play in some groups of Lund and Malmö at High School.

Her first band was Plastic Soul (firstly called "Jive with Clive"), with Helena Josefsson (singer), Johan Duncanson (guitar), Fredrick Whitling (lead-guitar and keyboards), Olof Martinsson (bass) and Per Blomgren (drums). Between 1996 and 2000, they took part in club gigs and indie Summer festivals and released some singles ("Uneasy", 1999; Love poems, 2000). Johan and Per began a new successful project, The Radio Dept.

Helena also took part in two non long-lasting projects. In 1999, she played and recorded two promo E.P.'s with Magnus Tingsek and their band ewing.1. Between 2000 and 2001, Helena was the lead singer of Dan Bornemark's rock band, The Good Mornings, recording an album (The Good Mornings, 2000).

In the fall of 2001, during a holiday trip to Crete (Greece), Helena and her boyfriend Martin Nilsson started the band Sandy Mouche with their friends, the Blomgren brothers (Per -drums- and Ola -guitar) and Danyal Taylan (bass until 2004). So far they have had gigs in Sweden and France promoting their songs, that have been released in Sweden, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia and Japan: an E.P. (Sandy Mouche, spring 2003), some promo singles ("Cherry pie", 2003; "C'est pas juste and Papillon", 2004), three digital singles ("Une histoire", "In the sand" and "Spiderweb suit", all in 2005) and two albums (White Lucky Dragon, September 2004; and ... and poems for the unborn, January, 2006). The song, "Spiderweb suit", written by Helena, features in the film New York Waiting (directed by Joachim Hedén, 2006). Since 2007, the band has been working in a new album in Per Blomgren's home studio. Sandy Mouche played together in a gig in Malmö last March, 2010, three years later.[2]

Backing vocals

Josefsson at Per Gessle's live concert in Helsingborg, Sweden on 19 July 2007

Josefsson has been doing backing vocals for a lot of Swedish and some foreign artists: The Ark, Righteous Boy, Swan Lee, Justin Winokur, Gyllene Tider, Doug Wyatt, Junior Senior, Andreas Johnson, Sebastian Karlsson, Hideki Kaji, The Margarets, Metro Jets, Brainpool, Pelle Ossler, Air Bureau, Stockfinster, District 1269, Fredo and Arash Labaf.

Many of these collaborations have been recorded in the most famous studios of Skåne: Tambourine Studios and Gula Studion in Malmö, owned by Eggstone's and The Mopeds's members respectively, and the Aerosol Grey Machine Studios in Vollsjö, owned by Brainpool's member Christoffer Lundquist.

In 2003 Josefsson took part in the recording of Per Gessle's Swedish solo album Mazarin as a backup singer. Gessle's Mazarin project actually became a defined solo band, with Gessle (vocals and guitar), Clarence Öfwerman (keyboards), Christoffer Lundquist (guitar), Jens Jansson (drums) and Josefsson (vocals). They have released another three albums since Mazarin, both in Swedish and in English, Son of a Plumber (2005), En händig man (2007) and Party Crasher (2008). Josefsson's voice become more prominent in Gessle's latest album, Party Crasher, as she sang leading vocals in some songs. They also toured Sweden during the Mazarin Sommarturne (2003) and the En händig man Sommarturne (2007), and around Europe for "The Party Crasher Tour" (2009).[3]

In 2011 she will join Roxette to cover the backing vocals for their World Tour which starts officially in Russia on February 28 Helena is expected to do the backing vocals on the shows and this is to be shared with Malin Ekstrand who joined Roxette on tour in the summer of 2010.

Solo albums and other projects

On February 28, 2007, Helena Josefsson's first solo album, Dynamo, was released by EMI and Per Gessle's own company, Elevator Entertainment. The album, produced and mixed by Christoffer Lundquist at Aerosol Grey Machine Studios during 2006, was backed by the singles "By Your Side", "Never Never (My Dynamo)" and "Where Does the Unused Love Go?" Dynamo spent two weeks on the album Swedish Charts. (#23, 2007.03.08)

Helena Josefsson toured with her own band in 2007 in order to promote Dynamo in Sweden and Germany. Since September 2007, she has been working in a new solo album. Helena Josefsson released her first single in Swedish, Fen & Jag, in October 2009. She also released a new video with her song Kyss mig, in February 2010.[4]

Helena has also taken part in some live bands playing famous covers of other artists.

  • Ludde, Hella & Göken (a.k.a. Mikael Gökinan Trio: Mikael Gökinan - acoustic guitar and backing vocals, Helena Josefsson - vocals, and Ludvig Wennström - contrabass and backing vocals) played soul and jazz, influenced by Jeff Buckley, Kate Bush and Kent, in 2006-2007.
  • Sommardis (Martinique Josefsson - vocals and guitar, Helena Josefsson - vocals, and Christoffer Andersson - piano) play acoustic covers from Taube to Metallica in Swedish churches. They begin this project in the Summer 2008.
  • Malin Nilsson's magic show: Helena Josefsson sings in these shows in Sweden, premiered in November 2009 and that will continue from Spring 2010.
  • Helena Josefsson also sang in Tribute Concerts in Sweden: Dolly Parton's Dollykollot (Stockholm, 6.08.2005 and 16.03.2007), En afton med ... Dusty Springfield (Malmö, 28.12.2007), En afton med ... Michael Jackson (Malmö, 25.12.2009), ...[4]
  • Helena ended her part on the World Tour with Roxette in December 2011 to concentrate on new things, shortly after her departure news came that she and her husband Martin were expecting a second child in 2012!

Discography

For releases by Sandy Mouche, see Sandy Mouche.

Albums

  • ewing.1: promo-1 (March, 1999) & promo-2 (May, 1999) - E.P.
  • The Good Mornings: The Good Mornings (2000)
  • Sandy Mouche: "Sandy Mouche" (2003) - EP
  • Sandy Mouche: "White Lucky Dragon" (2004, AGM Studios)
  • Sandy Mouche: "... and poems for the unborn" (2006, AGM Studios)
  • Helena Josefsson: Dynamo (February 2007, AGM Studios)
  • Ludde, Hella & Göken: Ludde, Hella & Göken (Autumn, 2007, AGM Studios) - Promo E.P.
  • Sommardis: Sommardis (2009, AGM Studios) - Promo E.P.
  • Helena Josefsson: Kyss Mej (November 2010)
Dynamo track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Ghosts"03:25
2."Never never (my dynamo)"03:21
3."By your side"02:59
4."The moon is a grain of sand"03:40
5."Waterlily love"03:57
6."Air-hostess"03:47
7."Where does the unused love go"03:52
8."Into the woods"03:47
9."Sleepyhead"03:07
10."Big bad wolf"04:06
11."Meadow"03:54
12."Pirate king"03:46
13."Never never (reprise)"01:54

Singles

  • Plastic Soul: "Uneasy" (1999)
  • Plastic Soul: "Love poems" (2000)
  • Sandy Mouche: "Cherry pie" (2003) - promo
  • Sandy Mouche: "C'es pas juste" (2004) - promo
  • Sandy Mouche: "Papillon" (2004) - promo
  • Sandy Mouche: "Une histoire" (2005)
  • Sandy Mouche: "In the sand" (2005)
  • Sandy Mouche: "Spiderweb suit" (2005)
  • Sandy Mouche: "Papillon" (2006) - promo (France)
  • Helena Josefsson: "By Your Side" (October, 2006)
  • Helena Josefsson: "Never Never (My Dynamo)" (February, 2007)
  • Helena Josefsson: "Where Does the Unused Love Go?" (2007) - radio only
  • Helena Josefsson: "Fen & Jag" (October, 2009)

As background singer

Recordings at Aerosol Grey Machine Studios, Vallarum

Recordings at Tambourine Studios and Gula Studion, Malmö

  • The Ark: We are The Ark (2000), In Lust we Trust (2002)
  • Andreas Johnson: Mr. Johnson, your room is on fire (2005), The Collector (2007).
  • Sebastian Karlsson: "Words and Violence" (2006, single), The Vintage Virgin (2007).
  • Righteous Boy: I Sing Because Of You (2003).
  • Swan Lee: Swan Lee (2004), The Complete Collection (2007).
  • Pelle Ossler: Den siste som kom ut (2002).
  • The Margarets: Love Will Haunt You Down (2005).
  • Hideki Kaji: "This is Still OK" (2000, single), You will love me (2001).
  • stockfinster: Red wood (2004), Sunset (2005), All Becomes Music (2005), Car crash (2009),Dead line (2009).
  • Junior Senior: "Rhythm Bandits" (2003, single), D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat (2003).
  • Air Bureau: "Had it With You" (2006, single).

Other recordings

  • District 1269: "Summertown" (2006, single) - Wonderland Studios, Malmö
  • Fredo: Smack (2005), Remack (2006).
  • Arash Labaf: Arash (2005), Donya (2008), "Broken Angel" (2010), "One Day" (2014) - World Studios, Malmö.

Videography

Solo

  • "By Your Side" (2006)
  • "Fen & Jag" (2009)
  • "Kyss mig" (2010)

Featuring

References

  1. ^ a b c H.J. Biography - http://www.helenajosefsson.com/biography/biography.php
  2. ^ http://www.sandymouche.com
  3. ^ Party Crasher liner notes
  4. ^ a b http://www.myspace.com/helenajosefsson

Arash feat. Helena - One Day (From The Upcoming Album)

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