Lena Anderssen

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Lena Anderssen

Background information
Birth name Lena Anderssen
Born September 26, 1974 (1974-09-26) (age 33)
Origin Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
Genre(s) Rock
Pop
Instrument(s) Vocals, Guitar
Years active 1996—present
Label(s) ArtPeople
Website Official Website

Lena Anderssen (born September 26, 1974) is a Faroese-Canadian singer-songwriter best known for her pop rock singles "I Still Love You" and "Can't Erase It," which have received radio airplay in northern Europe. Although the lyrics to her songs are all written in English, she is also fluent in both Faroese and Danish.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early career

Anderssen was born in the Faroe Islands to a Canadian-Norwegian father and a Faroese mother but moved to Canada when she was 2 years old. Her family relocated numerous times in the following years to Victoria and Vancouver in British Columbia; Thunder Bay, Ontario; and Montreal, Quebec. In 1991, at the age of 17, she moved back to the land of her birth. Norwegian drummer Remi Fagereng was visiting a coffee shop in the Faroese capital of Tórshavn, where Anderssen worked, when he overheard her singing to herself and realized her talent. Weeks later, she joined his cover band, Next Step.

[edit] Long Distance and "I Still Love You"

After playing one of the main characters in the successful Faroese musical "Skeyk," Anderssen began collaborating with its musical composer, Niclas Johannesen. Together, they wrote the songs that comprised her 1998 debut album Long Distance, which was produced by Johannesen and released in the Faroe Islands.

In 2000, Anderssen and Johannesen partnered with Danish Grammy Award-winning producer, Óli Poulsen, to produce three songs. One song, "I Still Love You," became a hit when it was released as a radio single in the Faroe Islands.

[edit] Work with Brandur Enni, Faroese National Radio, and Teitur Lassen

During their first three years of collaborative work, the songwriting team of Anderssen and Johannesen penned more than 100 songs, including "Waiting In The Moonlight," which became a breakthrough hit for Faroese vocalist Brandur Enni. In October 2002, they wrote 10 songs for the Faroese National Radio for use in a Christmas radio play entitled "Stjørnan í Hvarv." The songs were later included in an album of the program, which was released during the Christmas season of 2003. She also sang on singer-songwriter Teitur Lassen's Faroese album Sólin og Regnið, which was exclusively released in the Faroe Islands in 2002 and produced by Johannesen.

[edit] Jazz work

Throughout her successful songwriting career, Anderssen, also an accomplished jazz singer, performed regularly at the Tórshavn Jazz Festival and was a guest singer with the Tórshavn Big Band when American composer/arranger Butch Lacey was guest conductor.

[edit] Can't Erase It

Anderssen worked with Johannesen and Poulsen again on her next album, Can't Erase It, which was released in Denmark in 2004 and then internationally in October 2005 under Danish independent label ArtPeople. The album was chosen as Album of the Week on Danmarks Radio's Programme 4 (P4) as well as on the commercial station Sky Radio. Anderssen promoted the album while touring with American singer-songwriter Beth Hart. Notably, the title track was offered as a free MP3 download on a music website sponsored by Coca-Cola and Paste Magazine. It was one of ten songs in the "European Beats" category of a joint-venture podcast program called "For the Love of Music". [1]

Anderssen met current manager Richard Ogden through the music industry website HitQuarters when she was named its artist of the week in 2004. Ogden's management company formerly served such renowned acts as Paul McCartney and the Motors. The following year, Anderssen performed at the acclaimed SPOT Music Festival in Århus, Denmark. She was also chosen to open for legendary English band Roxy Music when they visited Denmark in June.

[edit] Let Your Scars Dance

In 2006, Anderssen began work on her third album, Let Your Scars Dance. In April, she traveled to the famous Abbey Road Studios in London, England, to record a live performance of the song "Stones in My Pocket" and put finishing touches on several other tracks. The album was released exclusively in the Faroe Islands on April 30, 2007. Let Your Scars Dance was chosen as Album Of The Year at the Planet Awards in December 2007. In February 2008, readers of Dimmalætting, the oldest and largest newspaper of the Faroe Islands, voted Let Your Scars Dance as Album of The Year.

[edit] Current work

Anderssen has signed a deal with a Canadian management group with hopes of distributing her music in North America. She has plans to relocate to North America as well.

[edit] Discography

  • Long Distance (1998)
  • Can't Erase It (2004/2005)
  • Let Your Scars Dance (2007)

[edit] References

  1. ^ [http://www.thebridgenewspaper.com/media/storage/paper1120/news/2007/03/16/News/CocaCola.Site.Offering.Free.Podcasts-2777672.shtml Coca-Cola site offering free podcasts ] Retrieved 2007-07-27

[edit] External links

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