| Sonja Kristina | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Sonja Kristina Shaw |
| Born | April 14, 1949 Brentwood, Essex, England |
| Genres | Acid folk, progressive rock |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1960s–present |
| Associated acts | Curved Air, Mask |
| Website | http://www.sonjakristina.com/ |
Sonja Kristina (born 14 April 1949, Brentwood, Essex, England), is an English musician most recognizable as the vocalist for Curved Air.
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Sonja Kristina Linwood was born in Brentwood, daughter of a criminologist and granddaughter to Swedish actress Gerda Lundequist.[1]
Sonja Kristina debuted on stage at the Swan Folk Club in Romford at the age of thirteen. Her first professional gig was at a Folk Festival in Southgate, London a year or so later. As of 1968, while studying at the New College of Speech and Drama, Kristina was helping to run, and performing at, the Wednesday evening sessions at London's Troubadour Folk Club. She was appearing generally on the folk scene as "Sonja" having previously had a number of TV slots on the kids' show "Song and Story".[2]
In 1968, Sonja auditioned for and won the part of "Crissy" in the London stage production of the stage musical Hair.[3] She appeared on the original cast album singing the song "Frank Mills", also released as a single.[2] She also sang for a short while with The Strawbs following the departure of Sandy Denny.[3][4] Dave Cousins remembered:
"Or Am I Dreaming" (on Strawbs LP) was very much inspired by the sessions I used to do at the Troubadour with Sonja Kristina .... When Sandy left the band Sonja was going to be her replacement, but she did one show with us at a folk club in Chelmsford, and that was it. The reprise was about the magic mountain music man, which was me... that was in the poem I wrote about her which was going to be in the book of my poems that was never released.
Cousins eventually released the book, called The Bruising of Hearts, The Losing Of Races, in 1993. It included a poem "Silver Smile", written to Sonja Kristina back in the late 1960s.[5]
According to AllMusic, it was Galt McDermott, producer both of Hair and another musical Who the Murderer Was, who employed the four of Curved Air members as a house band, who suggested, once the stage show closed, that they add Sonja Kristina to the line-up.[6] Another version has it that it was manager Mark Hanau who had the idea that Sonja's vocals could become a vital ingredient for a new band.[2] On January 1, 1970, the singer received an official invitation to become a member of Curved Air. She remembered to have listened through (while sitting on a theatre stairs) the cassette with the band's music which Hanau gave her and was much impressed.[7]
Curved Air had a changing line-up over its nine albums (1970–1976 and 1990), and Kristina was the only member to take part in every line-up. Since 2008, she has been taking part in a series of Curved Air reunion concerts.[3]
After Curved Air, she returned to Hair for a second spell. She has performed solo, including her involvement with the acid folk movement in London in the early 1990s, culminating in her critically acclaimed Songs from the Acid Folk in 1991,[3] and in multi-media duo MASK, along with Marvin Ayres.[8]
Kristina married firstly Malcolm Ross in 1971, and secondly Stewart Copeland in 1982. She met Copeland while he was first road manager and then drummer for Curved Air (1974–1976); they divorced in 1991.[3]
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