Ana Johnsson

Ana Johnsson

Ana Johnsson at NRJ in the Park, 2006
Background information
Birth name Anna Lovisa Johnsson (Jonsson)
Also known as

Ana,

Anna Johnsson
Born (1977-10-04) October 4, 1977
Gothenburg, Sweden
Genres Modern rock, alternative rock
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Instruments Vocals
Years active 2002–present
Labels Bonnier Amigo Music Group (Scandinavia)
Avex Group (Eastern Asia, excluding Korea & Mongolia)
Sony BMG (former)
Epic Records (former)
Website Official web site (Swedish)
Official web site (Japanese)

Anna Lovisa Johnsson (Jonsson) better known by her stage name Ana Johnsson (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈana ˈjoːnsɔn]) (born October 4, 1977 in Gothenburg, Sweden) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Her first longplay disc titled Cuz I Can was released in April 2004 in Sweden. The international version was retitled The Way I Am and was released some months later. Her second album Little Angel was released in October 2006.

Early life

Johnsson was born in Gothenburg, Sweden to Rolph Johnsson and Carina G. but later moved to Sunne, a village in the province of Värmland. The parents - both architects - contributed to her big interests in design, she has studied economics and multimedia, and had the dream of being a graphic designer, but in the end music became her main focus. As a teenager she moved to Karlstad and later, as an exchange student in Minneapolis, USA. She took up skiing as a hobby and was for a while a semi-professional snowboarder. Back in Sweden she combined studies with jobs in a record shop and as nightclub croupier.

Career

1999 - 2002: The beginning and Excellence

Johnsson's singing talents became obvious when she was a teenager she moved to Karlstad and fronted cover bands named @groove and Soulcream together with her brother, Petter who played drums. The bands played cover versions of tracks by Jamiroquai, Lenny Kravitz to Blur and Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc.

Her big breakthrough started when she heard about the first season of the TV series Popstars. She succeeded in the final and Johnsson, Jenny Bergfoth, Malin Olsson, Johanna Landt and Susanna Patoleta formed the band Excellence. They were a success, scoring five top 10 hits, sold many albums and completed a sold out tour. However, Excellence was not Johnsson's style of music, and she left the band (who only released one further song as a four-piece).

2002 - 2005: Cuz I Can and The Way I Am

Main article: Cuz I Can (album)

After the end of the group Excellence Johnsson started working as a solo artist. Johnsson chose to go as solo with the name 'Ana' instead of her real name (Anna) to be able to distinguish some of her personal life and her life as an artist and also because "Anna" is a more common name.[1] In the autumn of 2003, she released "The Way I Am" on the radio and it developed into a radio hit in Sweden and Germany and it gave her a nomination for the 2004 NRJ Awards in Stockholm. Followed up by the singles "Life" and "Cuz I Can" from the fist solo album Cuz I Can in 2004 soon after, only released in Sweden. It was later released internationally as The Way I Am with some different tracklist.
"We Are" (2004)
"Don't Cry for Pain" (2004)
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She was approached by the head of Columbia Tristar during a cruise and was invited to contribute a song to the soundtrack of Spider-Man 2 (soundtrack). The song was called "We Are" and it became the first single to come off the soundtrack and was released worldwide. It became a big hit and she released her second album The Way I Am, which features songs from Cuz I Can and half a dozen new songs. "We Are" reached top 10 in several key territories – including the UK, Germany, Japan – and took the album to high positions in the album charts of close to 20 countries. In the long run, album sales exceeded 500,000 and "We Are" alone was featured on five million sold compilations throughout the world. Next singles releases included "Don't Cry for Pain" which was co-written and produced by Max Martin, and "Coz I Can". In the summer of 2005, "Coz I Can" was picked as the official song for the German DTMs.[2] racing, and Johnsson performed live at the event. In Japan, the album sold over 100,000 copies, earning her a gold certification charting number #1 for four weeks in a row.

In 2005 at the NRJ Music Awards, Johnsson won the award for Best Swedish Female, and Best Swedish Song. In Sweden, Johnsson was nominated to all of the most prestigious domestic awards including the Grammy Award. She won the Rockbjörnen award as Best Newcomer and the European Border Breakers Award with the album 'The Way I Am" in 2005. She hosted NRJ Radio Awards ceremony in 2006.

2006 - 2007: Little Angel

Main article: Little Angel

Johnsson's second album Little Angel was released in Sweden on October 18, 2006. The album did not chart in the Swedish albums chart, despite both the first as the second singles debuting in the ten of the country's singles chart. It includes the lead single "Days of Summer", that charted and peaked at number seven (#7) in Sweden. The second single from the album, "Exception", is the theme song to the Swedish thriller movie Exit. The song debuted and peaked at number ten (#10) in the Swedish singles chart.

"Fate" was the title song for Finnish-Chinese movie Jadesoturi (Jade Warrior). The song was by the Finnish rock band Bleak, featuring Johnsson duetting with Caleb (lead singer of Bleak) on vocals, and the Finnish accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen, who also composed the score for the film along with Samuli Kosminen. "Fate" was on the Jadesoturi soundtrack that was released on October 11 in Finland. The film premiered on October 13 in Finland. A music video has also been shot for the song courtesy of Eyesonlymedia. On January 19, 2007, the song received the award for 'Best Nordic Song' at the NRJ Radio Awards.
"Fate" (2006)
"Catch Me If You Can" (2007)
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In December 2006, it was announced that one track from the album, "Catch Me If You Can", had been picked the official song for the FIS 2007 Alpine World Ski Championships in Åre, Sweden, held in early February. The song was released as the third single off Little Angel on January 17, 2007.

Little Angel was released in Japan on February 14, 2007, containing two bonus tracks. The first one is "Falling to Pieces," the B-side of the "Days of Summer" single. The second was a new track "If I'm Not Dreaming." A new Japanese official website was created for the release of the album in Japan. In a message on the official website, Johnsson stated that she will be doing some promotion in Japan in the last days of January. The Japanese version is available in two formats, CD and CD+DVD: in both versions the CD contains the two bonus tracks and the DVD features the music video for "Exception" plus promotional and rare videos and an acoustic performances. The album peaked at number 28 on the Oricon albums chart.[3] The album has sold over 20,500 copies in Japan as of April 13. "Exception," which was the second single in Sweden, was released as the first single in Japan.

2008 - Present

In 2008, Johnsson embodied the new face of Invercote! (Iggesund Paperboard). Part of the inspiration for the new Invercote communication campaign came from a song, "Catch Me If You Can". Johnsson performed live in two of Iggesund private displays. An EP (cover) was also made featuring the tracks "We Are", "Break Through Time" and "Catch Me If You Can".

In the issue of the magazine Inspire #31 from Iggesund the Swedish singer gave an interview where she said that she would take her big break moving to United States, take some time off, and start writing songs for a new album.

In 2009 Johnsson moved to San Diego, California where she lived until 2010 when she returned to Stockholm, Sweden where she currently lives.

Johnsson's musical career is currently in 'standby' due to her personal life.

In an interview made on May 17, 2012, Ana Johnsson said that "new music is guaranteed... although, I will not say when".[4]

Ana Johnsson had intentions of going back to the studio to record a new album during the fall of 2012 but due to personal life reasons it was put aside.

Discography

Albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions Sales and certifications
SWE
[5]		 JPN
[6]		 GER
[7]		 CHE
[8]		 AUT
[9]		 NOR
[10]		 FRA
[11]
2004 Cuz I Can — — — — — — —
The Way I Am 27 4 15 19 20 27 58
2006 Little Angel
  • Release date: October 18, 2006
  • Label: Bonnier Amigo, Avex
  • Format: CD, digital download
 — 28 — — — — —
"—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released

Singles

An empty space indicates the song was not released in that country.

Year Title Chart positions Album
SWE GER AUT FR SUI NOR UK[16] ITA NL IRE
2003 "The Way I Am" — Cuz I Can
2004 "Life" 17
"Cuz I Can" —
"We Are" 4 16 7 21 28 2 8 6 16 28 The Way I Am
"Don't Cry for Pain" 19 39 70 — 83 — — — —
2005 "Coz I Can" — 73 — — — — — — — —
2006 "Days of Summer" 7 — — Little Angel
"Exception" 10 —
"Fate" (with Bleak) Non-single Jadesoturi soundtrack
2007 "Catch Me If You Can" — — Little Angel
"Break Through Time" Non-single

Movies and soundtracks

Johnsson's music has been featured in various movies, such as:


Ana Johnsson also participated in the Swedish version of the Disney animated movies (although under the name "Anna Johnsson"):

Personal life

Johnsson currently lives in Stockholm, Sweden, and is engaged. Johnsson had her first child, a boy, on June 1, 2011 and a second one in January 2013. Johnsson names Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Creed, Erykah Badu and Jane's Addiction as some of her favourite bands.[20] Dave Grohl and the producer Rick Rubin are other role models.

References

  1. ↑ "Ana goes solo (in swedish)". nt.se. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
  2. ↑ "Ana Johnsson presents DTM's song in Hamburg". dtm.com. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
  3. ↑ "Oricon Ranking News Service "you Taiju" オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」 (oricon rankingu jōhō sābisu youtaiju)" (in Japanese). Oricon Marketing Promotion. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
  4. ↑ "Ana Johnsson radio interview (audio) May 17, 2012 (in swedish)". sverigesradio.se. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
  5. ↑ "hitparad.se - Discografi Ana Johnsson" (in Swedish). GLF/IFPI Sweden. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  6. ↑ "アナ・ジョンソンのCDアルバムランキング、アナ・ジョンソンのプロフィールならオリコン芸能人事典-ORICON STYLE" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  7. ↑ "Chartverfolgung / Ana Johnsson / Longplay" (in German). Media Control GfK International. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  8. ↑ "Ana Johnsson - The Way I Am - hitparade.ch" (in German). Media Control GfK International. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  9. ↑ "Ana Johnsson - The Way I Am - austriancharts.at" (in German). Media Control GfK International. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  10. ↑ "norwegiancharts.com - Ana Johnsson - The Way I Am". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  11. ↑ "Disque en France" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  12. ↑ 【洋楽専用】オリコンチャートスレ (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  13. ↑ "Related Data". Recording Industry Association of Japan. 2005. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  14. ↑ "Ana Johnsson". Cafe.se. 2006-10-08. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  15. ↑ "(ΘωΘ)meryland(ΘωΘ) – LITTLE ANGEL　♪Ana Johnsson" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  16. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 287. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  17. 1 2 - Björnbröder 2 - d-zine.se
  18. ↑ - Tingeling - d-zine.se
  19. ↑ - Tingeling och den förlorade skatten - d-zine.se
  20. ↑ "Barks Biography (in japanese)". barks.jp. Retrieved 2011-11-04.

External links

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