Elize Ryd

Elize Ryd
Ryd during a concert at the Tuska Open Air, 2013
Background information
Birth name	Hanna Elise Isabell Maj Höstblomma Ryd[1]
Born	(1984-10-15) October 15, 1984 Värnamo, Småland  Sweden
Genres	Power metal Metalcore Melodic death metal Symphonic metal Pop rock
Occupation(s)	Singer Musician Composer Songwriter
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2003–present
Labels	Spinefarm Records Universal Music Group
Associated acts	Amaranthe Kamelot Falconer Dragonland Avalon Docker's Guild
Website	elizeryd.com

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Elize Ryd (born October 15, 1984) is a Swedish singer-songwiter, dancer, composer and show artist, best known as one of the three vocalists in the melodic metalcore/power metal band Amaranthe. She also gained some popularity prior to the band's inception by performing guest vocals for the symphonic power metal band Kamelot, both on tour and in the studio.^[2] She sings in the soprano range.^[3]

Career

Early career

Elize started out her singing career when she recorded backing vocals for power metal band Falconer's third and fourth albums in 2003 and 2005 respectively. Some years later she met Jake E in a club in Gothenburg, who requested she record vocals for a song with his band Dreamland titled "Fade Away". Jake E later introduced her to Olof Mörck, who proposed a collaboration with his band Dragonland to which she agreed, and went on to record vocals for three songs on Dragonland's fourth album Astronomy. It was around this time that symphonic metal band Nightwish took interest in Elize as a replacement for their previous singer Tarja Turunen, although she was ultimately not chosen for the role. She has stated in an interview that this was because she had a lack of experience and was unfamiliar with the industry. After graduating from a 3-year education at Gothenburg Performing Arts School however, Olof and Jake invited her to join their new band Avalanche as the lead singer and composer, which was later renamed to Amaranthe for legal reasons.^[4][5]

Amaranthe

In early 2009, Amaranthe released their debut EP, Leave Everything Behind. In early 2011 they released their first two singles, "Hunger" and "Rain" before releasing their debut album Amaranthe, which reached a peak position of 35th on Swedish charts and 16th on Finnish Charts.^[6][7] With this album the band released two music videos, one for the aforementioned song "Hunger" and another for the song "Amaranthine". Both were directed by Patric Ullaeus for Revolver Films. There was also a video shot for '1,000,000 Lightyears', the fourth single from their debut album.

On 25 January 2013, Amaranthe released a new single titled 'The Nexus' and a music video on 13 March.^[8] Amaranthe's second album, The Nexus, was released in March 2013.^[9] Later in 2013, Amaranthe released two videos for their singles "Burn With Me" and "Invincible."

Amaranthe released a new single and video for 'Drop Dead Cynical' in September 2014. Their third album, Massive Addictive, was released on the 21st October 2014 ^[10] as well as two more videos for 'Digital World' and 'True' and a lyric video for 'Trinity'.

A special compilation Breaking Point - B-sides 2011-2015 was released on 30 October 2015. It consists of the best b-sides and bonus tracks in Amaranthe's career.

They are currently writing their fourth album.

Ryd live with Amaranthe at the Tuska Open Air Metal Festival, 2013

Kamelot

Throughout 2011 and 2012, Elize joined Kamelot on stage as one of their primary touring vocalists, and recorded guest vocals on three tracks for Kamelot's tenth album Silverthorn, and was featured in one music video.^[8]

On 28 September 2012 whilst supporting Nightwish's North American leg of the Imaginaerum World Tour with Kamelot, Elize and fellow Kamelot touring vocalist Alissa White-Gluz of The Agonist joined symphonic metal band Nightwish for a one-time concert in Denver when their vocalist Anette Olzon was hospitalized.^[11]

Other collaborations

Since Amaranthe's explosion in popularity, Elize has featured on songs by several different artists she had not previously collaborated with. In 2011 she had three notable collaborations that were all released commercially. These consisted of guest vocals for Swedish rock band Takida's fourth album The Burning Heart^[4] and Renegade Five's September 2011 EP Life Is Already Fading.^[12] Beside fellow Amaranthe vocalists Jake E. and Andreas Solveström, Elize once again featured on a Dragonland album – this time the band's fifth album Under the Grey Banner.

In 2012, Elize performed guest vocals on the debut single "Evolution" by the musical project Dreamstate set up by Takida guitarist Tomas Wallin.^[13]

In 2013, Elize performed vocals in the album The Land of New Hope, from a new metal opera project by Timo Tolkki called Avalon, in which she is the main character. The album was released on 17 May 2013.^[14] She was also confirmed as one of the vocalists for the second album called Angels of the Apocalypse.^[15]

Also in 2013 she recorded a song with the Russian composer Alexey Soloviev. The song is called 'Alone in the Universe'.

In the end of 2013 Elize took part in the Raskasta Joulua project incorporating the sound of metal to Christmas carols. She sang the song "Julen är här" as a duet with Tony Kakko from Sonata Arctica. She also joined the Raskasta Joulua-tour for the final gigs. During that visit in Finland she performed on Finnish national television. There she sang Ave Maria together with Marco Hietala, the bassist from Nightwish.^[16][17] They sold over 20 000 copies of Raskasta Joulua and got platina record from it. In 2014 she participated again to Raskasta Joulua recordings."Raknarok Juletide" with song "Christmas is here" which is English version from "Julen är här" also with Tony Kakko , and to "Raskasta Joulua 2", where she sang "Himlen i min famn" which is a cover of Carola Häggkvist. "Raskasta Joulua 2" sold over 20 000 copies and they also got platina record from it.^[18]

During Bandit Rock Awards 2014 Elize received the award for the years "Rock & Role model".

Elize also performed vocals in the new Timo Tolkki's Avalon album called Angels of the Apocalypse, along with Simone Simons, Floor Jansen, Fabio Lione, etc., which was released on 16 May 2014.

She is also be featured in the new Nergard album, a final part of the "Memorial for a Wish" saga. It was released in late 2014. The album also features Nils K. (Pagan's Mind) and Tony Mills (ex-TNT, ex-Shy), as well as Ben Rodgers (Tellus Requiem) and Thomas Løseth (Tempo). The song is called 'On Through The Storm'.

She is featured in the second Smash Into Pieces album, performing in the song 'My Cocaine'. It was released in February 2015.

She took part in Swedish Eurovision song contest in early 2015 with Swedish operatenor Richard Söderberg. The song is called "One by one", which is composed by Elize and Jimmy Jansson. They came 5th of the first semi-final (2nd of the 2nd round), but unfortunately they were eliminated after a big crash of the application.^[19]

Elize is featured in the new Gus G album 'Brand New Revolution', released on July 24, 2015. The song is called 'What Lies Below'.

She is featured in Docker's Guild album called The Heisenberg Diaries – Book A: Sounds of Future Past, released on January 21, 2016, where she sings the sci-fi soundtrack tunes "Never Ending Story" and "Suspension" (from the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century movie soundtrack) in duet with Douglas R. Docker.^[20]

Discography

Singles

With Amaranthe

• "Hunger" (2011)
• "Rain" (2011)
• "Amarathine" (2011)
• "1.000.000" Lightyears (2012)
• "The Nexus" (2013)
• "Burn With Me" (2013)
• "Invincible" (2013)
• "Drop Dead Cynical" (2014)
• "Trinity" (2014)
• "Digital World" (2015)
• "True" (2015)

With Kamelot

• "Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife)" (2012)

With Timo Tolkki's Avalon

• "Enshrined in My Memory" (2013)

With Dreamstate

• "Evolution" (2012)

With Rickard Söderberg for Melodifestivalen 2015

• "One By One" (2015)

Albums

With Amaranthe

• Leave Everything Behind (EP, 2009)
• Amaranthe (2011)
• The Nexus (2013)
• Massive Addictive (2014)

With Kamelot

• Silverthorn (2012)

With Falconer

• The Sceptre of Deception (2003)
• Grime vs. Grandeur (2005)

With Dreamland

• Future's Calling (2005)

With Dragonland

• Astronomy (2006)
• Under The Grey Banner (2011)

With Houston

• Relaunch (2011)

With Takida

• The Burning Heart (2011)

With Renegade Five

• Nxt Gen (2011)

With Timo Tolkki's Avalon

• The Land of New Hope (2013)
• Angels of the Apocalypse (2014)

With Raskasta Joulua

• Raskasta Joulua (2013)
• Raskasta Joulua 2 (2014)
• Rakgnarok Juletide (2014)

With Crossnail

• Sand Of Time (2015)

With Karmaflow

• The Rock Opera Video Game (2015)

With Smash Into Pieces

• The Apocalypse DJ (2015)

With Nergard

• A Bit Closer To Heaven (2015)

With Gus G

• Brand New Revolution (2015)

With Docker's Guild

• The Heisenberg Diaries - Book A: Sounds of Future Past (2016)

Music videos

With Amaranthe

• "Hunger" (2011)
• "Amaranthine" (2011)
• "1.000.000 Lightyears" (2012)
• "The Nexus" (2013)
• "Burn With Me" (2013)
• "Invincible" (2013)
• "Drop Dead Cynical" (2014)
• "Digital World" (2015)
• "True" (2015)

With Kamelot

• "Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife)" (2012)

With Dreamstate

• "Evolution" (2012)

With Timo Tolkki's Avalon

• "Enshrined in My Memory" (2013)

With Gus G

• "What Lies Below" (2015)

References

External links

• Elize Ryd's Official Website
• Amaranthe's Official Website