- Maja Ivarsson
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Maja Ivarsson 
Background information Born 2 October 1979
Åhus, Scania, SwedenOrigin Helsingborg, Scania, Sweden Genres New Wave, indie rock Instruments Vocals, electric guitar Years active 1994–present Associated acts The Sounds Maja Ivarsson, (born 2 October 1979) is a Swedish singer and lead vocalist of the Swedish New Wave band The Sounds.
Contents
Career
The Sounds were formed in 1998 in Helsingborg, by childhood friends guitarist and vocalist Felix Rodriguez and bassist Johan Bengtsson, who later invited drummer Fredrik Nilsson on board. Maja Ivarsson's striking presence and personality led to an invitation to be their lead singer. They met Jesper Anderberg during the Hultsfred Festival by chance and invited him to join their band. He plays piano, guitar, synthesizers and does back-up vocals.
Maja performing at the Diamond Ballroom in Oklahoma City on October 12, 2009
The Sounds are active on the touring circuit, including the United States. Their first tour was in the wake of their 2003 smash "Living in America" (both the song and the album), although their touring conditions were a far cry from the sheen of the video for the song. They have been to the "Southern Finland triangle" (Turku, Tampere and Helsinki) many times, but their tour in the fall of 2006 showcased them in additional inland and coastal towns. After that they went on international tour and were in Portugal in 2007. In 2008 they began a tour of Europe and North America that ended at the end of summer 2009. The band opened for No Doubt alongside Paramore during a U.S. tour over the summer of 2009. These proved to be successful exposure for them as their popularity on myspace, twitter and their Street Team has increased dramatically. Most of the shows on their tour involved opening for No Doubt, while some of their headlining shows featured opening act Hey Champ. The Sounds recently finished a US headlining tour with supporting acts Semi Precious Weapons and Foxy Shazam and a tour in Europe with supporting act Matt & Kim to promote their new album, Crossing the Rubicon.
In 2002, Ivarsson collaborated with Andreas Mattson in the song "Free Free Free" which was released on the soundtrack for the German film Big Girls Don't Cry.
Ivarsson was featured in Cobra Starship's single and music video "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)", for the 2006 film Snakes on a Plane. The widely advertised film gave an enormous amount of publicity to Ivarsson and her band, especially in America[citation needed].
In March 2011, Ivarsson signed for a promotion campaign by American hair care company Sebastian Professional.[1] Earlier fashion-related appearances included the Berlin Fashion Week in January 2011 where The Sounds played during the presentation of a German fashion label.[2]
Maja is featured on the song "We Are Rebels" by Alice in Videoland from their 2008 album She's A Machine! and on All Time Low's song "Guts" on their 2011 album Dirty Work.
Influences
Ivarsson found Roxy Music and their song "Love is the Drug" a big inspiration; references to this song and Bryan Ferry can be found in The Sounds' single "Rock 'n' Roll". Depeche Mode and Bruce Springsteen were popular when she was young and she found the Depeche Mode song "My Secret Garden" particularly mesmerizing until her brother translated the lyrics for her (she did not yet speak English), at which point she refused to listen to the rest of the translation. She has also admitted to having a crush on Billy Idol when she was a child. The band has been likened to Blondie. Ivarsson has an eclectic taste in music, having claimed to like electronica as well as Britney Spears' "Toxic", and music by Otis Redding, Dolly Parton, Slipknot and Simon & Garfunkel.
Personal life
She began playing the French horn at the age of 8 and at 14 she took up the electric guitar. She is also a composer and lyricist, even though most of The Sounds' songs are written by the other band members. Around the age of 8 she took up karate, Thai boxing and kickboxing. She has three tattoos: a tribal sun on the inside of her left forearm, Modesty Blaise (a 1960s-era British comic book character) on her right outer forearm and three dots between her right thumb and index finger. The three dot tattoo is in memory of her father, who was a sailor. They symbolize having traveled the seven seas.
When asked by an interviewer in Out Magazine, Ivarsson characterized herself as bisexual. When asked what kind of sexual partners she prefers, she replied, "I like very feminine girls. And very masculine boys. Kind of boring in a way. If I was dating a guy - I like it almost when you can't make up your mind if they're good looking or not. I don't like pretty boys at all."[3] In previous interviews, she confirmed her status as "a member of the queer community."[4]
Ivarsson is known to be intensely private when it comes to her personal life, so most details are not available.
Albums
- Living in America - released 11 November 2002; 6 May 2003 (US)
- Dying to Say This to You - released 15 March 2006; 21 March 2006 (US)
- Crossing the Rubicon - released 2 June 2009 (US)
- Something to Die For - release date 29 March 2011
References
- ^ "Sebastian Professional Introduces New Color Ignite Care Collection and Announces Latest Visionary, The Sounds' Front Woman, Maja Ivarsson". CNW Group. 8 March 2011. http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2011/08/c8919.html. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
- ^ "Maja Ivarsson for Sebastian Professional" (in German). Qvest (Kaune, Sudendorf Publishing GmbH) (43). 2011. http://www.qvest.de/2011/01/maja-ivarsson-for-sebastian-professional/.
- ^ "Can't Stop The Queen Of The Sounds". Out.com. 19 December 2007. http://www.out.com/detail.asp?page=1&id=23352. Retrieved 2007-12-19
- ^ Shapiro, Gregg (June 20, 2006). "Interview with Maja Ivarsson of The Sounds". http://www.afterellen.com/People/2006/6/maja.html. Retrieved 2007-11-06
External links
Categories:- 1979 births
- Living people
- People from Kristianstad Municipality
- Bisexual musicians
- Female New Wave singers
- LGBT people from Sweden
- Swedish female singers
- Swedish musicians
- Swedish rock singers
- Female rock singers
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