Swingfly

Infobox musical artist
Name = Swingfly
Background = group_or_band
Years_active = 1991 – Present
Origin = Stockholm, Sweden (New York)
Occupation = Rapper
Associated_acts = Teddybears, Blacknuss
Genre = Hip hop, Alternative rock,Rapping, electronic music
Label = EMI Sweden Dolores Recordings

Swingfly is an American - Swedish rapper and singer. He is best known lending his vocal talents to other artists records. He is currently working on his solo career and a rock & electronica influenced album is to be released this summer. He was born Ricardo DaSilva II in New York (He is sometimes known as Swing-fly, Richie Pasta or Swing). Swingfly has also lived in Trinidad & Tobago and Panama before relocating to Stockholm, Sweden in 1991 [ [http://www.doloresrecordings.com/swingfly.HTM doloresrecordings.com ] ] [ [http://www.emi.se/iuware.aspx?pageid=373&ssoid=4025 EMI Music AB ] ]

Early career

In Stockholm he became involved the emerging hip hop scene and joined the Time Bomb collective together with producer Christian Falk, rapper ADL, DJ Sleepy among others. Three singles were released and one of them was Swing Fly's "Smoke em Swing", a jazzy number produced by Christian Falk. [ [http://majesticflow.blogspot.com/2007/10/timebomb.html Majestic Flow: TIMEBOMB ] ] A series of albums was planned when the record label bailed out. Under the name “Swing” he teamed up with Dr. Alban in 1995 and recorded Euro-disco hit “"Sweet Dreams” (a cover of the classic Eurythmics song). This took him into the pop-charts in many European countries and charted as high as No3 in the Dutch chart [ [http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Swing+feat.+Dr.+Alban&titel=Sweet+Dreams&cat=s Swing feat. Dr. Alban - Sweet Dreams - hitparade.ch ] ] In 1996 Swingfly appeared on several tracks of ADL’s Absent Minded project. Due to a small hit via a Hugo Boss commercial Absent Minded hit the road supporting Fugees European tour in 1996. [ [http://hd.se/noje/2006/07/14/hajpad_och_hemlig_veteran/ hd.se - Hajpad och hemlig veteran ] ] [ [http://www.s2records.com/2007_index_en.php?id=20&id_setting=1&cat_numb=GRCD%20659 S2 RECORDS.COM ] ] Swingfly was featured on several tracks on all three albums with soul-jazz collectiveBlacknuss All-Stars (later known as Blacknuss) as well as being a frequent contributor to their live shows around Europe and the UK. [ [http://planetahitov.com/artists.php?letter=B&mode=full&id=17 «Planet Of Hits» // Artists // Blacknuss ] ] . [ [http://www.dieselmusic.se/blacknuss/discography/gold.php Blacknuss ] ]

Biggest Success

He achieved his biggest success collaborating with electro/dub/punk trio Teddybears on their 2004 single “Hey Boy”. [ [http://www.teddybearsrock.com/home.php Teddybears - Home ] ] This song became one of the most played tracks on Swedish radio that summer. The song "Hey Boy" has been listed for 21 weeks on the Sweden Singles Top 60 and peaked at number 13. [ [http://acharts.us/song/6019 Teddybears Sthlm and Swing Fly - Hey Boy - Music Charts ] ] Swingfly has since then toured Sweden, Europe and the United States with Teddybears and their spin-off project Teddybears STHLM Soundsystem. [ [http://www.amplifiermagazine.com/reviews/live/teddybears_live.php Amplifier Magazine: TEDDYBEARS (LIVE) ] ]

Going Solo

This lead to him landing a record deal with largely rock oriented label Dolores Recordings. This label has been responsible for launching several Swedish based artists international career such as Caesars, The Soundtrack of Our Lives and I'm From Barcelona. Through Dolores he released a few singles and an album was planned for 2006 but was stalled for unknown reasons. The singles he released did spend a total of 26 weeks on the Scandinavian charts. [ [http://acharts.us/performer/swing_fly Swing Fly - Music Charts ] ]

A reworked version of the album is planned to be released in 2008. It features production from RamPac, Klas Åhlund of Teddybears fame, Kleerup (both of them has produced Robyn), Rampac and Thomas Rusiak. The album features a handful of guests such as Ebbot from The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Awa Manneh and possibly Robyn. Swingfly has said that a few tracks will be straight up hip hop, yet most songs will have a rock and punk flavour plus some electronica influences. He lists The Strokes and The Soundtrack of Our Lives as two of his favorite bands and influences. He says it was Teddybears who got him interested in guitar bands. [ [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?=user.viewprofile&friendID=188923412 MySpace ] ] [ [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=79957736 MySpace.com - Dolores Recordings - SE - Indie / Pop / Rock - www.myspace.com/doloresrecordings ] ]

He has a deal with Bonnier Music Publishing. His songs has been featured in an episodes of Private Practice, One Tree Hill, broadcasts from Nascar, Fox Sports, ESPN, NFL, video game FIFA Street 2 [ [http://gaming.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4759 HEXUS.gaming - Press Release :: Fifa Street 2's International soundtrack : Page - 1/1 ] ] and ads for T.G.I. Friday's, Captain Morgan [ [http://www.bonniermusicpub.com/301.htm Bonnier Music Publishing - Frontpage ] ] and Cingular Wireless plus Tic Tac’s east European commercials. [ [http://intensities.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/commercial-break-listeria-ten-commercials-ill-be-glad-not-to-have-rammed-down-my-throat-anymore/ Commercial Break / Listeria: Ten Commercials I’ll Be Glad Not to Have Rammed Down My Throat Anymore « Intensities in Ten Suburbs ] ] [ [http://www.smff.se/newsbites_dec2005.php SMFF | Swedish Music Publishers Association | December 2005 ] ]

His latest track "Singing That Melody", came out in summer 2008. One year before its European release, Korean artist Tony An recorded a Korean language cover of the song. This has led to a confusion as to whose version is the original. Singing that melody is written by Ramstrom/Magnusson/Swingfly/Beal

Collaborations

Swingfly has contributed rap vocals on many artists songs. A few of them are Dr. Alban, Taro, Blacknuss, Robyn, [http://www.tunetribe.com/Artist?artist_id=30233 Freddie Cruger] [ [http://www.timec.net/truthoughts/index.php?freddie-cruger-i-love-to-rap Freddie Cruger - I Love To Rap - The Tru Thoughts Blogged Archive ] ] [ [http://www.ubiquityrecords.com/freddie_cruger.html Freddie Cruger ] ] [ [http://www.inthemix.com.au/features/29413/Freddie_Cruger_A_better_dancer_than_Fred_Astaire inthemix | Features | Freddie Cruger: A better dancer than Fred Astaire? ] ] , [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Absent+Minded Absent Minded] , Looptroop, Ken (artist), Lutricia McNeal, The Compilation album Sidewalk Headliners and Teddybears.

A list of all records and songs Swingfly appears on are available at: [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Swing-Fly Swingfly list at Discogs.com]

Notes

Videos and Music

Swingfly-Singing that melody videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pG_-dd58Ew

Teddybears & Swingfly-Hey Boy video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fymrg4BRS8k

Swingfly -Somethings got me started video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm7al_SQ6fE

Swingfly-Winner videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ofLbG4Ovfw