Frida Hyvönen

Frida Hyvönen
Background information
Birth name	Anna Frida Amanda Hyvönen
Born	30 December 1977 (1977-12-30) (age 40)
Origin	Robertsfors, Sweden
Genres	Singer-songwriter, indie
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Licking Fingers Secretly Canadian
Associated acts	The Concretes
Website	fridahyvonen.com

Frida Hyvönen (born Anna Frida Amanda Hyvönen; 30 December 1977) is a Swedish singer-songwriter.

Early life

Hyvönen grew up in Robertsfors, a small place just outside Umeå in the north of Sweden (which is also the hometown of the band Sahara Hotnights), and is currently based in Flarken, Sweden.

Background

Hyvönen's first record, Until Death Comes, was recorded at Stockholm's Atlantis Studios and co-produced with Jari Haapalainen of The Bear Quartet. The record was released in the EU in 2005 on The Concretes record label Licking Fingers, in the United States in 2006 on Secretly Canadian and in Australia in 2007 on Chapter Music. Hyvönen received the 2005 Stockholmspriset ("The Stockholm Prize") by the Swedish publication Nöjesguiden for her debut album.^[1] Her first single, "I Drive My Friend", climbed the hit-list in Sweden for a few weeks.

In the fall of 2005, Frida wrote music for dance performance PUDEL, by choreographer Dorte Olesen. She also performed the music live on stage. The music was recorded in 2006 and released in January 2007.

Hyvönen's next album, "Silence is Wild", was released on 29 October 2008 in Scandinavia and 4 November 2008 in North America and Australia. The album was critically acclaimed, and resulted in Hyvönen winning "Kulturpriset" ("The Culture Prize") in 2009, given by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. In 2009, Frida completed a collaboration with photographer Elin Berge, "Drottninglandet". The project consisted of a book of photos by Berge, with an accompanying CD of instrumental music composed and performed by Hyvonen.

In autumn 2007, Frida recorded a cover of the R.E.M. song "Everybody Hurts", released in digital form by Stereogum She also covered the song "Sista dan tillsammans" together with Mattias Alkberg on Dubbel Trubbel, a tribute to Olle Adolphson. Her cover of Judee Sill's "Jesus Was A Crossmaker", was released in September, 2009, by label American Dust, as part of Crayon Angel: A Tribute to the Music of Judee Sill. In November, 2010, she interpreted the poem "Neeijjj" on the compilation Sonja Åkesson tolkad av….

Frida has been touring Scandinavia, Europe and the US with her piano since 2004. She also played in China, Australia, and in Bali.

In spring 2006, she toured the United Kingdom with José González, and in summer 2006 she toured the US with fellow Swedish artist Jens Lekman. In 2009, Hyvönen was the first Swedish pop artist invited to play a show at Dramaten, the Royal Theatre in Stockholm.

Discography

References

• Hopper, Jessica. "Frida Hyvonen unafraid of mixing music, feminism". Chicago Tribune March 9, 2007. Accessed August 12, 2007.
• Loebenstein, Ghita. "Until Death Comes - Music - CD Reviews". The Age (Melbourne, Australia) March 30, 2007. Accessed August 12, 2007.
• Reed, James. "An introduction to Nordic tracks – MFA to present a triple bill of Scandinavian rockers". Boston Globe February 25, 2007. Accessed August 12, 2007.

External links

• Homepage
• Facebook Fan Page
• Frida Hyvönen @ myspace
• Frida Hyvönen on Secretly Canadian