SOPHIE
ZELMANI
BIOGRAPHY
In
1995 Sophie came from nowhere with the release of her self-entitled debut
album and she soon caught the attention of many people in Sweden and the
far east.
Her music is quite unique in Swedish music history, since it's based on
the American singer/songwriter tradition. When you hear her music it's
hard to understand she is actually from a suburb to Stockholm. If you
close your eyes while listening to Sophie’s remarkable voice accompanied
by acoustic guitar, pedal steel and saxophone it's
easy to imagine yourself sipping raw whiskey in a smoky Texas bar.
It all started when Sophie was 14 and her stepfather thought her some
chords and she discovered her ability to write songs. In her earlier years
she had mostly played soccer and running tracks with the boys. "I
wrote a song and it felt amazing. I didn't really think that much about
what I was doing, really." Says Sophie with typically modest.
Sophie later recorded a few songs at a local studio and mailed the demos
to three record companies with no special expectations. Sophie soon received
a call from Sony Sweden which offered her a record deal. So the shy woman
from Stockholm who never really had performed in front of an audience
started recording the album. The album is produced and arranged by Lars
Halapi (co produced by Patrik Sventelius), which also plays guitar on
all of the songs. Sophie’s music has been compared with such great
artist as Neil Young, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan. The shimmering acoustic
guitar in "Always You" bares the spirit of Neil Young and Van
Morrison-like sax riffs underlines the song "A Thousand Times".
"I'll See You (In Another World)" radiates the feeling of Springsteen,
the song is about her stated beliefs in destiny, wisdom of life, goodness,
dreams, close relationships and love. Sophie’s music also has a
lot in common with singer/songwriters as Joni Mitchell and Jewel Kilcher.
It all adds up to something unique in the history of Swedish music and
Sophie’s music is liked in many of the worlds different parts. Even
many Americans have taken hear music to their hearts, something that's
not so strange considering that the singer/songwriter tradition originated
in the US.
After a lot of work with promoting her album in the US she finally started
to record her new album in the autumn of 97.
All Swedish critics that I know of agree on that Sophie’s album
is something special. She was awarded a Grammy at the Swedish Grammy awards
as best newcomer in 1995, she was also nominated for Best female pop singer.
Her album has sold gold both in Sweden and Japan were she is very popular.
The 24-year-old Sophie is seldom seen in TV shows or in other interviews.
Sophie prefers to let the magic of her music speak for itself and I guess
that's the way it's supposed to be.
From Sony Music:
SOPHIE ZELMANI
Sophie Zelmani Close your eyes to listen to Sophie Zelmani's self-titled Columbia debut and you can imagine yourself drinking raw whiskey in a smoky Texas honky-tonk, as she overcomes an obvious, deep-felt shyness and lets out confessional tales in a pure, purring croon betraying a gentle hint of twang as it wafts over gently strummed acoustic guitar or a plaintive pedal steel line. Despite the homespun mood she evokes, this 24-year-old singer/song writing find doesn't come from the U.S. let alone the American South, but was born in Stockholm, Sweden albeit a southern suburb.
In
a pop world where artists confess their innermost secrets to the media
at the drop of a hat, Sophie Zelmani prefers to let the magic of the music
stand on its own without explanation. She is soft-spoken and charmingly
reticent in person, preferring to communicate through her song writing
with extraordinary eloquence. "I write songs when I feel I have to,"
she insists. "I can't plan them. I don't think of song writing in
technical terms... they just come as they come. When I do write, I like
to get out all the emotions I want to express as fast as possible. I don’t
like to over think a song because to me it's about getting out the feelings.
I like those songs you can instantly tell come straight from the heart;
where the lyrics and the melody seem fated to be together."
Sophie began writing plaintive songs and learning how to play guitar at the age of 14. "Almost every girl in school wrote some poetry about love, life or whatever,” she recalls. "But it wasn't until I started writing songs that I found something that was truly me."
Her stepfather taught her some chords and suddenly the shy girl who had spent most of her early youth playing soccer and running track with the boys discovered that she had a special knack for song writing. "I wrote a song and it felt amazing. I didn't really think that much about what I was doing, really," says Sophie with typical modesty. Recording a few songs at a local studio, she mailed them off to three record companies -- as far as she knew at that time, the sum total of the record business -- with no special expectations. Sophie was thoroughly, pleasantly shocked when she received a call back from Sony Sweden and was offered a recording deal.
That almost otherworldly unselfconsciousness is at the heart of Sophie Zelmani's music, which is both intimate and revealing. The first single, "Always You," (The video to the song "Always you" was filmed in Morocco.) is typical, a simple melody backed with a mournful Neil Youngish harp and a shimmering acoustic guitar line which caresses the sensual lyrics of longing: "If red roses weren't so lovely/If wine didn't taste so good/If stars weren't so romantic..." Other influences are apparent in the Van Morrison-like sax riff which underlines "A Thousand Times," the Dylanesque narrative of "You and Him," the Springsteenish wistfulness of "I'll See You (In Another World)," which echoes her stated beliefs in "destiny, wisdom of life, goodness, dreams, close relationships and ... love."
Lars Halapi, a renowned Swedish musician who also played guitar and pedal steel on the recording sessions, produced the Sophie Zelmani album. The evocative sax parts were performed by Per "Texas" Johansson. In all cases, the musical accompaniment matches the stark simplicity of the lyrics, which deal with everyday concerns that are universal in scope. She may be from Sweden, but Sophie Zelmani's music can travel the world.
"It's strange for me to talk about the songs because I wrote them for myself," she says apologetically. "But I can tell you I write about life, emotions, relations and small things."
Zelmani is already an acclaimed star in her native country. This, her album debut entered the Swedish charts at #4. Sophie won a Swedish Grammy award as "Best Newcomer" soon afterwards and was nominated "Best Female Pop Singer." Critics at home have called compared her music to the more delicate, lush side vintage Van Morrison, Neil Young and Bob Dylan. She's also quickly gained startling popularity throughout Western European countries and the Far East. The album is fast approaching gold in Sweden and Japan respectively.
Those small things add up to make Sophie Zelmani a very big thing.
Copyright Sony Music
