Biography

The vocalist HELENA ERIKSSON was born in Mariestad, a small town in southwest Sweden and she grew up in the surrounding countryside.

Helena has always enjoyed expressing herself artistically and she studied both art and acting before she found her real passion – singing. While attending acting school in Stockholm, her acting teacher encouraged her to switch to a singing career. For many years she took classes from outstanding Swedish vocal coaches to develop her natural beautiful voice quality.

She had her first gig while visiting New York in 1992, where she guest soloed at the legendary jazz club The Village Gate. She was so acclaimed that she spent four nights performing at the club, introduced as “the Swedish singer with the sultry Peggy Lee sound". Inspired and encouraged, she returned home.

Back in Sweden she began leading her own small jazz groups at various clubs, cafes and jazz festivals throughout Sweden, but mostly in Stockholm. She also began working as a big band vocalist.

In 1996 she put together her own quintet and started recording her first CD, the soft jazzy “En ängel på Västerbron” (“An angel on the West Bridge”). At the time of the CD’s release she was called “A Zetterlund’s heiress” in Dagens Nyheter (the largest Swedish daily newspaper) – a reference to the well-known Swedish jazz vocalist Monica Zetterlund. Some of the songs on this album Helena composed herself.

In December 2003 Helena started her own label Loveberry Production and released her second CD “Eriksson sings Ericson/Loveberries”. All the songs on this album are written by Charlotte Ericson and the genre is jazz pop with soul and Latin influences. The album was received with excellent reviews in Sweden and it has attracted much attention internationally - for instance it's released in both Poland and Japan in 2005. Helena is also very proud to be on the same jazz compilation as Diana Krall and Stacey Kent, released by Universal in Poland 2005.

Another thing Helena is proud of happened in October 2005 when she and her band Take five got invited to perform on the most famous ocean liner in the world -Queen Elizabeth 2!

In 2006 Helena concentrated on her song writing to get material for her new album ENKELT (the Swedish version) and SIMPLE (the English version). It was recorded in the beginning of 2007 and it was released in September 2007. Just a few weeks later it was time for the next release, a tribute to Monica Zetterlund. Yes, the fall 2007 was a busy time for Helena.

Helena’s sensual stage presence and her soulful interpretation create a warm atmosphere at her concerts. Her repertoire is wide and she works in various constellations and styles. Her musicians are some of the best in Sweden. There are definitely lots of Loveberry albums yet to come...