Linda Malmström
IN THE NEWS
BIOGRAPHY
The early years
Linda Malmström started playing classical guitar in 1988. She attended an music elementary
school and was able to continue to do so in high school.· During 1991-1993 she performed Swedish folk music and other traditional songs with her sister Lena Malmström (now Lena Udekwu). She started to write her own songs in 1993 and formed Valley in 1994 with Stina Eriksson on flute and background vocals. Valley recorded a demo and performed at 'Katterocken' in 1995 (a local youth music-festival) where Linda received The award 'best female artist'. Valley played at Katalin and Uplands nation in 1994 and in the summer of 1995 they played twice a week at Ollie's pub (nowadays known as Fredman's pub).
The Canadian years
In 1995/1996 Linda Malmström studied music, language and drama at The Mount Baker high school in Cranbrook, Canada. She performed with The concert choir and toured with The vocal jazz choir. She also put together a band (Red Valley) and had a couple of concerts at The Stage door (among other places). She had a big performance on Canada day with over two thousand people in the crowd. She also did a performance in Mexico march 1996. During 1996/1997 she played with Valley in pubs and student nations in Uppsala and was busy writing music. She also opened for a Kurdish band at Kurdish weddings and parties.
In 1998 she recorded First attempt as a special assignment in high school. She took the record to Canada, was played on the air, and did gigs with Sarah McLachlan's former bass player and also fronted The Honeymans at their release festival. In 1999 she was the lead singer in Phoam who, among other gigs, fronted The Soundtrack of our Lives.
The earth years
In 1999 she and her sister Lena Malmström (now Lena Udekwu) recorded an album with songs written by Henrik Forslund, a project named Breeze. Henrik Forslund has been a source of inspiration and cooperation as he recorded her second album and Linda is also playing rhythm guitar and doing back-up singing in his band: Mama earth.
In 2001 Mama Earth was recording their first full length album 'one mother, one earth' that was released in the beginning of 2002.
The recent years
In 2001 she released her second album and got good reviews from both Sony and Universal.
In fall 2002 she participated in a cooperation with eight other bands, a project named 'Ljudbild Uppsala'. The release of the album 'Ockra' was at Katalin and all that jazz in September 7th.
Linda attended singing workshops in the beginning of 2003 (Konnsjögården) working with a method to widen the singing range. In June 2003 she went to Toronto, Canada for two weeks, and did three successful gigs. She was performing solo with a guitar and harmonica.
In August 2003 she went with along with guitarist Tobias Bergström, bass player Henrik Forslund and drummer Jonas Holmgren to Nice, France for seven gigs at Pub Thor. The band performed around 45 songs each night, both cover songs and original tunes. In December 2003 she recorded her annual Christmas single, a tradition that started in 2001. That year there were six people that joined, so it turned into a Christmas album.
In spring 2004 she went to Ghana, West Africa to do field work for her masters essay in a small village in the south, and got the chance to do a lot of singing in the local gospel church.
November 2004 she got signed by Random Recordings and started working on a new album. In 2005 Linda was elected to be a member of the board in 'Musikgruvan' (Music Mine) an national non-profit association for musicians. In February of 2005 Linda was also elected to be a member of the jury in the music competition 'Musik Direkt' (Sweden's biggest music competition for youth).
In March 2005 she released her single 'Butterflies', a preview from her upcoming album planned to be released in October 2005.
Key Points of Interest:
' 95 - 'Best female artist'
' 98 - Recorded her first full length album First Attempt. Canada gigs.
' 99 - Fronted The Soundtrack of our lives
' 01 - Release her second full length album
' 02 - Toronto gigs
' 03 - Gigs in France
' 04 - Signed a record deal with Random Recordings
' 05 - Released a cd single 'Butterflies' |
