Yousefsson, Helena

Helena Yousefsson was born March 23, 1978 in the city of Kalmar , on the southeastern coast of Sweden. She started dancing when she was only 3 years old, and at 7 she already sang in the choir, where her mother took her. Helena's maternal grandmother owned a music store, which partly influenced the career choice of the future singer. Grandmother's spouse (mother's father) was an artist and even to this day (he was born in 1917) plays the violin. According to her admission, Helena’s father “grew forests” ^[3] , he was born in a small village called Virserum , in Kalmar Lena in eastern Sweden , so he loves nature and raised his daughter in the same spirit. So, in many songs of the singer, such as, for example, “Spiderweb suit”, she sings about her connection with nature and love for her. The mother of the singer has Swedish and Belgian roots.

Helena tells how, as a child, she often listened to Sergei Prokofiev ’s opera “Peter and the Wolf”, performed by the “terrible but wonderful” Ernst-Hugo Yeregord, together with two sisters. ^[4] Helena's parents divorced when she was only 7 years old ( 1985 ), but her mother soon married again. After 3 years, the new family moved to a village called Björnstorp ( Swede. Björnstorp ) outside Lund, Skane province, Sweden . One of the few things that pleased Helena there was the opportunity to sing out loud, returning home on a bicycle from the bus stop.

In her youth, Helena performed with Johan Duncanson in the group Jive with Clive, which later changed its name to Plastic Soul. ^[5] Today Duncanson plays in the band The Radio Dept. Per Blumgren, a member of Sandy Mouche , played in the same group from 2001 to 2003.

In the fall of 2001, Helena and her boyfriend Martinique had a rest with their friends in Crete , where the idea of ​​creating a new group was born. The team was called “ Sandy Mouche ”, because all the participants had a freckle on their faces and at the time of the discussion they made sand cakes on the beach ^[3] . The producer of the new group was a friend of the artists, a Swedish musician, producer and arranger Christopher Lundqvist . It was he who suggested Helena in 2003 to take part in the recording of Per Gessle 's next solo album “ Mazarin ”, where she sang on backing vocals, including during the summer tour “ Mazarin sommarturne 2003 ” ^[6] . On July 26, 2003, Helena and Martinique officially entered into a legal marriage.

In early 2004, Helena worked on Gyllene Tider 's album, “ Finn 5 Fel! " ^[7] . Sandy Mouche 's White Lucky Dragon album was released in September. Almost all of 2005 was spent working on Sandy Mouche's "... and poems for the unborn" disc, which was released in January 2006, after which Helena took part in the recording of yet another Gessle's solo album " Son of a Plumber ". On some songs she performed backing vocals, in some - the main vocals ^[8] .

In 2007, together with Per Gessle, she recorded his solo album En Händig Man (Arm Man) and went on a tour of En händig man på turné 2007 in Sweden . In collaboration with guitarist Michael Jokinan ( Mikael Gökinan ) recorded several songs for his album. The project was named “Ludde, Hella & Göken” by the names of the participants (Ludde Wennström - double bass, backing vocals; Mikael Gökinan - acoustic guitar and backing vocals; Helena Josefsson - vocals).

In 2008, Arash , a Swedish singer of Iranian descent, released the single “ Pure Love ” from the album “ Donya ” (2008). Helena Yousefsson sings in a duet with Arash. On her website, Helena said that she had long recorded a demo of the song, but did not know whether it would ever be recorded and published. The release was a surprise for her, she first found out about it by watching a video on YouTube . ^[9]

On November 8, 2008, Helena and Martinique Yousefsson had a son, who was named Charles Didrick. The first name was given to the child in honor of Helena's grandfather, who was 92 years old at the time of the birth of his great-grandson. The middle name was pleasant to the young father. Thus, the couple decided to compromise. At the end of the same month, Gessle's album “ Party Crasher ” was released, in which Helena also participated. ^[6]

After completing the tour following the release of the album, Helena completed work on recording and releasing her second solo album in Swedish. In early 2011, rehearsals began in Stockholm's studios before the Roxette world tour, in which Helena sang backing vocals. The tour began in Russia and continued on 5 continents around the world until the end of the summer of 2011. In March, Helena could not sing at two concerts in Kiev and Minsk . At this time, she went to Stockholm , where she took part in the premiere of the documentary " Jag är min egen Dolly Parton ". The premiere of the tape took place on March 11 in Stockholm, Gothenburg , Malmo and other major cities in Sweden. The film is dedicated to the career of five famous singers from Malmö, including Helena herself, Nina Persson from The Cardigans , Cecilia Nordlund , Lotta Wengen, and music producer Gudrun Hauksdottir. The film was directed by Jessica Nettelblats (Jessica Nettelbladts). ^[10]

In addition, Helena also took part in the filming of the musical entertaining television program “Så ska det låta” (How it should sound) - an analogue of the Russian “ Two Pianos ”. The recording of the program was broadcast on April 1, 2011 on the SVT1 channel. The program is very popular in Sweden - every week its audience is about 2 million people (approximately 20% of the country's total population). ^[eleven]

In early 2012, the singer left work with the Roxette collective in favor of recording the album of her Swedish band Sandy Mouche . Already in the first week of January it was announced that Helena was recording a new ballad for the album, which was due to be released later that year. On January 9, 2012, Sweden hosted the premiere of the film Hamilton: I Nationens Intresse ( link ), for which Helena and Robert Peterssson (lead singer of the Swedish alt-rock band Takida ) recorded the title topic, a song called My Own Worst Enemy. " Songwriter - Måns Tristan Sohlman aka Tristan. A video was also shot for the song. ^[12] , ^[13]

Helena graduated with a degree in Optometrist and received a diploma from the University of Copenhagen . She works in one of the opticians in Bjärred , where she currently lives with her husband and children.

October 16, 2015 the premiere of the new album " Happiness ". This album was recorded with the jazz band Kontur. At a joint concert in the Mejeriet club ( Lund , Sweden) in October 2014, the song Det vi saknar nu, an interpretation of the song What the world needs now is love, was recorded by American composer Bert Bakarak ( video ). The singer and Kontur also visited the Swedish cities of Norrkoping , Ystad , Malmö and Landskrona with separate full concerts in support of the new record.

September 26, 2016 in the studio Aerosol Gray Machine began recording the fourth solo English album of the singer. According to Yousefsson on her official Facebook, invited musicians from California (bass player Miriam Speyer and drummer Elizabeth Godfellow) and Swedish Len Skone (keyboard player Oscar Johansson and Christopher Lundqvist ) took part in the recording. After the release of Per Gessle’s solo album “ En vacker natt ” on April 28, 2017, in the recording of which Yousefsson also participated, the recording of her solo album continued in Sweden. The singer said in her official instagram that by May 20, 2017, 9 songs out of 11 had already been recorded. It also became known that the Swedish musician Joakim Lindberg, pianist , keyboard player Oscar Johansson ( Swedish. Oscar) was taking part in the recording . Johansson ) and English jazz musician and composer John Venkiah. Recording of the solo album will continue in the fall of 2017 after the end of Gessle's tour “ Ev vacker kväll ”, and in the spring of 2018 the singer plans to give several concerts in Sweden in support of the disc.

In the summer of 2017, the second single of the Mono Mind project was released, in which Yousefsson takes part with Per Gessle and Christopher Lundqvist. The singer also took part in Per Gessle's summer Scandinavian tour “ En vacker kväll ”, dedicated to the release of his eighth solo album . At the end of the tour, the singer continued to work on her third solo album in the studio "AGM" in collaboration with Christopher Lundqvist. In September 2017, a photo session was held in Vallarum. The disc will be released in the winter of 2017/18.

In April 2018, Yousefsson and Christopher Lundqvist gave two concerts in the Swedish cities of Malmo and Kristianstad . Special guests took part in the performances - musicians of the Roxette group, keyboard player Clarence Everman and bassist Magnus Börösson, as well as Sandy Mouche , Brainpool (played by Lundqvist and drummer Jens Jonsson himself), American drummer Elizabeth Godfellow (took part in the recording of the latest albums by Helena Youssefsson and Pera Gessle) and many others. ^{[14] [15]}

In the summer of 2018, Yousefsson acted as a special guest at a concert of the Sven-Ingvars group at the Dalhalla amphitheater in the Swedish city of Rettwick . In addition to her, Sabina Dumba , Thomas Andersson Wii and others took part in the speech. ^{[16] [17]} On August 15, the singer published a link to the SoundCloud service recording the first single “Michael” from the upcoming album “Beauty, Love, Anything”. The song was released in two versions: the original and remix of Voz Vibrante and is dedicated to Michael Jackson , whose fan is Yousefsson and whose work influenced her work.

On March 14, 2019, a concert was held in the Swedish city of Malmo , dedicated to the premiere of the fourth solo album of the singer “ Beauty, Love, Anything ”. The album was officially released the next day. ^[18] At the end of July of the same year, Yousefsson gave a concert at the Thomas Wallner Gallery in Mount Simrishamn in southeastern Sweden. ^[19]

Family

In 2015, Yousefsson participated in the charity concert “We Act” in Malmö , all of which was sent to internally displaced persons and refugees. In addition to her, the group The Cardigans , Brainpool and other Swedish musicians took part in the concert. ^{[20] [21]} In 2016, the singer was unable to take part in the concert, but put up her self-portrait, painted in oil, at the Tradera.se online auction. She planned to transfer the proceeds to the fund for assistance to refugees from Kurdistan. ^[22] Helena also regularly donates blood for the needs of the Red Cross. In her official facebook, the singer said that her blood type is B (+).

In 2017, the Swedish public organization Doc Lounge organized a charity tour of six women's prisons in Sweden. The tour was attended by Swedish director Jessica Nettelbladt and volunteers. As part of the action, visits to six penitentiary institutions were organized: two in June, October and November 2017. During the tour there was a screening of the social documentary directed by Nettelbladt “MonaLisa Story” (2015), the soundtrack to which was the song “Hurt”, written by Helena Yousefsson for the band Sandy Mouche ^[23] ; Helena performed the same song in front of prisoners in 4 prisons when they visited in the fall of 2017. ^{[24] [25]}

• Helena - left-handed, can play the piano, flute, tambourine, keyboards and harmonica. ^[26]
• Helena's husband, Martinique ( Martinique Josefsson ), is half Pole. He even knows how to speak Polish , but not to write.
• Helena is a big fan of Michael Jackson . At Christmas 2009, she took part in a concert dedicated to the memory of the singer who died in that year. The concert was held in the Swedish city of Malmö. ^[27]

Discography composed by Sandy Mouche - see self-titled article.

Albums

• Dynamo ( February 28, 2007 )
• Kyss mej ( February 9, 2011 ) (Swedish)
• “ Happiness ” ( October 16, 2015 ) (eng.) ^[28] - in conjunction with the Kontur group
• Beauty, Love, Anything (March 15, 2019 )

Singles

1. From the album "Dynamo"

• "By your side" ( November 29, 2006 )
• “Never Never (My Dynamo)” ( February 14, 2007 )
• “Where Does The Unused Love Go?” ( May 28, 2007 ) - promotional single

2. From the album “Kyss mej”

• Fen & jag (October 17, 2009)
• Kyss May (February 10, 2010)
• “Nån annanstans nån annan gång” (December 7, 2010)

3. From the album “Happiness” (together with the band Kontur)

• Time After Time (March 25, 2015) - iTunes
• Happiness (September 22, 2015) - iTunes ^[29]

4. From the album “Beauty, Love, Anything”

• Michael (August 31, 2018)
• All the Blue (February 22, 2019)
• Enjoy Yourself (May 3, 2019)

Extra-single " Greensleeves " (August 9, 2019)

Promo Video

• "By your side" ( 2007 )
• Fen & jag (first published on YouTube October 17, 2009 ) ^[30]
• Kyss mej (2010) (dir. Cecilia Nordlund ) ^[31]

Collaboration

In addition to collaborating with Per Gessle , the leader of the Swedish bands Roxette and Gyllene Tider , which brought Helena international fame, she collaborated with other musicians:

• Helena recorded 6 joint singles with Arash , a Swedish singer of Iranian descent - “Arash” (2006), “Pure Love” (2008), “Broken Angel” (2010), “One Day” (2013), “Dooset Daram” (2018 ), “One Night In Dubai” (2019). Yousefsson is also one of the authors of the song "Dooset Daram", a clip for which was shot by Ukrainian director Alan Badoev . ^[32]
• In 2007, Yousefsson acted as backing vocalist for The Collector, a Swedish singer Andreas Junson . ^[33]
• In 2012, together with Swedish rocker Robert Pettersson, Helena recorded the title track My Own Worst Enemy for the soundtrack for Hamilton: In the Interest of the Nation .
• With Nina Persson (vocalist for The Cardigans ), Cecilia Nordlund , as well as 2 other Swedish singers, Helena participated in the tribute Dolly Parton project, in honor of the famous American country singer.
• In April 2014, Helena performed at the apartment in the Swedish city of Malmö with the band Vindla String Quartet (Caroline Karpinska, Maria Bergström, Elina Nygren, Gerda Holmquist), where she performed a cover for the song of Belgian chansonnier Jacques Brel “ Ne me quitte pas ”. The South Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan wrote about the performance. ^[34]
• In April 2014, Helena and the Swedish jazz trio Kontur! Performed at the Babylon Club ( Malmo , Sweden ).
• On June 23, 2014, the song Helena recorded in collaboration with the duo Kill FM (Kim Lindén and Jimmy Andersson) was released. The song became the title single from the EP of the same name “Don't Go Dark”. The composition was written by a colleague and friend of Helena, musician Per Gessle ( Roxette , Gyllene Tider ). The song premiered on the Swedish radio station Swedish Radio P3. ^[35]
• Сотрудничество с группой Kontur продолжилось в 2015 году записью каверов на всемирно известные хиты («Time after time», «Ordinary world», «Det vi saknar nu» и др.) и релиз полноценного студийного альбома в октябре этого же года. В 2016 году прошло несколько совместных выступлений в Швеции. ^[36]
• Летом 2016 года Хелена и бас-гитарист Roxette Магнус Бёрьессон выступили вместе на 11-ом ежегодном фестивале «Goodnight Sun». Жанр, в котором выступали артисты, они сами охарактеризовали как «Chanson Electronique» (электро-шансон). ^[37]

• 22 мая 2008 года Юсефссон была награждена стипендией культурного фонда лена Сконе «Sparbanksstiftelsen» в размере 50 000 SEK (примерно €5000). ^{[38] [39]}

• Пер Гессле в интервью перед варшавским концертом в 2009 году рассказал о Хелене: «Она потрясающая, просто невероятная и очень непредсказуемая в то же время. Она никогда не поет песню одинаково, всегда меняет что-то в студии или на концертах. Когда я работаю с ней, то записываю всё и потом у меня возникает проблема, потому что я не знаю какую версию выбрать [смеется]. Хелена — обладательница действительно уникального голоса и таланта. В случае с альбомом „ Party Crasher “ её роль вокалистки почти такая же значимая, как и моя. С самого начала я хотел, чтобы она была частью проекта. Какие песни будет петь она, а какие я, мы решали с самого начала записи вместе.» ^[40]
• Хокан Энгстрём (Håkan Engström), музыкальный критик шведской газеты «Sydsvenskan», дал положительную оценку выступлению Хелены на сборном концерте ( 25 декабря 2009 года, «Debaser», Мальмё , Швеция), посвящённом памяти Майкла Джексона . ^[41]
• Хелена Юсефссон выпускает новый альбом The Daily Roxette (англ.)

Отзывы критиков на выступления во время тура « En vacker kväll » (2017)

• Алекс Бергдаль из шведской газеты «Blekinge Läns Tidning» рассказывает о концерте Пера Гессле в Карлскруне . Бергдаль называет бэк-вокалистку Хелену Юсефссон «выдающейся певицей». ^[42]
• Томмас Беннелид, корреспондент шведской газеты «Bohusläningen», пишет о концерте Пера Гессле в Греббестаде . Беннелид называет исполнение песни «It must have been love» (дуэт Гессле-Юсефссон) «необычайно сильным». ^[43]
• Бьорн Нюстрём, обозреватель NSD, рассказывает о концерте Гессле в городе Питео . В отсутствии Мари Фредрикссон вокал Хелены Юсефссон называется «отличной попыткой», а классическая песня «It Must Have Been Love» (дуэт Гессле-Юсефссон), по мнению критика, «звучит лучше, чем он когда-либо её слышал». Критик особо отмечает «отличное» исполнение песни «Första pris» (дуэт Гессле-Юсефссон) с последнего альбома « En vacker natt » (2017). ^[44]
• Газета острова Эланд «Ölandsbladet» пишет о концерте Гессле в Боргхольмском замке . Её обозреватель Петер Бусртём особенно отмечает: «забавно, какую роль играет Хелена Юсефссон в выступлении. Она действительно этого заслуживает после всех лет работы бэк-вокалисткой. Её исполнение „Segla på ett moln“ действительно становится жемчужиной в руинах». ^[45]
• Вермландская газета «Värmlands Folkblad» пишет о выступлении Пера Гессле в городе Арвика . Её обозреватель Йуаким Магнуссон пишет об исполнении песен Roxette на концерте в отсутствии Мари Фредрикссон, однако эксплицитно замечает, что « Хелена Юсефссон [и] ЕСТЬ Мари Фредрикссон », а также называет новую песню «Första pris», которую Гессле и Юсефссон исполняли дуэтом, «новой любимой песней, исполняемой вживую». ^[46]
• Пер Гессле , с которым Юсефссон выступала на 21 концерте во время тура, назвал её «абсолютной певицей мирового уровня» ( швед. Helena Josefsson är en sångerska i absolut världsklass ). ^[47]

• Официальный сайт Хелены Юсефссон (англ.)
• Официальный Facebook Хелены Юсефссон (англ.)
• Официальный блог Хелены Юсефссон (англ.) с фотографиями
• Официальный сайт Sandy Mouche (англ.)
• Официальный сайт Son of a Plumber (англ.)
• Официальный сайт En Handig Man (англ.)