Aqua (group)

Group Education

In 1989, Søren Rasted and Klaus Norren formed a group called “Joyspeed”. René Differ worked as a DJ in the Netherlands then , and Søren and Klaus were going to be producers . The first collaboration was the creation of the soundtrack to the little-known film “Naughty Frida and Fearless Spies” ( dated. Frække Frida og de frygtløse spioner ). All three liked the work on the soundtrack, and they decided that they would work together in the future project.

Lena Nyustrem , who at the time was 20 years old, Rene offered to become a soloist in their band “Joyspeed”. Having worked in the Norwegian casino until the end of 1993, she became the lead singer of the group.

Soon the guys signed a contract with a small Swedish record company. In 1994 they made the track “Itzy Bitchy Spider”, but in fact it was a remake of an old Danish children's song. This track, though only for a week, entered the Swedish dance chart. The failure was obvious and the contract was broken.

With the new manager, but without a contract, the group began to develop from scratch their unique musical style “ bubblegam-pop ”. Four began to write and record melodic and catchy European pop songs, which later caught the attention of Universal Music DK . The guys were in a hurry to write a new song. Later it became known that if everything was too long, Lena would leave the group.

Aquarium and Aquarius

In 1996 the group received a new, easy to remember name - Aqua. The collective received wide popularity in the late 1990s with the songs “ Roses are Red ” and “ Barbie Girl ”. The name Aqua came from a poster with the words “The Danish National Aquarium”, which hung in their rehearsal room. The word “aquarium” was pleasant to everyone at once, but it was very long, and it was shortened to “Aqua”.

Musicians have a contract with Universal Music . In September 1996, Aqua released the first song “ Roses are Red ”, which immediately took the first lines of various charts and did not leave them for many months. This song was even declared for the prestigious Grammy Award in the nomination "Best Dance Hit of the Season". The video for this song was shot by their friend. And although the clip turned out somewhat clumsy, it immediately became popular. The second song " My Oh My " was released in February 1997 and, like the previous song, immediately took off to the first lines of the charts. The third single was the world-famous Barbie Girl , because of which Mattel , the producer of Barbie dolls, sued MCA Records , which released the single in the United States. She led the charts ^{[1] [2] [3]} Austria, Australia, Belgium, UK, New Zealand, Norway, France, Switzerland, Sweden, being the most successful single of the group. The ballad " Turn Back Time " conquered the top of the British charts and entered the soundtrack to the film " Be careful, the doors are closing ."

All these songs were included in the first album Aquarium , which was released in 1997 . He became one of the most popular albums of the year, his circulation amounted to 14 million copies ^{[4] [5]} .

In 2000 , the second album of the group, Aquarius (with English - “Aquarius”), is released. The songs “ Cartoon Heroes ” and “ Around the World ” from this album were popular not only in Scandinavia, but throughout Europe.

During Eurovision 2001, Aqua performed her hits to the accompaniment of the Danish percussion duo Safri Duo .

Pause and reunion

In July 2001, the group members decided to temporarily disperse and suspend their activities as part of Aqua. The dissolution of the group was absolutely calm and not at all dramatic, as is often the case. Members of the group began to engage in their own projects.

Lena married Soren on August 25, 2001. After the wedding, they moved to live in Denmark . On November 6, 2004, they had a daughter, India, and two years later a boy named Billy.

Lena began her solo career and released the album Play with Me in 2003 . The first single from this album was the song “It's Your Duty”. The second single was the song "Pretty Young Thing". Lena changed her style from a cartoon girl to a more relaxed and sexy girl.

In 2002, Sören produced various Danish projects, including Sort Sol - Holler High And Golden Wonder; Sanne Salomonsen - Teardrops. Both are singles number 1. In 2003, he composed and produced number 1 for sales in Denmark, the 2003 album Jon (Winner of the Danish Popstar).

In 2004, Sören created his first solo project - Lazyboy. The first single from him, "Facts of Life", was a big hit radio in most European countries. The album LazyboyTV was translated into 5 languages ​​and released in 15 countries. Søren also directed and edited all the videos for the album, and was also nominated for the Danish Grammy.

In 2006, Søren and his nephew Nicolaj Rasted founded the musical duo “Hej Matematik!”, Performing songs exclusively in Danish.

On October 24, 2007, the group members, having gathered a press conference , announced their reunification and participation in the Danish festival “ Grøn Koncert 2008” (eng.) . A couple of years later, in 2009 , the single " Back to the 80's " (English) was released , as well as a collection of the best songs - Greatest Hits (English) , including three completely new songs. A little later, this collection was supplemented with a Christmas song “Spin Me a Christmas” and an addition in the form of a DVD disk from a concert in Tivoli on August 9, 2009.

Megalomania

In 2010, the release of the third studio album Megalomania was announced. On September 12, two new songs appeared on the Internet - “Playmate to Jesus” and “Like a Robot” ^[6] . The album went on sale on October 3, 2011 ^[7] on the territory of Denmark; his musical stylist is very different from the usual bubblegum . Although the album reached # 2 in the Danish chart (Danish) , there were quite a few critical reviews. In May, the band released the single “How RU Doin?”.

After the release of the third studio album Megalomania in late 2011 and traveling with tours in 2012 to the cities of Scandinavia and Australia, the group Aqua unexpectedly disappeared from the sight of fans for almost a year - no joint concerts, no performances on TV. Rumors began to circulate about the next split in the group.

But, unexpectedly for everyone, PMI Corporation on February 10, 2014, on its official social network page, announced the participation of the Aqua group in the nineties Discok 90s disco in St. Petersburg as the headliner of the show. The event was held in the Peterburgsky Sports and Concert Complex on March 7, 2014. Aqua did not come to the concert in full: Klaus Norren could not take part in the performance due to illness ^[8] .

• Lena Nyström Rasted ( Nor. Lene Nystrøm Rasted , vocalist)
  • Date of birth: October 2, 1973 .
  • Place of birth: Tonsberg , Norway .
  • Professions prior to participation in the group: barman, assistant seller, model, TV presenter.
  • Work in "Aqua": vocals, lyricist.

• Rene Dif ( dated. René Dif , vocalist)
  • Date of birth: October 17, 1967 .
  • Place of birth: Copenhagen , Denmark .
  • Professions before participating in a group: DJ.
  • Work in "Aqua": vocals, lyricist.

• Soren Rasted ( dated. Søren Rasted , composer, keyboard player)
  • Date of birth: June 13, 1969 .
  • Place of birth: Blowstrod , Denmark .
  • Professions prior to participation in the group: tanker.
  • Work in "Aqua": percussion, author of words and music, producing.

• Klaus Norren ( dated. Claus Norreen , composer, guitarist)
  • Date of birth: June 5, 1970 .
  • Place of birth: Charlottenlund , Denmark .
  • Professions prior to participation in the group: janitor, tanker, clothing seller.
  • Work in “Aqua”: keyboards, author of words and music, producing.

• Official band website
• Official group page on Facebook
• Twitter group official account
• AquaVevo on YouTube
• Fan site of the group in Russian
• Lene Nystrøm is on Instagram
• Rene Dif on Instagram
• Søren Rasted on Instagram