sophie zelmani

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.