Meja Anna Pernilla Kullersten (formerly Beckman; born Anna Pernilla Torndahl, 12 February 1969) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

composer, artist and singer. Among her best known songs are "

Private Emotion "Private Emotion" is a song recorded by American band The Hooters for their fifth studio album, ''Out of Body'' (1993). The song was written by Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman, while the production was handled by Bazilian, Joe Hardy, and Hyman. It wa ...

", a duet with

Ricky Martin Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography spanning ...

from his multi-Platinum album ''

'' (1999), and "

All 'Bout the Money "All 'Bout the Money" (sometimes spelled as "All About the Money") is a song written by Swedish singer and songwriter Meja with Douglas Carr, and released as a single from Meja's second studio album, '' Seven Sisters'' (1998). Lyrically it is ...

", which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1998.

Biography

Meja was born Anna Pernilla Torndahl in Nynäshamn, Stockholm County. She had her stage debut at "Ystads City theatre" at the age of 7. She was brought up in a musical family, her grandfather, Per Lundkvist, was a composer of both classical and contemporary music and her mother, a recording artist as a child before choosing a path as a painter. In 1986, at the age of 16, she moved to

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

, Spain, to study. She was introduced to American jazz trumpet player/singer Stephen Frankevich and started to take vocal lessons with singer Deborah Carter. Meja went to Stockholm in 1990. She sang in different bands there before getting out on tour as a backup singer for the Swedish group Rob n Raz DLC in 1991. In 1992 Meja moved to Los Angeles to continue her studies at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood. She graduated from the vocal program in late 1992 then returned to Sweden.

Legacy of Sound (1993–1995)

In 1993, Meja worked with the dance project Legacy of Sound. She co-wrote with

Anders Bagge Sven Anders Bagge (; born 16 January 1968) is a Swedish composer, lyricist, musician and record producer and partner with Peer Åström. The two songwriters / producers are known as Bagge & Peer. Bagge is also one of jury members for the TV4 sin ...

the first single, "Happy", from the album ''Holy Groove''. The song reached the Top 10 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club play, and it peaked at number 68 on the Top 100 during a 12-week stay on the chart.
/ref> "Happy" was released in over 20 countries. Meja recorded one more album with Legacy of Sound in 1994, ''Tour de Force''.

Solo artist

Meja teamed in 1995 with Swedish manager Lasse Karlsson, manager of Ace of Base, and writer/producer Douglas Carr to provide the vocals for the demo

The Juvenile "The Juvenile" is a song by Swedish pop band Ace of Base. It was released as the second single from their album ''Da Capo'' in Germany released in December 2002. It was originally written in 1995, as the proposed theme song to the 1995 James ...

titled The Goldeneye. The first solo album ''Meja'', was released in 1996, with songs co-written by

Billy Steinberg William Endfield Steinberg (born February 26, 1950) is an American songwriter. He achieved his greatest success in the 1980s with songwriting partner Tom Kelly; together they wrote or co-wrote the No. 1 hits " Like a Virgin" by Madonna (1984), ...

. In 1997 Meja had her first concert tour in Japan: The Flower Girl Jam Tour. Meja released the album ''Seven Sisters'' in 1998. Later that year Columbia (Sony) launched the album in the U.S with the single "How Crazy Are You?"

''Realitales'' (2000)

Meja went to Miami in 1999 to record "Private Emotion", a duet with

for his debut album ''

''. After shooting a video for the song, Meja stayed in Los Angeles to work on her next album ''Realitales'' (2000) with Steinberg. She also co-wrote two tracks for the album in London with

Stephen Lipson Stephen J. Lipson (born 16 March 1954) is an English record producer, audio engineer, guitarist and songwriter. As a record producer, he has worked with many artists including Annie Lennox, Propaganda, Act, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Will Youn ...

. The artwork for this album was shot by Swedish director

Jonas Åkerlund Hans Uno Jonas Åkerlund (; born 10 November 1965) is a Swedish film director, screenwriter, music video director, and drummer. His video for Madonna's song "Ray of Light" won a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Short Form, and a record of fiv ...

''Mellow'' (2004)

In 2003 Meja started to work with her former Sony Music boss, Richard Ogden. The album ''Mellow'' was released in 2004, with songs in Portuguese ("

Água de Beber "Água de Beber" ("Water To Drink") is a bossa nova jazz standard composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim and originally recorded in the key of A minor, with lyrics written by Vinicius de Moraes. The English lyrics were written by Norman Gimbel. The s ...

", "

Dindi "Dindi" ( - which sounds like Jin-jee in English) is a song composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim, with lyrics by Aloysio de Oliveira. It is a world-famous bossa nova and jazz standard song. Jobim wrote this piece especially for the Brazilian singer ...

") and Spanish. She covered a

Caetano Veloso Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo, which encomp ...

song "O'Leaonzinho" that she named "Little Lion." The album was produced by

Hamish Stuart James Hamish Stuart (born 8 October 1949) is a British guitarist, bassist, singer, composer and record producer. He was an original member of the Average White Band. Biography Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Stuart attended Queens Park School in ...

. One song, "Simple Days-Walking the Distance", was used in the Japanese film ''Lakeside Murder Case''.

''NU Essential'' (2005)

Sony Music Japan released Meja's album ''NU Essential'' in 2005.

''Urban Gypsy'' (2009)

In 2006 Meja went back to Los Angeles to collaborate again with Steinberg on a new album, also working with writers

Jeff Barry Jeff Barry (born Joel Adelberg; April 3, 1938) is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer. Among the most successful songs that he has co-written in his career are " Do Wah Diddy Diddy", " Da Doo Ron Ron", " Then He Kiss ...

Billy Gibbons William Frederick Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American musician who is the guitarist and lead singer of the rock band ZZ Top. He began his career in the band the Moving Sidewalks, which recorded a full-length album entitled, ''Flas ...

, Jed Leiber and Boz Boorer. The first single "At the Rainbow's End" was released in June 2009, the second single "Regrets (I Have None)" in August, and the album ''Urban Gypsy'' was released on her own label Seven Sisters Network in October on a license deal with Sony Music. A remix of

Mando Diao Mando Diao is an alternative rock band from Borlänge, Sweden. The band got their breakthrough with the release of the album ''Hurricane Bar''. Their main fan base is in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan. Band members are Björn Di ...

's "Dance with Somebody" was released early 2010.

''AniMeja'' (2010)

As a tribute to the Japanese

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and ha ...

, Meja released an album on which she covered soundtrack songs from Japanese films.

''Stroboscope Sky'' (2015)

The first release from the album ''Stroboscope Sky'' was the single "Blame it on the Shadows" (2013) produced by Ebbot Lundberg. Meja teamed with producer Nicolas Gunthardt and together with his sister Alessandra they wrote "Yellow Ribbon" which served as the theme song for the album. "Yellow Ribbon" was released as a single in collaboration with

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

/Free the Angola 3 to help raise awareness of the case of

Albert Woodfox The Angola Three are three African-American former prison inmates (Robert Hillary King, Albert Woodfox, and Herman Wallace) who were held for decades in solitary confinement while imprisoned at Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angol ...

. A remix EP was released with remixes by

Deep Forest Deep Forest is a French musical group originally consisting of two French musicians, Michel Sanchez and Éric Mouquet. They compose a style of world music, sometimes called ethnic electronica, mixing ethnic with electronic sounds and dance ...

Dj Swami Diamond Duggal also known as DJ Swami is a British-Indian music producer, composer, sound designer and multi-instrumentalist. He has produced a diversity of award-winning global artists, including Shania Twain, Pras Michel, Apache Indian, Maxi Pri ...

Gota Yashiki is a Japanese musician, both an independent acid jazz artist and drum/bass player, as a member of the band Simply Red. Biography He was born in Kyoto, Japan, on 26 February 1962, where at a young age he learned how to play traditional Japan ...

, DF Tram, NORD and more.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Compilation and live albums

*''Live in Japan-The Flower Girl Jam'' (1997) *''My Best'' (2002) (Certifications # JPN:Gold) *''The Nu Essential'' (2005) *''Original Album Collection'' (2010) *''Kozmic Surfer: Flower Girl 25th Anniversary'' (2019) *''Kozmic Surfer: Live in Japan (Acoustic)'' (2020)

Singles

As featured artist

Awards

* Grammy Nomination, Category Best Modern Dance ''Legacy of Sound'', 1994 * The North Wave Award, newcomer of the year, 1996, Japan * Pop album of the year, ''Meja'' Japan 1996 * Grammy Nomination, Category Song of the Year "All 'Bout the Money" 1998 * Grammy Nomination Category Female Pop/Rock Artist 1998 * Artist of the year, Japan 1999 * 14th Japan Gold Disc Awards, 1999, Pop Album of the year, "Seven Sisters" * World Music Awards 1999 Best Selling Female Scandinavian Artist, Monte Carlo, Monaco * The Swedish Society of Popular Music Composers Prize Award (SKAP) 2001

References

External links

*
Profile
mejaart.com; accessed 19 December 2017.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kullersten, Meja 1969 births Living people Swedish pop singers English-language singers from Sweden Swedish dance musicians Swedish women singers Musicians Institute alumni