Sophie Zelmani (born 12 February 1972), later raised with the surname Edkvist, is a Swedish singer-songwriter who released her first single in 1995, called "Always You".
Early life
Zelmani was born in the suburbs of
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
in 1972. Her father bought the family a guitar when Zelmani was 14.
Despite no professional music training,
[ Zelmani became a songwriter and recorded some songs at a local studio. After she mailed the demos to three record companies, Zelmani was offered a record deal by ]Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...
Sweden.
Career
Sophie Zelmani[ recorded her debut, eponymous album with Sony in 1995. The album was produced and arranged by Lars Halapi and co-produced by Patrik Sventelius. She described the process of making the album: "In the beginning Lars and I spent a few months in the studio. We had fun and then picked the musicians. We recorded in two weeks but the whole thing took half a year."]Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
. Zelmani said, "I had no ambitions to go abroad. I knew I wanted to make a record. That's all I wanted."[ Columbia's marketing campaign included CD sampler giveaways, consumer press, and rotation on ]Scandinavian Airlines
Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark ...
(SAS) flights between Scandinavia and the US.
Zelmani has continued to record albums while making only a small number of public appearances due to shyness.[ She won a best newcomer award in Sweden's ]Grammy awards
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
in 1996.
In popular culture
Zelmani has also contributed music to the TV series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer
''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film of the same name, also written by W ...
'' and ''Dawson's Creek
''Dawson's Creek'' is an American teen drama television series about the lives of a close-knit group of friends in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, beginning in high school and continuing into college that ran from 1998 to 2003. T ...
''. Her cover of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
's " Most of the Time" appears on the soundtrack to ''Masked and Anonymous
''Masked and Anonymous'' is a 2003 drama film directed by Larry Charles. The film was written by Larry Charles and Bob Dylan, the latter under the pseudonym "Sergei Petrov". It stars Dylan alongside a star-heavy cast, including John Goodman, Jeff ...
''.Independence Day
An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...
'' (1996). Her song "Always You" appeared in the film ''My Best Friend's Wedding
''My Best Friend's Wedding'' is a 1997 American romantic comedy film directed by P.J. Hogan from a screenplay by Ronald Bass. The film stars Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz, and Rupert Everett.
The film received generally positive ...
'' (1997).
Zelmani's "Going Home" from ''Sing and Dance'' was covered in Mandarin Chinese as "Passenger" and Cantonese as "Withered Flower" by Faye Wong
Faye Wong ( zh, 王菲; born Xia Lin on 8 August 1969) is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter. Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong. Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and her debut album '' Shirley Wong'' ( ...
on ''To Love
To Love (russian: Любить..., Lyubit...) is a 1968 Soviet drama film directed by Mikhail Kalik and Inna Tumanyan.
Plot
The film consists of four short stories, each of which asks the audience a question: "What is love?"
Cast
* Mihail B ...
''.
Discography
Albums
Singles
References
External links
Official website
*For track listings (song titles are almost all in English) see Swedish Wikipedia
The Swedish Wikipedia ( sv, Svenskspråkiga Wikipedia) is the Swedish-language edition of Wikipedia and was started on the 23 of May 2001. It is currently the largest Wikipedia by article count with its current articles, it has a ''Wikipedia ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zelmani, Sophie
1972 births
Living people
English-language singers from Sweden
Swedish songwriters
Swedish singer-songwriters
Singers from Stockholm
21st-century Swedish singers
21st-century Swedish women singers