Oct. 2: Swedish singer Maja Ivarsson, lead vocalist of the Swedish New Wave band The Sounds, is 34 today.

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Born in Åhus, Scania, Ivarsson began playing the French horn at the age of 8, and at the same time studied karate, Thai boxing and kickboxing. At 14 she began learning to play the electric guitar.

MP3 Downloads
*No One Sleeps When I'm Awake
* Living In America *Painted By Numbers   *Rock N Roll
*Dying To Say This To You [Explicit]

The Sounds were formed  in 1998 in Helsingborg, by childhood friends guitarist and vocalist Felix Rodriguez and bassist Johan Bengtsson, along with drummer Fredrik Nilsson. Jesper Anderberg, who  plays piano, guitar, synthesizers and does back-up vocals joined the group later.

Ivarsson's striking presence and personality led to an invitation to be the lead singer of The Sounds.

The group's musical style has been compared to New Wave acts such as Blondie, The Cars, the Epoxies and Missing Persons.

Ivarsson is also a composer and lyricist even though most of The Sounds songs are written by the other band members. In 2002, Ivarsson collaborated with Andreas Mattson in the song "Free Free Free" which was released on the soundtrack for the German film Grosse Maedchen Weinen Nicht (Big Girls Don't Cry).

Ivarsson was featured in Cobra Starship's single and music video "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)," for the 2006 film Snakes on a Plane. The popular film gave provided much needed publicity to Ivarsson and her band, especially in the USA. Maja is also featured on the song "We Are Rebels" by Alice in Videoland from their 2008 album She's A Machine!

The Sounds first US tour came after their 2003 song "Living in America" - both the song and the album - became hits. The band opened for No Doubt during a U.S. tour over the summer of 2009.

(Follow links below to view You Tube Videos:)

 

-- "Night After Night"

-- "Song With A Mission"

 

Recommended (Press album covers for direct links to Amazon):

Ivarsson has three tattoos: a tribal sun on the inside of her left forearm, Modesty Blaise (a sixties British comic book character) on her right outer forearm and three dots between her right thumb and index finger. The three dot tattoo is in memory of her father, who was a sailor.

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