Helena in Wikipedia II

Ilya Volkov, a Russian fan, had written a good article in wikipedia (August, 2006) and Nicole Breuer had added some important facts. I also added some information and this is the updated article about Helena in Wikipedia

Helena Josefsson is a Swedish singer, composer and lyrics writer, and the lead singer in the band Sandy Mouche.

Biography

Helena Marianne Josefsson was born in Kalmar, Sweden (1978.03.23). Her parents divorced when she was 7 and they moved with mom and her new love to a village called BjörnstorpLund, Skåne County, southern Sweden) when she was ten. She has got four sisters. She is left-handed and can play keyboards, tambourine and harmonica. Helena married Martinique Josefsson, his long time boyfriend. (outside of

First groups and Sandy Mouche

Helena began to play in some groups in Lund and Malmö (ewing.1, Plastic Soul, The Good Mornings) before forming in the fall of 2001 the band Sandy Mouche with her husband Martinique Josefsson and the Blomgren brothers (Per and Ola Blomgren). So far they have released and E.P. (Sandy Mouche, spring 2003) and two albums (White Lucky Dragon, September 2004; and ... and poems for the unborn, January, 2006)

Backing vocals

Helena has been doing backing vocals for a lot of Swedish and some foreign artists: The Ark, Righteous Boy, Swan Lee, Justin Winokur, Doug Wyatt, Junior Senior, Andreas Johnson, Sebastian Karlsson, Hideki Kaji, The Margarets, Metro Jets, ...

Many of these collaborations and Sandy Mouche's and Helena Solo albums have been recorded in the Aerosol Grey Machine Studio in Vollsjö, a small urban area (788 habitants) in the Sjöbo Municipality. The owner and producer of this studio, Christoffer Lundquist, was a member of the Swedish band Brainpool and has worked with Roxette, The Cardigans, Ed Harcourt, Ulf Lundell, Gyllene Tider, Wilmer X and many others. Chris Lundquist is used to call Helena (backing vocals) and Jens Jansson (bass and drums) when needed.

Per Gessle's band

In 2003 Helena Josefsson took part in recording Per Gessle's Swedish solo album Mazarin as a backup singer. She also participated in Mazarin Sommarturne 2003 with Per Gessle and the band. A year later in 2004, Helena was invited to record Gyllene Tider's anniversary album 'Finn 5 Fel!'.

The Mazarin project became actually a defined band, Son of a Plumber, with Per Gessle - vocals and guitar -, Clarence Öfwerman - keyboards -, Christoffer Lundquist - guitar-, Jens Jansson - drums - and Helena Josefsson - vocals -. Son of a Plumber released their first album in 2005 in Sweden and in 2006 in all Europe. All the team has worked together again in the last Gessle's Swedish solo album, En händig man, and in the En händig man Summer Tour (2007).

Dynamo: the first solo album (2007)

On February 28th, 2007, her first solo album, Dynamo, was released. As of July, 2007, the album is backed by the singles "By Your Side", "Never Never (My Dynamo) and "Where Does the Unused Love Go?."

Thoughts by Helena Josefsson

- "What do you want to become when you grow up? Either a troll or an artist!, I replied to that question at 7 years of age. When I think about it, trolls and artists do have rather much in common. What I wanted, and still try to achieve, is the sense of liberty, being part of nature, getting room in the city, finding a spot for mushrooming. That it is all right to be the way one is and still being able to receive love. Being an artist and composer is probably one of the few lifestyles where one can be a troll simultaneously!"

- "When you are born, you are complete but then shell after shell is added as protection against dangers around. Or society forces you to take different parts, needs and patterns you don´t really need or want. Then one can spend the rest of one´s life finding and removing the bad shells, and saving the good ones, one by one. At least that´s what I want to do"

Albums by Sandy Mouche

• Sandy Mouche (spring 2003) - ep
• White Lucky Dragon (September 2004) - just in Sweden and Japan
• ...and poems for the unborn (January 2006) - so far in Sweden only

Albums by Helena Josefsson

• Dynamo (February 2007)

Singles by Sandy Mouche

• Une histoire (2005)
• In the sand (2005)
• Spiderweb suit (2005)

Singles by Helena Josefsson

• By Your Side (2006)
• Never Never (My Dynamo) (2007)
• Where Does the Unused Love Go? (2007)

Videography by Sandy Mouche

• Cherry pie (dir. Johan Tholsson)
• C’est pas juste (dir. Per and Ola Blomgren)
• Papillon (dir. Jeffry Rich)

Videography by Helena Josefsson

• By Your Side.

Links

• Official site
• Helena Josefsson's Myspace
• Official site for Sandy Mouche
• Official Helena Josefsson Fan Forum
• Fan page about Mazarinerna project

PS: I have also written a Spanish version of this article.

Alberto Fuente (aka Lantartida),
from Madrid, ES

EHM Turné 5 - Borgholm

17 July Borgholm Idrottsplatsen

Official video

LJdM

Leaving Lexand! Unconciously pretty, strong sunshine outlines E4: where the bus swings along in boogietempo. Have eaten late but had a good breakfast and watched 'The making of Who's next' for the 20th time, jerk. Yesterday, Leksand was wonderful, and an unbelieveably beautiful place to play, where we saw brightly-coloured galloping in time with this swinging band. Totally simple, an excellent summer evening with "When all friends..." as a big climax. On my day off I need to rest my voice a little after all the Little Richard screaming lately. We've received good criticism in the press, says Dita (presschief)!!!!

Borgholm! Yes!!! Yeap, we’ve been there! In the middle of the cross! We had a cool stormy concert out there on the island. Almost 6000 people met us there, in a shining weather, to see a top form band, I felt cool there, in the spotlight, in front of the audience ….what can I say….it was splendid! The best singing so far, agreed all. We went home to Halmstad directly after the gig, I checked the Wings DVD all along the way and I went to bed at four thirty in the morning with McCartney floating all around. I woke up around 12 in a perfect summer day and I didn’t do too much today. Just a walk, a quick bath in the blue, a great pâté-sandwich. Tomorrow we’re heading to Sofiero outside Helsingborg where almost 10000 people are waiting for us. That’s cool!

Per Gessle

EHM Turné 4 - Leksand

15 July Leksand Sammilsdal

Official video

LJdM

On the bus again all this beautiful Sunday. Glorious evening in Sandviken yesterday, 4700 people, 25 songs, 3 chords. It started raining in Kung av Sandviken but otherwise was a perfect Saturday. Great people wanting more than anything to listen to old GT-hits that they know so well. We’re on the way to Leksand on a new train. The band is playing, Gabriel shoots something on his computer game, MP reads MC-new. You can hear Little Willy with the Sweet in the background. That's all.

Per Gessle

EHM Turné 3 - Sandviken

14 July Sandviken Högbo Bruk

Official Video

LJdM

Hi! Greetings from the second apartment, right in front on the left, the red/mauve bus. We turned off the aircon, just to sweat a bit in the summer sun, I mean my voice has its influence on the aircon when I sing... but what can you do, sweat has its own use! The tour has passed through the Halmstad premiere and through the joyfull Linköping. I was thinking that the premiere was more than a splendido, but now I wonder if Linköping was even sharper yesterday. The band thought it would be o fail. We had almost 5000 people this Friday, the 13th of July, and their reaction was excellent. Thanx to all of you who have been there! We rehearsed "Om du bara vill" on the bus on the way between Tylösand and Linköping and in the evening, we also made a soundcheck and arranged the acoustics as for „Gungar” that we like to play sometimes. Tonight, Sandviken is waiting for us. See you soon. P. PS. The best on the bus "If you go away" with Scott Walker and "Time of the season" with THe Zombies

Per Gessle

EHM Turné 2 - Linköping

13 July Linköping Stångebrofältet

Jens Jansson's Video

LJdM

EHM Turné 1- Halmstad

11 July Halmstad Örjans Vall





Halmstad's Official Video

Before 17,800 people (out of 19,000 tickets available,) Per entered the stage at Örjans vall in Halmstad. Thomas Evensson, from The Daily Roxette, was there. Unfortunately there was a heavy drizzle over Halmstad during the evening. Per was in a great mood and exclaimed:

This is the best band I've ever been in. It was also the best tour premiere of mine ever! This band is actually so tight that for the second week of rehearsals we only worked on switching the set list around… Once with Roxette I ran into Jonas Isacsson when the stage was wet. I smashed into his guitar! Not today I hope ...

According to Thomas, the concert itself was very Gyllene Tider oriented, with 10 out of 23 songs.

The rest consisted of seven "En händig man" songs and six from "Mazarin." Per was a bit upset with the rain as it made it hard to move on stage. The band was in top shape. MP was sharp, and looked sharp in his nice tie, Helena was cute (and sang well) and Clarence hit every key. The stage was fabulous. A great light show with two rather big video screens that showed what was happening on stage with some effects added. The show started by the way with a 40 minute video showing Swedish artists over the years, and ended with Per's new "secret track" which I won't tell what it is. The video wasn't shown though. Biggest song: Sommartider probably, the sing-a-long must've been heard for miles! Many fans from all over the world attended the concert; Russians, Norwegians, Finns, Swedes you name it.

The set list

Juni, juli, augusti
(Hon vill ha) Puls
Pratar med min müsli (hur det än verkar)
En händig man
På promenad genom stan
Vilket håll du än går
Hannas kärlekspil
Det hjärta som brinner
En sten vid en sjö i en skog
När alla vännerna gått hem
Jag skulle vilja tänka en underbar tanke
Kung av sand

Band presentation

Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång)
Födelsedag
Fru Nordin
Spegelboll
Gå & fiska!

Extras

Om du kommer ihåg
Tycker om när du tar på mej
Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
Ska vi älska så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly

Extra extras

Sommartider
Min hälsning

LJdM