Ana Johnsson

Ana Johnsson
Ana Johnsson at NRJ in the Park, 2006
Background information
Birth name	Anna Lovisa Johnsson
Also known as	Ana
Born	(1977-10-04) October 4, 1977 (age 34) Gothenburg, Sweden
Genres	Modern rock, alternative rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Singing
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Bonnier Amigo Music Group (Scandinavia) Avex Group (Eastern Asia, excluding Korea & Mongolia) Sony BMG (former) Epic Records (former)
Website	Official web site (Swedish) Official web site (Japanese)

Anna Lovisa Johnsson better known by her stage name Ana Johnsson (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈana ˈjoːnsɔn]) (born October 4, 1977 in Gothenburg, Sweden) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Her first longplay disc titled Cuz I Can was released in April 2004 in Sweden. The international version was retitled The Way I Am and was released some months later. Her second album Little Angel was released in October 2006.

Early life

Johnsson was born in Gothenburg, Sweden to Rolph Johnsson and Carina G. but later moved to Sunne, a village in the province of Värmland. The parents - both architects - contributed to her big interests in design, she has studied economics and multimedia, and had the dream of being a graphic designer, but in the end music became her main focus. As a teenager she moved to Karlstad and later, as an exchange student in Minneapolis, USA. She took up skiing as a hobby and was for a while a semi-professional snowboarder. Back in Sweden she combined studies with jobs in a record shop and as nightclub croupier.

Career

1999-2005: The beginning and Excellence

Johnsson's singing talents became obvious when she was a teenager she moved to Karlstad and fronted cover bands named @groove and Soulcream together with her brother, Petter who played drums. The bands played cover versions of tracks by Jamiroquai, Lenny Kravitz to Blur and Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc.

Her big breakthrough started when she heard about the first season of the TV series Popstars. She succeeded in the final and Johnsson, Jenny Bergfoth, Malin Olsson, Johanna Landt and Susanna Patoleta formed the band Excellence. They were a success, scoring five top 10 hits, sold many albums and completed a sold out tour. However, Excellence was not Johnsson's style of music, and she left the band (who only released one further song as a four-piece).

Cuz I Can and The Way I Am

After the end of the group Excellence Johnsson started working as a solo artist. Johnsson chose to go as solo with the name 'Ana' instead of her real name (Anna) to be able to distinguish some of her personal life and her life as an artist and also because "Anna" is a more common name.^[1] In the autumn of 2003, she released "The Way I Am" on the radio and it developed into a radio hit in Sweden and Germany and it gave her a nomination for the 2004 NRJ Awards in Stockholm. Followed up by the singles "Life" and "Cuz I Can" from the fist solo album Cuz I Can in 2004 soon after, only released in Sweden. It was later released internationally as The Way I Am with some different tracklist.

	"We Are" (2004) "Don't Cry for Pain" (2004)
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She was approached by the head of Columbia Tristar during a cruise and was invited to contribute a song to the soundtrack of Spider-Man 2 (soundtrack). The song was called "We Are" and it became the first single to come off the soundtrack and was released worldwide. It became a big hit and she released her second album The Way I Am, which features songs from Cuz I Can and half a dozen new songs. "We Are" reached top 10 in several key territories – including the UK, Germany, Japan – and took the album to high positions in the album charts of close to 20 countries. In the long run, album sales exceeded 500,000 and "We Are" alone was featured on five million sold compilations throughout the world.^{[citation needed]} Next singles releases included "Don't Cry for Pain" which was co-written and produced by Max Martin, and "Coz I Can". In the summer of 2005, "Coz I Can" was picked as the official song for the German DTM's.^[2] racing, and Johnsson performed live at the event. In Japan, the album sold over 100,000 copies, earning her a gold certification charting number #1 for four weeks in a row.

In 2005 at the NRJ Music Awards, Johnsson won the award for Best Swedish Female, and Best Swedish Song. In Sweden, Johnsson was nominated to all of the most prestigious domestic awards including the Grammy Award. She won the Rockbjörnen award as Best Newcomer and the European Border Breakers Award with the album 'The Way I Am" in 2005. She hosted NRJ Radio Awards ceremony in 2006.

2006-2007: Little Angel

Johnsson's second album Little Angel was released in Sweden on October 18, 2006. The album did not chart in the Swedish albums chart, despite both the first as the second singles debuting in the ten of the country's singles chart. It includes the lead single "Days of Summer", that charted and peaked at number seven (#7) in Sweden. The second single from the album, "Exception", is the theme song to the Swedish thriller movie Exit. The song debuted and peaked at number ten (#10) in the Swedish singles chart.

"Fate" was the title song for Finnish-Chinese movie Jadesoturi (Jade Warrior). The song was by the Finnish rock band Bleak, featuring Johnsson duetting with Caleb (lead singer of Bleak) on vocals, and the Finnish accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen, who also composed the score for the film along with Samuli Kosminen. "Fate" was on the Jadesoturi soundtrack that was released on October 11 in Finland. The film premiered on October 13 in Finland. A music video has also been shot for the song courtesy of Eyesonlymedia. On January 19, 2007, the song received the award for 'Best Nordic Song' at the NRJ Radio Awards.

	"Fate" (2006) "Catch Me If You Can" (2007)
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In December 2006, it was announced that one track from the album, "Catch Me If You Can", had been picked the official song for the FIS 2007 Alpine World Ski Championships in Åre, Sweden, held in early February. The song was released as the third single off Little Angel on January 17, 2007.

Little Angel was released in Japan on February 14, 2007, containing two bonus tracks. The first one is "Falling to Pieces," the B-side of the "Days of Summer" single. The second was a new track "If I'm Not Dreaming." A new Japanese official website was created for the release of the album in Japan. In a message on the official website, Johnsson stated that she will be doing some promotion in Japan in the last days of January. The Japanese version is available in two formats, CD and CD+DVD: in both versions the CD contains the two bonus tracks and the DVD features the music video for "Exception" plus promotional and rare videos and an acoustic performances. The album peaked at number 28 on the Oricon albums chart.^[3] The album has sold over 20,500 copies in Japan as of April 13. "Exception," which was the second single in Sweden, was released as the first single in Japan.

2008-Present

In 2008, Johnsson emboided the new face of Invercote! (Iggesund Paperboard). Part of the inspiration for the new Invercote communication campaign came from a song, "Catch Me If You Can". Johnsson performed live in two of Iggesund private displays. An EP (cover) was also made featuring the tracks "We Are", "Break Through Time" and "Catch Me If You Can".

In the issue of the magazine Inspire #31 from Iggesund the Swedish singer gave an interview where she said that she would take her big break moving to United States, take some time off, and start writing songs for a new album.

In 2009 Johnsson moved to San Diego, California where she lived until 2010 when she returned to Stockholm, Sweden where she currently lives.

Johnsson's musical career is currently in 'standby' due to her personal life.

Discography

Albums

Singles

An empty space indicates the song was not released in that country.

Movies and soundtracks

Johnsson's music has been featured in various movies, such as:

• 2004: Autobahnraser - A2 Racer - Song: "The Way I Am"and "Cuz I Can"
• 2004: Spider-Man 2 - Song: "We Are"
• 2006: Jade Warrior - Song: "Fate" and "Days of Summer"
• 2006: Exit - Song: "Exception"
• 2006: Brother Bear 2 (Swedish version) - Songs: "En helt ny dag" / "Welcome to This Day", "Tagit mig hem" / "Feels Like Home", "Då är det jag" / "It Will Be Me" ^[6]

Ana Johnsson also participated in the Swedish version of the Disney animated movies (although under the name "Anna Johnsson"):

• Brother Bear 2 (Swedish: Björnbröder 2) (2006) - as the voice of Nita ^[6]
• Tinker Bell (Swedish: Tingeling) (2008) - as the voice of Silvermist ^[7]
• Tinker Bell 2 (Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure) (2009) (Swedish: Tingeling och den förlorade skatten) - as the voice of Silvermist^[8]

Personal life

Johnsson currently lives in Stockholm, Sweden, and is engaged. Johnsson names Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Creed, Erykah Badu and Jane's Addiction as some of her favourite bands.^[9] Dave Grohl and the producer Rick Rubin are other role models.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Official English website
• Ana Johnsson at the Internet Movie Database
• Ana Johnsson Fansite - Italian fansite