Maria Mena
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Maria Viktoria Mena (born February 19, 1986 in Oslo ) is a Norwegian pop musician and songwriter .
Life
Maria Mena grew up in an artistically active family. The mother, a Norwegian , wrote song lyrics, the father Charles Mena, born in Nicaragua and raised in New York , worked as a drummer . Maria and her younger brother Tony were named after characters from Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story . The father played in many bands in Oslo , which also introduced his daughter to the professional music scene at an early age. When she was nine years old, her parents separated. Four years later, Maria moved in with her father and began writing lyrics and singing. She wrote the song My Lullaby to express her feelings about the parents' divorce. In March 2002, My Lullaby was released by Sony Music and reached fifth place on the Norwegian charts.
In September and October 2007 Maria Mena went on a club tour through nine German cities. Maria Mena's second tour took her from April 1, 2008 through eight German cities as well as Zurich and Vienna. In December 2007 Maria Mena received a gold record in Germany for over 100,000 copies of the album Apparently Unaffected, which was first published in 2005 . On the album is the title Just Hold Me , which helped her international breakthrough as a single. Furthermore, she was nominated for the Echo 2008 in the category Best Newcomer International .
In April 2008, Maria Mena's fourth single from Apparently Unaffected was released . On October 3, 2008, Mena's album Cause and Effect was released in German-speaking countries. The song Power Trip Ballad contained on it again addresses the separation of their parents.
After the 2011 attacks in Norway , she released a cover version of Ole Paus ' song Mitt Lille Land . In September 2011 the album Viktoria was released . The first single releases were This Too Shall Pass on May 27, 2011 and Homeless on August 12, 2011 .
On October 7, 2011, her album Viktoria was released in Germany ; In March 2012 she went on tour in Germany for the first time in three years and played in Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Offenbach, Munich, Dresden and Stuttgart.
In 2012 Mena married the Norwegian journalist Eivind Sæter. However, the couple has lived separately since 2014.
In September 2013 the studio album Weapon in Mind, which differs significantly from their previous works due to the use of more electronic elements, was released . In February 2014 she went on tour again and played in Zurich, Stuttgart, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt and Hamburg, among others.
In 2015 Mena was on the cast of Night of the Proms .
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 US
|
 NO
|
|||
| 2002 | Another phase | - | - | - | - |
NO6th  (20 weeks)NO |
First published: April 22nd, 2002
Sales: + 40,000 |
| 2004 | Mellow | - | - | - | - |
NO7th  (11 weeks)NO |
First published: March 1, 2004
Sales: + 20,000 |
| White Turns Blue | - | - | - |
US102 (1 week) US |
- |
Compilation
First published: November 15, 2004 |
|
| 2005 | Apparently unaffected |
DE22nd (38 weeks)DE |
AT40 (19 weeks) AT |
CH56 (12 weeks) CH |
- |
NO6 (23 weeks) NO |
First published: November 8, 2005
Sales: + 100,000 |
| 2008 | Cause and Effect |
DE20th (25 weeks)DE |
AT23 (13 weeks) AT |
CH13 (30 weeks)CH |
- |
NO4th (18 weeks)NO |
First published: September 9, 2008
Sales: + 145,000 |
| 2011 | Victoria |
DE18 (4 weeks) DE |
AT29 (3 weeks) AT |
CH13 (7 weeks) CH |
- |
NO2 (18 weeks)NO |
First published: September 23, 2011
Sales: + 15,000 |
| 2013 | Weapon in min |
DE59 (1 week) DE |
- |
CH30 (2 weeks) CH |
- |
NO1 (13 weeks) NO |
First published: September 20, 2013
|
| 2015 | Growing pains | - | - |
CH75 (1 week) CH |
- |
NO6 (10 weeks) NO |
First published: December 4th, 2015
|
Awards
- 2007 SWR3 Best New Pop Act
- 2008 Radio Regenbogen Award Newcomer International
- 2008 Echo nomination in the category "best international newcomer"
- 2009 Spellemann Award Artist of the Year
- 2009 AVO Session Basel Award : Arising Star Award
Web links
- Web presence by SonyBMG Germany
- Official Maria Mena website / blog
- Official international fan club
- Official Dutch fan club
swell
- ↑ laut.de: Biography , as of February 12, 2008
- ↑ Maria Mena: Viktoria-Tour 2012 , accessed on December 25, 2015
- ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH US NO1 NO2
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mena, Maria |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mena, Maria Viktoria (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Norwegian pop musician and songwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 19, 1986 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oslo , Norway |