Lene Nystrøm Rasted
Encyclopedia
Lene Nystrøm Rasted known professionally as Lene, is a Norwegian-Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 and occasional actress, who is best known as vocalist for the Danish-Norwegian dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...

 group Aqua
Aqua (band)
Aqua is a Danish dance-pop group, best known for their 1997 breakthrough single "Barbie Girl". The group formed in 1989 and achieved huge success across the globe in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The group managed to top the UK Singles Chart with their first three singles. The group released two...

.

Early life

Nystrøm was born 2 October 1973. During her teenage years Lene developed an interest in performing and began her adult life as a barmaid and model. In the early 1990s she appeared on the Norwegian gameshow Casino. She left the show in late 1993. During her final appearance on the show she sang Almaz. She married Søren Rasted 25 August 2001. She began her solo career, working with other bands along the way. After her final hit "I Love New York" in 2006 she settled in to complete her family.

Aqua (1994-2001)

In 1994 Lene was spotted by René Dif singing on the Norwegian Norway-Denmark passenger ferry M/S Peter Wessel. He approached her and she became the lead vocalist for the group which was initially called Joyspeed, later re-named Aqua
Aqua (band)
Aqua is a Danish dance-pop group, best known for their 1997 breakthrough single "Barbie Girl". The group formed in 1989 and achieved huge success across the globe in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The group managed to top the UK Singles Chart with their first three singles. The group released two...

. The group consisted of Lene, René Dif
René Dif
René Dif is a musician and actor, best known as the male vocalist in the Danish pop-dance group Aqua.-Biography:...

, Søren Rasted and Claus Norreen
Claus Norreen
Claus Norreen is a Danish musician and record producer known for being a part of the band Aqua, which sold around 33 million records.-Early life:...

. In their prime, Aqua
Aqua (band)
Aqua is a Danish dance-pop group, best known for their 1997 breakthrough single "Barbie Girl". The group formed in 1989 and achieved huge success across the globe in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The group managed to top the UK Singles Chart with their first three singles. The group released two...

 managed to make the singles chart top ten in a number of countries where European pop
Europop
Europop refers to a style of pop music that first developed in today's form in Europe, throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and ’90s...

 acts would not normally succeed. She would remain with the group until 2001 when they split up due to personal differences, including a relationship between Lene and Søren Rasted.

Solo career (2002-2004)

In 2003 Lene released her first solo album, Play with Me
Play with Me (album)
- Release history :...

, which performed poorly in Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

, making only number 74 in the Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 charts. This lackluster performance did not affect her single sales. Initially "Virgin Superstar" was released to radio, followed by "It's Your Duty" (was given a full release) which peaked at number 3 in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 followed by 2004's "Pretty Young Thing", which did not chart. In 2004 a vinyl promo of Here We Go was released to DJs and radio, a CD promo of "Scream" was also released in very a limited number as promotion.

Play with Me features "Here We Go
Here We Go (Moonbaby song)
"Here We Go" is a pop song written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, and Matt Gray.The song was originally released on 14 August 2000 by Cooper under the alias Moonbaby. It was later covered by Aqua singer Lene Nystrøm Rasted in 2003 for her debut solo album Play With Me. It was covered again in...

", a cover of a Moonbaby
Miranda Cooper
Miranda Eleanor De Fonbrune Cooper has been on the UK charts longer than any other female songwriter in the country. In 2007 Harper's Bazaar wrote of her: ‘If it's a hit you want, you'd better talk to Cooper...

 song which Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud are a British and Irish pop girl group based in London. They were created through the ITV1 talent show Popstars The Rivals in 2002. The group consists of Cheryl Cole , Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. They are signed to Fascination Records, a Polydor...

 also went on to cover for their album What Will The Neighbours Say?
What Will the Neighbours Say?
What Will the Neighbours Say? is the second album by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 29 November 2004 by Polydor Records. Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania were enlisted to produce the entire album, allowing for more inventive ideas...

. Her album track "We Wanna Party" has also been covered by Girls Aloud on their 2008 album Out of Control
Out of Control (Girls Aloud album)
Out of Control is the fifth studio album by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 3 November 2008 by Fascination Records. Like their previous albums, Out of Control was crafted by the production team of Brian Higgins and Xenomania...

. Both songs were co-written and produced by the British production team Xenomania
Xenomania
Xenomania is a British songwriting and production team founded by Brian Higgins and based in Kent, England. Formed after Higgins met Miranda Cooper, Xenomania has written and produced for renowned artists such as Cher, Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Pet Shop Boys, and Sugababes...

.

Lene wrote "No Good Advice
No Good Advice
"No Good Advice" is a song by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their debut album Sound of the Underground . The song was written by Aqua's Lene Nystrøm Rasted, Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania...

" and "You Freak Me Out" for Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud are a British and Irish pop girl group based in London. They were created through the ITV1 talent show Popstars The Rivals in 2002. The group consists of Cheryl Cole , Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. They are signed to Fascination Records, a Polydor...

's first album Sound of the Underground. "No Good Advice" was a huge hit, cementing Girls Aloud's place in mainstream pop. Girls Aloud later covered Lene's "Here We Go" and "We Wanna Party". Meanwhile, Pretty Young Thing was covered by Tina Cousins
Tina Cousins
Tina Cousins is an English singer-songwriter and former fashion model. She has had five singles in the Top 20 of the UK Singles Chart, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with others. She has also achieved popularity in Australia. She started her career as a model...

.

Aqua Reunion (2007-present)

On 26 October 2007, Aqua reunited and promised a 25-concert tour that was to have commenced in the summer of 2008. Offers were received by the record company from locations in Denmark, Canada, United States & U.K.
Aqua finally performed 8 concerts around Denmark as part of the "Grøn koncert" festival.

The group have announced that the third album will not be released at the moment, but a greatest hits
Greatest Hits (Aqua album)
-Charts:-Certifications:- Release history :...

 album was released on 15 June 2009, which includes 16 old remastered tracks and three new songs: "My Mamma Said", "Live Fast, Die Young" and their first single in 8 years, "Back to the 80's
Back to the 80's (song)
-Charts:-Certifications:-Credits and personnel:*Lyrics: Søren Rasted, Claus Norreen*Music: Søren Rasted*Producer: Søren Rasted in Elektron Studio*Engineer: Nicolaj Rasted*Guitars: Peter Düring*Drums: Thomas Troelsen, Søren Rasted...

", which was released in Denmark on 25 May 2009. Aqua have also toured Scandinavia between May and August 2009 and performed at several gigs in Germany, UK and France. The greatest hits CD was released in North America and many European countries on 22 September 2009 and in the UK on 29 September 2009.

Aqua have now released their next newest single How R U Doin?
How R U Doin?
"How R U Doin?" is a song by Danish-Norwegian pop group Aqua from their upcoming third studio album, Megalomania. It was released as the album's lead single on March 14, 2011. The song peaked at number four in Denmark, becoming the group's tenth top-ten single...

 as of 3 May 2011.

Aqua have again taken up plans to release a third album and will be recording in the beginning of 2010.

Acting career

Lene played her first major role in the 2009 film Deliver Us from Evil under Danish director Ole Bornedal
Ole Bornedal
Ole Bornedal is a Danish film director, actor and producer.He wrote and directed Nattevagten , a thriller about a law student who works in a morgue as a night-watchman, and becomes implicated in a series of murders of prostitutes...

.

Personal life

During 1998 and 1999 Lene Nystrøm dated former Westlife
Westlife
Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...

 band member Brian McFadden
Brian McFadden
Brian Nicholas McFadden , is an Irish singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of the Irish boyband Westlife...

. She then formed a relationship with René Dif
René Dif
René Dif is a musician and actor, best known as the male vocalist in the Danish pop-dance group Aqua.-Biography:...

 before dating Søren Rasted in 2001. She married Søren Rasted on 25 August 2001 in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

. After living in London for many years, the couple moved to Denmark in 2004. They have two children: daughter India, born 6 November 2004; and son Billy, born 15 February 2006.

Singles

  • "It's Your Duty
    It's Your Duty
    "It's Your Duty" is the debut single released by Scandinavia singer Lene. The song was released on 8 September 2003, as the lead single from her first and only album Play with Me...

    " (2003)
  • "Pretty Young Thing" (2004)


Featured singles
  • "Hvor Små Vi Er" (2005) (Benefic featuring Lene)
  • "I Love New York" (2005) (Lazyboy
    Lazyboy
    Lazyboy is a musical project started by Aqua member Søren Nystrøm Rasted, also known as Lazy B in the UK. It is not to be confused with the British musical project also known as Lazyboy, which consists of Dan Carey and Rob da Bank...

    featuring Lene)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK