Hanna Emilia Rydberg-Mitiku, known simply as Emilia (born 5 January 1978), is a

Swedish pop music Swedish popular music, or shortly Swedish pop music, refers to music that has swept the Swedish mainstream at any given point in recent times. After World War II, Swedish pop music was heavily influenced by American jazz, and then by rock-and-roll ...

and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

singer. Her 1998 hit single " Big Big World" reached number one in the

music charts A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

in several countries.

Life and career

Rydberg's father is the

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n popular singer

Teshome Mitiku Teshome Mitiku ( am, ተሾመ ምትኩ; born 1949) is an Ethiopian singer and saxophonist. He is the father of Swedish singer Emilia and brother of saxophonist Theodros Mitiku. He was leader of Soul Ekos Band active in 1960s. Early life Tes ...

. Her mother is Swedish, Malena Rydberg. As a student she attended the

Adolf Fredrik's Music School Adolf Fredrik's Music School ( sv, Adolf Fredriks Musikklasser) is a general municipal junior high school ( sv, grundskola) in Stockholm, Sweden with a focus on choral music, and highly competitive admission based on audition in singing and music ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

. Rydberg was discovered in 1996 by Lars Anderson, son of

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The grou ...

's manager,

Stig Anderson Stig Erik Leopold Anderson (25 January 1931 – 12 September 1997), better known as Stikkan Anderson, was a Swedish music manager, lyricist and music publisher. He was the co-founder of Polar Music, and is best known for managing the Sw ...

. She used the

mononym A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

of Emilia in the first years of her career, but more recently she has started to perform under the name of Emilia Mitiku, using her father's surname. In 2009, she competed in

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song C ...

, the Swedish national selection for

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

, with the song "

You're My World "You're My World" is a ballad originally recorded in 1963 as "Il mio mondo" ("My World") by Umberto Bindi, who co-wrote the Italian version with Gino Paoli. Subsequently, an English version was commissioned, and the lyrics were written by Carl S ...

". She advanced directly from her heat; however, she placed ninth in the final. She released her album ''My World'' in 2009. Her single "Teardrops" was released to radio stations on 2 June 2009. Her duet with , "Side By Side" (Szerelemre hangolva), was recorded in both Hungarian and English languages and issued the same year. Emilia recorded a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to th ...

's "

We Found Love "We Found Love" is a song by Barbadian singer Rihanna from her sixth studio album, ''Talk That Talk'' (2011). Scottish DJ Calvin Harris wrote, produced, and features on the song, which also appears on his third album '' 18 Months'' (2012). "We F ...

" for a studio session in Stockholm which was published on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. On 25 June 2012 she released the single "Lost Inside".

Discography

Albums

Singles

;Featured in *2010/2012: "Watch the Stars" (

Bryan Rice Brian Risberg Clausen, better known as Bryan Rice (born 29 May 1978 in Dåstrup, near Viby, Roskilde, Denmark), is a Danish pop singer and songwriter. He is best known for his debut single " No Promises" and for competing in the Dansk Melodi Gr ...

featuring Emilia) (BEL (Vl): #91)Ultratop: "Watch the Stars" song page
/ref>

References

External links

Emilia Mitiku
- Official YouTube channel
Profile at rateyourmusic.com
*
Emilia Mitiku – Booking and events
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rydberg, Emilia 1978 births Living people Swedish pop singers Swedish people of Ethiopian descent Melodifestivalen contestants Singers from Stockholm Swedish soul singers 21st-century Swedish singers 21st-century Swedish women singers English-language singers from Sweden