Jenny Marielle Pettersson (born 5 November 1975,

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

, Sweden), professionally known as Velvet, is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

dance-pop singer. She has released two albums since her 2005 debut in the music industry and her first eight singles have all achieved a top-twenty peak on the

Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish ...

Early life

Velvet moved from

to Stockholm in 1993 to study ballet at Balettakademien. She soon took singing lessons at a dance school where she "got a voice". She worked at Wallmans cabaret where she discovered that singing was what she really wanted to do. She then toured for eight years as a choir singer and dancer to major artists such as Lena PH,

Markoolio Marko Kristian "Markoolio" Lehtosalo (born 1 January 1975 in Lahti, Finland) is a Swedish-Finnish multi-platinum selling recording artist, singer, musician, songwriter, actor, and comedian. His stage name Markoolio is a portmanteau of his first ...

Carola Carola is a female given name, the Latinized form of the Germanic given names Caroline or Carol. People named Carola include: Acting * Carola Braunbock (1924–1978), Czech-born East German actress *Carola Höhn (1910–2005), German actres ...

Sanne Salomonsen Sanne Salomonsen (born 30 December 1955), is a Danish singer. She has been performing since 1973, and various songs by her band Sneakers were on the charts continuously from 1979 to 1985. She was also a member of the Anne Linnet Band. Salomonsen ...

Orup Hans Thomas Eriksson (born 29 November 1958), known by his stage name Orup, is a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician who enjoyed major success in his native country and Scandinavia in the late 1980s and early 1990s with songs like " Jag blir he ...

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

Martin Stenmarck Martin Olof Jon Stenmarck (born 3 October 1972) is a Swedish singer. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Las Vegas", finishing 19th with 30 points. Career In 2006, Stenmarck released his first single in Swe ...

and

Jessica Folcker Jessica Elisabeth Angelique Folcker (born 9 July 1975), known professionally as Jessica, is a Swedish singer. Her debut album ''Jessica'' in 1998 used her mononym, whereas follow up album ''Dino'' credited Jessica Folker. Her following albums ''P ...

. Velvet was also a part of the house choir for the Swedish Eurovision organisation for five years and traveled to the various Eurovision Song Contests across Europe.

Music

Velvet was discovered in 2005 and signed with

Bonnier Amigo Music Group Cosmos Music, formerly Bonnier Amigo Music Group (BAMG), is an independent record company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Bonnier Amigo Music Group was formed in 2001 when the record company and distributor Amigo Musik merged with the record compa ...

. She stated that she came up with the name "Velvet" on her own after receiving what she referred to as "bad suggestions" from her record company. She settled on "Velvet" because she wanted to pick something that suited her and that she could stand for. Velvet soon released her first single, "Rock Down To (Electric Avenue)" (with chorus from 1980s song "

Electric Avenue Electric Avenue is a street in Brixton, London. Built in the 1880s, it was the first market street to be lit by electric lights (The first street to be lit by an incandescent lightbulb was Mosley Street, in Newcastle upon Tyne). Today, Elect ...

)", which was a big hit in Sweden and internationally. The single, still frequently played in clubs across Sweden, reached number one in the Swedish Dance Charts for 22 weeks. Her follow-up single, "Don't Stop Movin'", was also popular and was followed by a tour. In 2006 Velvet entered Melodifestivalen to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest but lost the spot to Carola. She entered with the song "Mi Amore", which rapidly became a favourite and achieved great success internationally & became Song of the Year 2006 in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. It remained high in charts in Russia,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and Italy. In this year Velvet released her debut album, ''Finally''. In 2007 Velvet released her fourth single, "Fix Me", which has been added to the re-release of ''

Finally Finally may refer to: Albums * ''Finally'' (Namie Amuro album) (2017) * ''Finally'' (Blackstreet album) or its title song * ''Finally'' (Sean Ensign album) or its title song "It's My Life (Finally)" * ''Finally'' (Layzie Bone & A.K. album) ...

''. The song failed to chart as high as her previous singles in Poland and Russia, but became a big success in the US, peaking at No. 14. Later in August she released her fifth single, "Chemistry", it being the only one of her singles to chart in Finland. Alongside her singing career, Velvet has also worked as a show producer for several Christmas galas around Sweden, where she has also taken part as an artist. In 2008 Velvet again took part in Melodifestivalen with the song "Deja Vu". Even though she received great reviews, as well as the song, she was knocked out in one of the semi-final rounds, missing the final. This was Velvet's second attempt to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest. "Deja Vu" was her most successful song in Sweden, but was her only single to not chart anywhere else but there. After a strong presence in the UK club music scene for several years, "Fix Me" was officially released on 11 August 2008. Later that month, Velvet also released her new single "Take My Body Close", which reached No. 8 in Sweden and No. 14 in Poland. "Chemistry" was released as a single in the US on 11 November 2008 as a digital download, followed by a physical release on 25 November. It includes the original version of the song and four remixes, but failed to chart. A music video for the song was shot in London in December 2008, and the song will be released in UK sometime in 2009. Velvet competed in Melodifestivalen 2009 singing "

The Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

" composed by Tony Nilsson and Henrik Janson. She was in the third semi-final in Leksand on 21 February 2009 but only reached 6th place. Her official website and her label Bonnier confirmed that her second album ''

'' would be released on 18 March 2009. The album includes the singles "Fix Me", "Chemistry", Déjà Vu", "Take My Body Close", "The Queen" and "Come into The Night". In 2010 Velvet teamed up with PJ to record a cover version of

Edward Maya Eduard Marian Ilie (; born 29 June 1986), better known by his stage name Edward Maya, is a Romanian DJ, musician, composer, record producer, performer, singer and songwriter, most famous for his 2009 smash hit single " Stereo Love". Career In an ...

's "

Stereo Love "Stereo Love" is a song recorded by Romanian DJ Edward Maya with Moldovan-Romanian musician Vika Jigulina, released as their debut single in 2009 from Maya's album, ''The Stereo Love Show''. The refrain is from " Bayatılar", composed by Azerba ...

", which was only released on various compilation albums. In 2011 Velvet released her single "Love Struck". In 2014 Velvet released her single "Enemy". In 2015 Velvet released her single "Friendly Fire", and in 2017 collaborated with fellow Swedish singer

Therese Therese or Thérèse is a variant of the feminine given name Teresa. It may refer to: Persons Therese *Duchess Therese of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1773–1839), member of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and a Duchess of Mecklenburg * Therese of B ...

on their track "Don't Stop".

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velvet 1975 births Bonnier Amigo Music Group artists Swedish dance musicians Swedish pop singers Living people People from Helsingborg Robbins Entertainment artists Balettakademien English-language singers from Sweden Extensive Music artists 21st-century Swedish singers 21st-century Swedish women singers Melodifestivalen contestants of 2009 Melodifestivalen contestants of 2008