Maria Sødal Arredondo (born 6 July 1985 in
Vennesla,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
) is a Norwegian
pop singer. Her surname Arredondo comes from her Chilean stepfather.
Career
In March 2003, Arredondo released her first album, the self-titled ''
Maria Arredondo'' by
Universal Music Norway. The album was a success in Norway, attaining the highest possible scores from a Norwegian newspaper, ''VG''.
In November 2004, Arredondo released her second album, ''
Not Going Under''. This was the first album to have videos for the singles, as Arredondo did not produce any videos for her first album.
Arredondo released a Christmas album, ''
Min Jul'' with some tracks produced and arranged by
Jon Lord of
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...
). The track "
On Christmas Day" was released as a single. Arredondo's three albums have combined sales of over 150,000.
VG
, 2006
Arredondo was among the contributors to the song "That Day", along with singers Marit Larsen and Marion Raven, as both members of the pop duo M2M.
On 12 November 2007, she released her fourth album '' For a Moment''. The first single from this album, "Brief and Beautiful" became a major hit throughout the fall. "Brief and Beautiful" was written by Hanne Sørvaag and Harry Sommerdahl, and a Spanish-language adaptation of this song called "Fue para los dos" was released earlier in 2007 by Spanish singer Edurne
Edurne García Almagro (; born 22 December 1985) is a Spanish singer, actress, and television presenter. She rose to fame in late 2005 when she took part in the Spanish casting show ''Operación Triunfo (Spain), Operación Triunfo'' on Televisi ...
.
Her fourth album was met with mixed reviews. On the album, "Even when you're with me" is a cover of the Spanish singer Chenoa's "Me Enamoro Del Dolor", and "If You Could Only See Me" was originally recorded by another Norwegian artist called Ina.
Arredondo entered the qualifying rounds of the Melodi Grand Prix 2010 (the Norwegian selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest) on 16 January 2010 and was voted through to the national final, with the song "The Touch", which is written by Rolf Løvland.
Today, Maria works (beside her singing career) 20% in Heggedal church, Asker.
In July 2014, Maria took the leading female role in a musical play titled "Kober Mystery". In November, the planned "Sound Of Music in Concert" was staged for two shows, also starring Maria.
Musical style
Her musical style is a mixture of pop and dream pop very similar to artists such as M2M, Natalie Imbruglia
Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( , ; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian and British singer and actress.
Born and raised in New South Wales, Imbruglia became widely known in the early 1990s playing Beth Brennan in the soap opera ''Neighbours''. A ...
, Michelle Branch, Jewel, and The Cranberries
The Cranberries were an Irish rock music, rock band formed in Limerick in 1989. The band was composed of lead singer and guitarist Dolores O'Riordan, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan (Noel's brother), and drummer Fergal Lawler. O'Riord ...
.
Discography
Studio albums
Singles
/ : The singles were only released as radio single.
—: The singles did not enter the charts
Features
References
External links
UK Fansite
* Chinese Fan-bars
@maria@arredondo@mariaarredondo
on Baidu Tie-bar)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arredondo, Maria
1985 births
Living people
Norwegian pop singers
People from Vennesla
21st-century Norwegian singers
21st-century Norwegian women singers