Marika Lejon (born 3 October 1984 in

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

) is a Norwegian composer and singer. She grew up in

Søgne Søgne is a former municipality in the old Vest-Agder county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until 2020 when it was merged with the municipalities of Songdalen and Kristiansand into the "new" Kristiansand municipality in what is now ...

, in the south of Norway, with a Norwegian father and a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

mother. Her parents were both journalists, so she had the opportunity to travel and see the world. She was educated at

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

Media Studies Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but it mos ...

, and completed a master's degree autumn 2010. She was also educated

nutritionist A nutritionist is a person who advises others on matters of food and Human nutrition, nutrition and their impacts on health. Some people specialize in particular areas, such as sports nutrition, public health, or animal nutrition, among other disci ...

Norges Idrettshøgskole The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences (, NIH) is a public university located at Sognsvann in Oslo, Norway. It has the national responsibility for education and research related within sport sciences. It provides education at the Bachelor, Master ...

and webmaster at

Gjøvik University College Gjøvik University College (, HiG) is a university college in Norway. In January 2016, Gjøvik University College joined the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (known as NTNU). HiG is now referred to as the NTNU campus in Gjøvik. C ...

. From 2014 to 2015 Marika Lejon worked as an editor for Gymgrossisten Magazine ( CDON Group). Since 2007 she has worked as a journalist for different magazines. Music At the age of 5, she started to learn how to play the piano by a private music teacher. Two years later she ditched the piano in favor of voice-lessons which lasted until she was 16. At the age of 6, she started composing music. Before she started performing on TV, she participated in, among other things, NM Rock 2000 (Finale of the Rockefeller in Oslo, where she was voted as the best vocalist), by:Larm 2002 (youngest participant). NRK.no. Lejon released her first single "To Milan" in 2004. She participated in " Kjempesjansen" autumn 2006 with the self-composed song "Again" and the gypsy song "Nane Tsocha". She participated in the

Melodi Grand Prix 2007 Melodi Grand Prix 2007 (shortened ''MGP 2007'') was the television show in which the Norway, Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was chosen. As with in 2006, there were three semifinals held before the final, where televoting ...

(the Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest selection) with the song "Perfect Sin" which was written by the Swedish Adam AlverMark. Then she participated in the Norwegian's Got Talents on TV2. In 2009 she released her debutalbum " My Fire". She calls the genre on this record "Gipsypop". In 2011 she participated for the second time in the

Melodi Grand Prix Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norsk Melodi Grand Prix, is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster (NRK). It determines for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been sta ...

with the self-composed song "Hungry for You (Gipsy Dance)", but didn't get to the finals. According to her, she wrote the song while she was writing the thesis, longing for dancing and laughter. Lejon released her second album "Before Death" in 2015. The name of the album was decided, because all the songs were made before her mother dies of cancer in 2014. The cover was also made in Iceland (at

Reynisdrangar Reynisdrangar () are the basalt Stack (geology), sea stacks situated under the mountain Reynisfjall near the village of Vík í Mýrdal in southern Iceland. It is framed by a black sand beach that was ranked in 1991 as one of the ten most beaut ...

), just one month before her mother died. In August 2015 Lejon became a mother to Lorren Karlotta Arnthorsdottir Lejon. Award-winning work 11 June 2018, Lejon received the Dixi award, awarded by the Norwegian Minister of Children and Equality, Linda Hofstad Helleland. Lejon received the award because of her work to prevent sexual abuse. She is the editor of a platform where assailants can share their stories anonymously.

Discography

Albums

* '' My Fire'' (2009)
Before Death
(2015)

Singles

* " To Milan" (2004) * " Perfect Sin" (2007) * " Hard As Steel" (2008) * " Hungry for You (Gipsy Dance)" (2011)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lejon, Marika 1984 births Living people People from Søgne Norwegian pop singers Norwegian women singer-songwriters Norwegian singer-songwriters 21st-century Norwegian singers 21st-century Norwegian women singers