Marion Raven
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Marion Elise Ravn (born 25 May 1984), better known as Marion Raven, is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. Raven formed the pop duo M2M with Marit Larsen, though they ceased performing together in 2002. Raven was later signed as a solo artist by
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
with the release of her solo debut album, '' Here I Am'' in 2005. In 2006, Raven was signed to the indie record label, Eleven Seven, and in 2007 re-released the songs on her debut album along with a few new songs on an album titled '' Set Me Free''. In 2012, Raven began production of her second album, '' Songs from a Blackbird'', which was released in Norway on 8 April 2013. Raven has also written tracks for other artists such as
Pixie Lott Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott (born 12 January 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her debut studio album, ''Turn It Up (Pixie Lott album), Turn It Up'' (2009), reached number six on the UK Albums Chart and sold over 1.5 millio ...
. She has also lent her voice to the Norwegian version of ''
Tangled ''Tangled'' is a 2010 American animated musical film, musical Adventure film, adventure fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the German fairy tale "Rapunzel" in th ...
''.


Early life

Raven was born in
Lørenskog is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. A suburb of Oslo, it is part of the Oslo urban area and the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipa ...
, Norway; her father is a teacher. She has an older brother and two younger sisters. Her surname is of Norse origin, with ''Ravn'' meaning ''Raven'', which she adopted as her stage name Marion Raven as well as her trademark raven logo. Raven enjoyed singing from a young age, sometimes writing lyrics for the songs she sang. Raven joined the gospel choir in a local church at the age of 5. At age 7, she went on to be part of the St. Laurentius choir, which has many historical links in Lørenskog, and was started in 1965 by, and is still being run by her vocal coach for several years, Kjell Walther Christensen. By the time she was eight, Raven began playing the piano and took piano lessons from Sif Anna Lisa Ødegård, married to Kjell Walther Christensen. She also attended ballet lessons, as well as performing ballet on stage. In 1993, she acted in the musical "Sound of Music", on the "Norwegian Broadway". She recorded a children's musical titled, "Vettene Vinner" (Vettene Wins), with the musical group, "Vettene", meaning "small trolls that protect nature", and was part of the group's record "Vettene på gamlespor" (Vettene on Old Tracks). At age 10, Raven acted in stage productions of Bugsy Malone and The Wizard of Oz


M2M

In 1995, Raven's father arranged for her to make a demo in a studio in
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
, together with her childhood friend, Marit Larsen. The duo got a record deal with
EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
Norway and formed M2M. A year later, they produced children album titled, "Marit og Marion synger kjente barnesanger" which means "Marit and Marion Sing Well-Known Children Songs". M2M was nominated for the Norwegian Grammy, Spellemannprisen, the following year. In 1998, M2M started recording pop demos in English and struck a record deal with
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
. The two collaborated with many songwriters from around the world and produced their multi-platinum debut album, ''
Shades of Purple There are numerous variations of the color purple, a sampling of which is shown below. In common English usage, ''purple'' is a range of hues of color occurring between red and blue. However, the meaning of the term ''purple'' is not well d ...
'', that was released in 2000, with the lead single, " Don't Say You Love Me" featuring on the soundtrack of '' Pokémon: The First Movie''. The song was co-produced by Jimmy Bralower and Peter Zizzo (
Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...
), and mixed by
Tom Lord-Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1962) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at Unique Recording in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground ...
. It peaked on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at No. 21, selling 39,000 units in a week, according to SoundScan. Their second album, ''
The Big Room ''The Big Room'' is the second international studio album by Norwegian pop music duo M2M. It was released in Asia in November 2001 and in the rest of the world in early 2002. It reached No. 16 in Norway and No. 61 in Australia. Two singles were r ...
'', which was recorded in a studio in Bearsville in Woodstock, New York, was released in 2002. After world tours to promote ''The Big Room'' ended, M2M joined Jewel on her ''This Way'' world tour as an opening act. M2M later disbanded in September 2002 after Atlantic removed them as the opening act for the rest of the tour. Raven was offered a recording contract with
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
, though the offer was later revoked. She co-wrote "Pointless Relationship" that was the lead single of Australian singer, Tammin Sursok's debut album, ' Whatever Will Be'. She also collaborated on the track "That Day", a song released by Norwegian pop singer, Maria Arredondo, from Arredondo's 2004 follow-up album Not Going Under, and co-wrote the song "Disconnected", a song included on
Lindsay Lohan Lindsay Dee Lohan ( ; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress, singer, producer, and businesswoman. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at age three. She appeared as a regular on the soap opera ' ...
's debut album " Speak" in 2004.


Solo career


2005: ''Here I Am''

Upon signing her deal with
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
, Marion Raven set about recording her debut album, and worked with Swedish songwriters/producers
Max Martin Karl Martin Sandberg (born 26 February 1971),Max Martin
AllMusic
known professional ...
and Rami, as well as Canadian singer-songwriter
Chantal Kreviazuk Chantal Jennifer Kreviazuk ( ; born May 18, 1974) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, composer, and pianist. Born in Winnipeg, she played music from a young age before signing with Columbia Records in the 1990s. Her debut studio album, ''Under The ...
and her husband Raine Maida from 2003 to 2005. Initially, the record company was not confident of Raven's switch to a more rock image and a darker, more personal style of songwriting. Raven had to fight to record her kind of music, rock music with a pop element. The resulting 14-track list, including 2 bonus tracks, cultivated a more rock/pop sound and was titled '' Here I Am''. The album saw Raven's transformation from the candy-pop music of M2M to a more angsty, rock-oriented singer, and was released in Scandinavia, Japan, Latin America and Southeast Asia. ''Here I Am'' spawned three singles, " End of Me", " Break You" and " Here I Am". ''Break You'' holds the record as Raven's top-selling single internationally. All three singles were successful in the Asian region where she further promoted the album with a tour. The album was released in Raven's home country on 10 August 2005 debuting at No. 6.


2006–07: ''Set Me Free''

In early 2006, it was announced that Raven quit her contract with Atlantic Records due to "artistic differences". Raven later confirmed that she was now signed to indie label Eleven Seven Music, which was created by her management 10th Street Entertainment. Raven later performed a duet with rock musician
Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally by his stage name Meat Loaf, was an American singer and actor. He was known for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. ...
on a version of the song " It's All Coming Back to Me Now", released as the lead single from Loaf's tenth studio album '' Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose'' in October 2006. The track peaked at No. 1 in Norway and reached the top ten in Germany and the United Kingdom. Raven later joined Loaf on an extensive tour through Canada and Europe in February 2007. In 2004, she recorded the theme song for the US dub of ''W.I.T.C.H.'', a
Jetix Jetix (stylized in all caps) was a children's entertainment brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The brand was for a slate of action and adventure-related programming blocks and television channels. Jetix programming mainly originated fr ...
animated series based on the comic of the same name. Raven later confirmed that her new album would contain new and old tracks from her Norwegian debut as well as re-recorded tracks such as "Heads Will Roll", which received the help of American musician
Nikki Sixx Nikki Sixx (born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna Jr.; December 11, 1958) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and radio personality, best known as the co-founder, bassist, primary songwriter, and only constant member of the hea ...
and was released as an EP in October 2006. Prior to the release of Raven's album '' Set Me Free'' in March 2007, she toured around The Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom to help promote it. Raven later embarked on another promotional tour across the UK and performed in British schools. Later between later July and August, she became a supporting act on American singer-songwriter
Pink Pink is a pale tint of red, the color of the Dianthus plumarius, pink flower. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, p ...
's ''
I'm Not Dead Tour The I'm Not Dead Tour was the third concert tour by American singer-songwriter Pink (singer), Pink. Launched in support of her fourth studio album, ''I'm Not Dead'' (2006) the tour reached Europe, North America, Australia, Africa, and Asia. Bac ...
'' in Germany. The album was later released in June 2007 and sprawled two singles; " Falling Away" and a re-release of her previous single " Break You" from her Norwegian debut album.


2008–2010: ''Nevermore''

In 2008, Raven made a cameo appearance in the music video for the song " Saints of Los Angeles" by American heavy metal band
Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Hollywood, California, in 1981 by bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, with guitarist Mick Mars and lead vocalist Vince Neil joining right after. The band has sol ...
. In 2010 she became a panellist judge on the Norwegian version of the talent show ''
The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...
'' and later on Norwegian Idol. Originally, Raven recorded her third studio album ''Nevermore'' in 2009 and penned it for a 2010 release, but due to the internal issues with her record label Eleven Seven Music, it was never released. It dropped two singles "Flesh And Bone" and "Found Someone" exclusively released in Scandinavia.


2012–2014: ''Songs from a Blackbird''

Raven later released the single "Colors Turn to Grey" in March 2012 and stated in October 2012 that she is working on material for a new album. In March 2013, Marion released the single "The Minute" from her second album '' Songs from a Blackbird'', which was released on 5 April 2013 in Norway. Being her first album in eight years, ''Songs from a Blackbird'' managed to peak at No. 3 in Norway. The album was further promoted with a third single – the track "Driving" – and a Norwegian Tour in 2013.


International Version

Before an international version released, Marion re-released "The Minute" for an international single via iTunes on 25 July 2014. In August and 31 October 2014, an international version of ''Songs from a Blackbird'' released worldwide and Australia, respectively. It incorporates a mixture of Norwegian version and three new songs from both ''Scandal Vol. 1'' and ''Scandal Vol. 2''. For Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Australia, it released physically whereas the worldwide, including Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Australia, it was only released via the iTunes Store.


2014–2015: ''Scandal Vol. 1'' and ''Scandal Vol. 2''

In January 2014, Marion announced plans to record her third studio album after signing with
Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
. The album's title was later announced as ''Scandal'' while its release date was set to be in September 2014, later the album was divided in two parts, ''Scandal Vol. 1'' released on September 22, 2014, and ''Scandal Vol. 2'' released on February 2, 2015.


2019: ''Mellom disse 4 vegger''

In May 2019, Ravn released her first Norwegian-language single "Tyv". In July 2019, she released "Fritt fall" as the second single from her Norwegian-language project. The album, ''Mellom disse 4 vegger'', was released on 11 October 2019. The album features a duet with Magnus Grønneberg, with whom she collaborated with during the '' Hver gang vi møtes'' series.


Personal life

Raven briefly dated Zac Hanson while M2M were on tour with Hanson in 2000. Raven stated that the M2M song, "
Everything Everything, every-thing, or every thing, is all that exists; it is an antithesis of ''nothing'', or its complement. It is the totality of things relevant to some subject matter. Without expressed or implied limits, it may refer to . The uni ...
", was written about her break up with Hanson and her heartbreak after the tour finished and he did not call her. A second song was written by Raven about the relationship, which she called "Jack" instead of "Zac", and was released by
Pixie Lott Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott (born 12 January 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her debut studio album, ''Turn It Up (Pixie Lott album), Turn It Up'' (2009), reached number six on the UK Albums Chart and sold over 1.5 millio ...
. After years of dating, Raven married professional snowboarder
Andreas Wiig Andreas Ygre Wiig (born 5 March 1981) is a Norwegian professional snowboarder. He rides regular. Andreas was born in Oslo and grew up in Asker. He made a name for himself when he won two gold medals at the 2007 and 2008 Winter X Games ...
in 2013 and divorced in 2015. In September 2023, Raven gave birth to a son.


''Hver gang vi møtes''

Raven also starred the second season of Norwegian reality TV show Hver gang vi møtes, alongside other Norwegian music artists Morten Abel, Ole Paus,
Anita Skorgan Anita Skorgan (born 13 November 1958) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter. She represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest in (14th), (11th) and with Jan Teigen in (12th). She was also a backing singer at the and contests, and co-wrote t ...
, Magnus Grønneberg,
Kurt Nilsen Kurt Erik Nilsen () (born 29 September 1978) is a Norwegian pop/country singer. He won the first season of the Norwegian reality show ''Idol'', which aired on TV 2 in May 2003. He then won a one-off international version of ''Pop Idol'' called ...
and
Lene Marlin Lene Marlin Pedersen (born 17 August 1980) is a Norwegian musician, singer and songwriter. Career ''Playing My Game'' (1998–2002) Marlin made her Norwegian recording debut on 12 October 1998, with the single "Unforgivable Sinner", a number on ...
. Marion Raven performances from other guest artists during the series were: * "Casanova" (Originally recorded by Anita Skorgan) * "Bullet Me" (Originally recorded by Morten Abel) * "Unforgivable Sinner" (Originally recorded by Lene Marlin) * "Never Easy" (Originally recorded by Kurt Nilsen) * "Når Du Sover" (Originally recorded by Magnus Gronneberg) * "Nerven I Min Sang" (Originally recorded by Ole Paus) Fellow artists who sang Raven / M2m songs on ''Hver gang vi møtes – Marion Raven's Day'' were: * "Found Someone" Covered by: Lene Marlin * "For You I'll Die" Covered by: Anita Skorgan * "Here I Am" Covered by: Magnus Gronneberg * "Don't Say you Love Me" was originally recorded by M2M and Covered by: Ole Paus * "Girl In your Dreams" was originally recorded by M2M and Covered by: Morten Abel * "Everything" was originally recorded by M2M and Covered by: Kurt Nilsen


Other projects

Raven has written several songs for other artists including: * (2004) "Completely In Love" for Norwegian pop-rock singer Tommy Michaelsen's album '' Completely in Love''. * (2004) "That Day" for Norwegian pop singer Maria Arredondo's album, '' Not Going Under''. * (2004) "Pointless Relationship" for Australian singer Tammin Sursok's album, '' Whatever Will Be''. * (2004) "Disconnected" for American singer
Lindsay Lohan Lindsay Dee Lohan ( ; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress, singer, producer, and businesswoman. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at age three. She appeared as a regular on the soap opera ' ...
's album '' Speak'' * (2007) "Jack" for British singer
Pixie Lott Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott (born 12 January 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her debut studio album, ''Turn It Up (Pixie Lott album), Turn It Up'' (2009), reached number six on the UK Albums Chart and sold over 1.5 millio ...
's debut album, '' Turn It Up''. * (2009) "Forgot His Name" recorded by Tanita Kolsås for the ''
X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...
'' Norway series. * (2009) "It's Not Over" recorded by May Kronfeld also known as May K, a music video is available for this song. * (2010) Raven's song "In Spite of Me" included on her debut album ''Here I Am'' was covered by Swedish pop-rock singer Erik Grönwall for his second album '' Somewhere Between a Rock and a Hard Place''. * (2011) Marion voiced the role of Rapunzel in the Norwegian dub of
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
's movie ''
Tangled ''Tangled'' is a 2010 American animated musical film, musical Adventure film, adventure fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the German fairy tale "Rapunzel" in th ...
''. * (2016) Marion also voiced the role of Poppy for the Norwegian dub of
DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...
's movie ''
Trolls A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human be ...
''. * (2017) Marion got the role of Eponine for the Norwegian staging of ''
Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...
'', the play will be premiered on September 8, at the Hotel Folketeateret in
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
. * (2017) Marion repeats her role of
Rapunzel "Rapunzel" ( ; ; or ) is a German fairy tale most notably recorded by the Brothers Grimm and it was published in 1812 as part of '' Children's and Household Tales'' (KHM 12). The Grimms' story was developed from the French literary fairy tale ...
for the Norwegian dub of ''Tangled'', this time for the animated TV Series. * (2024) One of two hosts of '' Melodi Grand Prix 2024'', the Norwegian selection for Eurovision Song Contest 2024


Awards and nominations

* In 2005 Raven was nominated for the Nordic Music Award with her album ''Here I Am'' held in Norway. * Raven was nominated for the "Best Norwegian Act" at the
MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel  MTV as 24-hour music video and entertainment pay television network officially launched on 1 August 1987 as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initia ...
Music Awards 2006. * In 2015 Raven won the award for 'Best International Act' at the "Musik Fach-Awards" 2015, Raven was also nominated in the category of "Album of the Year" and performed an acoustic version of her single "The Minute" during the ceremony.


Tours


Charity appearances

* Raven performed in the President Star Charity Concert in Singapore while on tour in mid-late 2005. * Raven performed at the Norwegian
Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...
, Lillestrøm Charity Concert and the Pink ribbon Show in Oslo, Norway in late 2005. * Raven performed in Mainz-Kastel, Reduit for the
UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...
benefit show to raise funds to support Africa in September 2007. * Raven performed alongside 2006 winner of Idol Norway,
Aleksander Denstad With Aleksander Denstad With (born 30 June 1987) is a Norwegian musician who won season 4 of the TV show '' Idol'' in May 2006, becoming the youngest person ever to win the competition. Aleksander released his first album, titled 'Coming Home', on ...
, at the Norwegian "Idol Gives Back" show in December 2007.


Discography


Studio albums


Singles


Other appearances


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raven, Marion 1984 births Living people Women post-grunge singers Norwegian pop singers Norwegian songwriters Norwegian voice actresses Pop punk singers Neverland Express members People from Lørenskog Atlantic Records artists 21st-century Norwegian multi-instrumentalists English-language singers from Norway 21st-century Norwegian singers 21st-century Norwegian women singers Norwegian punk rock singers Women punk rock singers