Mirel Wagner (born 3 December 1987), is a
Finnish singer-songwriter. She was born in
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 Er ...
and raised in
Espoo
Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...
, Finland.
Career
Wagner has been writing songs since the age of 16. Her self-titled debut album was released in February 2011 by the Finnish indie label Kioski. It was later released in United Kingdom and Europe by Bone Voyage Recordings
[ and in North America by ]Friendly Fire Recordings
Friendly Fire Recordings is an independent record label based in Brooklyn that was founded by Dan Koplowitz in 2004. Bands under the label include Asobi Seksu, Faunts and David & the Citizens. Friendly Fire is distributed in the United States by ...
. In August 2012 Time Magazine
''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on M ...
listed Wagner as one of the ″11 Great Bands You Don't Know (But Should)″. Although her debut album was not a big success, it caused a lot of attention and in February 2014 Wagner was signed by the American record label Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are oft ...
.
Wagner's second album '' When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day'' was released in August 2014. The album peaked number one at the Finnish Album Chart. It was a nominee for the 2014 Nordic Music Prize
The Nordic Music Prize is an annual award for the Best Nordic Album Of The Year, inspired by the Mercury Prize and introduced in 2010. The prize was initiated by the by:Larm conference in Norway. The first Nordic Music Prize was presented by the ...
which is an annual award for the Best Nordic Album Of The Year. She won the prize.
On 21 April 2015, Wagner performed on the music television show '' Later... with Jools Holland''.
She also did the trailer song for Gore Verbinski
Gregor Justin "Gore" Verbinski (born March 16, 1964) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and musician. He is best known for directing '' The Ring'', the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films, and '' Rango''. He won the Academy Awar ...
's 2017 film '' A Cure for Wellness'', which was a cover of The Ramones
The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...
song " I Wanna Be Sedated".
Discography
;Albums
* '' Mirel Wagner'' (2011)
* '' When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day'' (2014)
;Singles
* "No Death" (2011)
* "Lean" (2012)
* "Oak Tree" (2014)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Mirel
1987 births
People from Espoo
Finnish people of Ethiopian descent
Finnish women singer-songwriters
Finnish blues musicians
Sub Pop artists
Living people
21st-century Finnish women singers