Monica Heldal (born 24 January 1991 in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, Norway) is a Norwegian musician (vocals, guitar) and songwriter. Her debut studio album, ''Boy From the North'', was released on 4 November 2013. For the album she received two awards during

Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...

in 2013: Rookie of the Year and Best Pop Solo Artist. She also won the Bendiksenprisen in 2013 and was nominated for the Statoil Scholarship that same year.

Early life and career

Monica Heldal was born in Arna, Norway, on 24 January 1991. At 16, she began to play and compose music, writing the song "Silly Willy", which was later included in her studio debut.

Style and influences

Heldal's musical style draws from many different musical genres, primarily

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

. The latter is inspired by her main influence,

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as "Ireland's first rock star", he is known for his virtuosic style of guitar playing and live performances. He has sometim ...

. She is well known for her use of fingerpicking technique and various complex guitar tunings, much like one of her other sources of inspiration,

Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridg ...

Collaborations

In 2012 Monica Heldal was featured in the song Burgh Island of The Burgh Island EP by the English singer-songwriter

Ben Howard Benjamin John Howard (born 24 April 1987) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and composer. His self-released debut extended play (EP) ''Games in the Dark'' (2008) was followed by two more EPs, '' These Waters'' (2009) and '' Old Pine'' ...

, where she is both playing guitar and singing.

Awards

* Rookie of the Year (2013), Spellemannprisen * Best Pop Solo Artist (2013), Spellemannprisen * Bendiksenprisen (2013)

Discography

* ''Boy From the North'' (2013) * ''The One in the Sun'' (2016) *''Ravensdale'' (2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heldal, Monica 1991 births Living people Spellemannprisen winners Norwegian women singer-songwriters Norwegian songwriters Norwegian blues singers Norwegian blues guitarists English-language singers from Norway Musicians from Bergen 21st-century Norwegian singer-songwriters 21st-century Norwegian women singers