Ricardo DaSilva II, better known by his stage name Swingfly, is an American–Swedish naturalised
rap
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
per and
singer
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...
. He is also known by other aliases like Swing-Fly, Richie Pasta and Swing. He started lending his vocal talents to other artists' records, but has also developed also a solo career. He also appeared in ''
Melodifestivalen 2011
Melodifestivalen 2011 was a Swedish song contest held between February and March 2011. It selected Sweden's 51st song to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, and was the 50th edition of Melodifestivalen. Eric Saade, with the song " P ...
'' with "
Me and My Drum", finishing fifth. It became his most successful single, reaching the No. 2 position on the
Swedish Singles Chart
Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish ...
.
Early career
Ricardo DaSilva II was born in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. He lived in
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, small ...
and
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
before relocating to
Stockholm,
Sweden in 1991. In Stockholm, he became involved in the emerging hip hop scene and joined the Timebomb collective, together with producer
Christian Falk
Christian Falk (25 April 1962 – 24 July 2014) was a Swedish record producer and musician. Falk started his recording career with the band Madhouse in the early 1980s. He later moved on and became a founding member of post-punk band Imperiet.
In ...
, rapper ADL, and DJ Sleepy among others. Three singles were released, including Swingfly's "Smoke 'em Swing", a jazzy number produced by Christian Falk. A series of albums was planned but the record label bailed out.
Under the name "Swing", he teamed up with
Dr. Alban
Alban Uzoma Nwapa (born 26 August 1957), better known by his stage name Dr. Alban, is a Nigerian-Swedish recording artist and producer with his own record label, Dr. Records. His music can best be described as Eurodance/ hip-hop reggae in a dan ...
in 1995 and recorded the Euro-disco hit "
Sweet Dreams
Sweet Dreams or Sweet Dream may refer to:
Music Albums
* ''Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)'' (album), by Eurythmics, or the title song (see below)
* ''Sweet Dreams'' (Sword album)
* ''Sweet Dreams'' (soundtrack), from the 1985 film (see below) ...
", featuring Dr. Alban (a cover of the classic
Eurythmics song), which peaked at No. 12 in Sweden.
This took him into the pop charts in a number of European countries, including the Netherlands, where the single peaked at No. 44.
In 1996, Swingfly appeared on several tracks of ADL's "Absent Minded" project. Due to a small hit via a
Hugo Boss
Hugo Boss AG, often styled as BOSS, is a luxury fashion house headquartered in Metzingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company sells clothing, accessories, footwear, and fragrances. Hugo Boss is one of the largest German clothing compani ...
commercial, "Absent Minded" hit the road supporting the
Fugees
Fugees (; sometimes The Fugees) is an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in the early 1990s. Deriving its name from a shortening of the word "refugees", the group consists of Wyclef Jean, Pras, Pras Michel, and Lauryn Hill. The group r ...
European tour in 1996. Swingfly was featured on several tracks on all three albums with soul-jazz collective
Blacknuss All-Stars (later known as Blacknuss), as well as being a frequent contributor to their live shows around Europe and the UK.
He achieved his biggest success through a collaboration with the electro/dub/punk trio
Teddybears on their 2004 single "
Hey Boy". This song became one of the most played tracks on Swedish radio that summer. The song was listed for 21 weeks on the
Sweden Singles Top 60 and peaked at #13. Swingfly has since toured Sweden, Europe and the US with
Teddybears and their spin-off project Teddybears STHLM Soundsystem.
Solo career
Swingfly landed a record deal with the largely rock oriented label
Dolores Recordings. The label had been responsible for launching the international careers of several Swedish-based artists, such as
Caesars,
The Soundtrack of Our Lives
The Soundtrack of Our Lives, often abbreviated T.S.O.O.L., was a Swedish rock band that formed in Gothenburg in 1995 and disbanded in 2012. The band's style draws heavily from sixties and seventies rock and punk, such as Rolling Stones and Iggy a ...
and
I'm From Barcelona
I'm from Barcelona is a Swedish pop group from Jönköping, Sweden, best known for its 29 band members and eclectic mix of instruments such as clarinets, saxophones, flutes, trumpets, banjos, accordions, kazoos, guitars, drums, and keyboard ...
. Through Dolores, he released a few singles, and an album was planned for 2006 but was stalled. The singles he released had relative success in the Scandinavian charts. A reworked version of the album was planned to be released in 2008 featuring production from
RamPac,
Klas Åhlund
Klas Frans Åhlund (born 11 April 1972) is a Swedish songwriter, record producer, and guitarist. He is the founding member of the Swedish rock band Teddybears. As a songwriter and producer, he has worked with artists such as Robyn, Sugababes, Jo ...
of
Teddybears fame,
Kleerup
Andreas Kleerup (born 1979), professionally known as Kleerup, is a Swedish electropop musician.
Career
Kleerup's career as a producer, composer, songwriter and artist began in music as a songwriter, going on to tour with Teddybears and Robyn ...
, Rampac and
Thomas Rusiak with a rock and punk flavour and electronica influences. This was shelved after his arrest on drug charges. The album ''God bless the IRS'' finally came out on 29 April 2009.
Melodifestivalen 2011
He participated in
Melodifestivalen 2011
Melodifestivalen 2011 was a Swedish song contest held between February and March 2011. It selected Sweden's 51st song to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, and was the 50th edition of Melodifestivalen. Eric Saade, with the song " P ...
with the song "
Me and My Drum". The song prominently featured the vocals of
Christoffer Hiding but without crediting him specifically in the competition credits. Swingfly placed second in the first semi-final, and advanced to the final, where he placed fifth overall.
Despite failing to win, the song gained great popularity and was released as a single reaching #2 on
Sverigetopplistan, the official Swedish Singles Chart.
[ wedishCharts.com Swingfly - "Me and My Drum" page/ref>
]
Melodifestivalen 2016
Swingfly participated in Melodifestivalen 2016
Melodifestivalen 2016 was the 56th edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen, which selected Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The competition was organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and took place over the s ...
with the song "You Carved Your name" featuring Helena Gutarra. The song written by Joakim Åhlund
Frans Joakim "Jocke" Åhlund (born 9 August 1970 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish musician, producer and music video director. He is the lead guitarist and lead singer of the band Caesars, and a member of the bands Teddybears, Smile and Les Bi ...
and Andreas Kleerup was performed on the third semi-final held on 20 February 2016 in Norrköping, but failed to qualify to the finals.
In popular culture
*Swingfly has contributed rap vocals on many artists' songs, including Dr. Alban
Alban Uzoma Nwapa (born 26 August 1957), better known by his stage name Dr. Alban, is a Nigerian-Swedish recording artist and producer with his own record label, Dr. Records. His music can best be described as Eurodance/ hip-hop reggae in a dan ...
, Taro, Blacknuss, Robyn
Robin Miriam Carlsson (born 12 June 1979), known as Robyn (), is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. She arrived on the music scene with her 1995 debut album, ''Robyn Is Here'', which produced two Billboard Hot 100, ''Bil ...
, Freddie Cruger, Absent Minded, Looptroop, Ken, Lutricia McNeal
Lutricia McNeal (born November 27, 1973) is an American Soul music, soul and pop singing, singer. She achieved worldwide success with her cover version of "Ain't That Just the Way#Lutricia McNeal version, Ain't That Just the Way" which sold two ...
and Teddybears.
*The track "Singing That Melody" came out in the summer of 2008. One year before its European release, Korean artist Tony An
Tony Ahn (; born June 7, 1978) is a South Korean singer, best known as a member of boy band H.O.T.
After H.O.T. disbanded in 2001, its ex-members Tony Ahn, Jang Woo-hyuk and Lee Jae-won formed the dance music trio jtL. Eventually, JTL unoffic ...
recorded a Korean language cover of the song. This has led to a confusion as to whose version is the original. "Singing That Melody" was written by Ramstrom/Magnusson/Swingfly/Beal.
*His songs have been featured in episodes of ''Private Practice Private practice may refer to:
* Private sector practice
** Practice of law
* ''Private Practice'' (TV series), an American medical drama
* ''Private Practice'' (album), released in 1978 by Dr. Feelgood
{{disambig
pt:Private Practice ...
'' and ''One Tree Hill One Tree Hill may refer to:
* "One Tree Hill" (song), a 1987 song by U2 referencing One Tree Hill, New Zealand volcanic peak
* ''One Tree Hill'' (TV series), a 2003–2012 American drama series named for the U2 song
** ''One Tree Hill'' (soundtr ...
''; telecasts from NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...
, Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...
, ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
, and NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...
; and the video game ''FIFA Street 2
''FIFA Street 2'' is the 2006 sequel to the EA Sports video game '' FIFA Street''. A new "trick stick beat" system was introduced and new authentic tricks were also introduced. The game was released for the GameCube, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2 ...
''.
*His songs have been used in ads for T.G.I. Friday's, Captain Morgan
Captain Morgan is a brand of flavored rums (including, in Europe, some rum-flavored "premium spirit drinks") produced by British alcohol conglomerate Diageo. It is named after the 17th-century Welsh privateer of the Caribbean, Sir Henry Morg ...
and Cingular Wireless
AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the thi ...
, and in Tic Tac
Tic Tac (stylized as "tic tac") is a brand of small, hard mint manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero. They were first produced in 1969 and are now available in a variety of flavours in over 100 countries.
Tic Tacs are usually sold in sm ...
’s East European commercials.SMFF , Swedish Music Publishers Association , December 2005
/ref>
Discography
Albums
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
References
External links
Swingfly Myspace site
Swingfly on EMI site
Swingfly list of songs at Discogs.com
Swingfly on LastFM
{{Authority control
Rappers from New York City
African-American male rappers
Swedish rappers
Swedish hip hop musicians
Swedish people of African-American descent
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
American emigrants to Sweden
English-language singers from Sweden
21st-century African-American people
Melodifestivalen contestants of 2016
Melodifestivalen contestants of 2011