Ida Maria

Fiery and talented singer, songwriter, and guitarist Ida Maria was born Ida Maria Borli Sivertsen on July 13, 1984 in the small town of Nesna, Norway. She specializes in fiercely energetic and exciting alternative pop-punk music with catchy melodies and witty lyrics. Ida taught herself to play guitar and began performing at local concerts at age fourteen. At age sixteen Maria moved to Bergen, Norway. She then moved a second time to Stockholm, Sweden and started a band with guitarist Stefan Tornby, bassist Johannes Lindberg, and drummer Olle Lundin. Ida made a name for herself as a popular live act at Swedish rock clubs. Maria gained recognition in her native Norway by winning two national competitions for unknown artists in 2006 and 2007. She performed at the annual Norwegian music festival By: Larm in 2007 and 2008. The songs "Oh My God" and "Stella" were played regularly on the Norwegian national radio station NRK P3. Ida released her well-received debut album "Fortress Round My Heart" in 2008; the album debuted at #5 on the Norway album starts and remained on the top 20 for seven weeks. In Ireland the album debuted at #38 and peaked at #39 on the UK album charts. The British music magazine "NME" rated "Fortress Round My Heart" as the 48th best album of 2008. Moreover, Maria made a big splash in England in 2008: the delightfully cheeky single "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" soared to #13 on the UK pop charts, she appeared as herself on the music variety TV show "Later with Jools Holland," and performed at both the Reading and Glastonbury music festivals. Ida has toured in Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. She was nominated in the Best Rock/Indie Artist category at the BT Digital Music Awards in 2008 and contributed backing vocals on the song "Words" for the album "Red" by Guillemot. In September, 2009 Ida released a remix of her explosive debut single "Oh My God" with legendary punk rock icon Iggy Pop singing backing vocals. Her second album "Katla" was released first in Norway in 2010 and internationally the following year.