Maria Mena

Maria Viktoria Mena (born February 19 1986) is a Norwegian pop star.

Biography

Maria Mena was born into an artistic family. Her mother wrote plays and her father Charles was a drummer. Both Maria and her younger brother Tony are named after characters from Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story.

Related Topics:
Leonard Bernstein - West Side Story

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Her father played in several bands in Oslo, which influenced Maria towards music. When Maria was nine years old her parents divorced, at which that time was very rough on Maria. She suffered from depression and developed an eating disorder.

Related Topics:
Oslo - Divorce - Eating disorder

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When Maria was 13 years old she moved to live with her musician father. She sang and wrote lyrics as a therapy for her feelings and frustration. Not all the stories in her diary became songs, but "My Lullaby" was one of them, expressing her pain from her parents' divorce. After pleading with her father to make a demo, he contacted some industry experts to record Maria's songs in the studio. Then he presented his daughter's demo to the music industry. Sony Music signed Maria Mena onto their label.

Related Topics:
Demo - Music industry - Sony Music

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In March 2002, Maria's single "My Lullaby" reached #5 in The Norwegian Charts. The song received heavy rotation on NRK P1, P4, Radio 1, Radio Oslo and NRK Petre. The young singer quickly gained fans and soon earned her first platinum record.

Related Topics:
March - 2002 - NRK P1 - P4 - Radio 1 - Radio Oslo - NRK Petre - Platinum record

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