UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP SWEDEN’S
ELITE STABLE OF SONGWRITERS PRODUCE STRING OF INTERNATIONAL POP HITS FOR WESTLIFE, BACKSTREET BOYS, BRITNEY SPEARS AMONGST OTHERS
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN – As one of Universal Music Publishing Group’s leading territories, UMPG Sweden is generating a flurry of international chart activity for the world’s biggest pop bands. Recent hit songs for Westlife, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, and others have put UMPG Sweden’s top songwriters, including Alexander Kronlund, Franciz, Pelle Nylen and Lisa Miskovsky, in hot demand. This, combined with relationships with Cheiron Productions and Murlyn Music, continues to keep the UMPG Swedish tunesmiths quite active.
“In Sweden, pop acts like Backstreet Boys, N’Sync and Britney Spears have found what they were looking for – a strong sense of melody and more than just beats. With artists and A&R execs now migrating to Sweden looking for good songs, the doors have burst open to the international market and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of slowing down in the near future,” says Martin Ingestrom, Managing Director of UMPG Sweden.
ALEXANDER KRONLUND
Signed to UMPG for more than 7 years, songwriter Alexander Kronlund, who co-wrote Meja’s 1 million selling debut album on Sony, recently co-wrote two songs for Britney Spears sophomore LP, Oops I Did It Again. Kronlund co-wrote her hit single, “Lucky,” with Max Martin and Rami and also co-wrote “Don’t Go Knockin’ On My Door.” As a non-exclusive member of the Cheiron production team, Kronlund and principal Max Martin are working together on a variety of new projects. Having also worked with Backstreet Boys and N’Sync, Kronlund is currently co-writing with Swedish star Robyn and Universal Sweden act Lambretta.
FRANCIZ
When the Backstreet Boys were recording in Stockholm with Cheiron, UMPG’s creative team pitched Franciz (half of the Franciz and LePont writing team) to Martin Dodd at Zomba, which resulted in meeting between the songwriters and the band. Consequently, Backstreet Boys recorded two of their songs, one of which was produced by Franciz & LePont. With this success and a new track in the works for Jessica Simpson, UMPG expects many exciting things to come from Franciz.
LISA MISKOVSKY
Currently working on her own solo album to be released in 2001 on Stockholm Records, Lisa Miskovsky co-wrote Backstreet Boys new hit single, “Shape of my Heart,” with Max Martin and Rami. The song, originally written for Miskovsky’s own album, was passed along to Backstreet by Max Martin when Miskovsky determined it didn’t fit her style.
PELLE NYLEN
A new signing to UMPG, Pelle Nylen co-wrote Westlife’s hit single, “My Love,” which debuted at No. 1 in the UK, and has recently worked with new MCA Records U.S. signing, Carly Hennessy. Nylen is actively co-writing with some of UMPG’s main U.K. writers and the Swedish songwriting elite, including former Cheiron writers Jorgen Elofsson and Andreas Carlsson. Following the Westlife single, Nylen has song requests coming in from around the world.
Universal Music Publishing Group Sweden is one of Universal Music Publishing Group’s leading territories featuring some of Europe’s most elite talent including international artists Meja, Thomas Rusiak, The Hellacopters, Abba, Clawfinger and Aqua, as well as hot local acts Markoolio, Sahara Hotnights, Camilla Brinck, Caesar’s Palace, Shimoli, Hakan hellstrom amongst others. UMPG Sweden’s top songwriters include Franciz (of the Franciz & Lepont team), Alexander Kronlund, Pelle Nylen, Christer Sandelin, Harry Sommerdahl and Per Stappe.
HOT UMPG SWEDEN ARTISTS:
MEJA
A major priority for Sony Music, artist/writer Meja is releasing her third album in 2001. Each of her previous two albums have sold over 1 million units in Europe and Asia. Recently, Meja had a European hit single, “All But The Money,” from her last CD, which also received healthy airplay in the U.S. She was also featured on Ricky Martin’s hit song, “Private Emotions.” The first single from her forthcoming album, is the song, “Spirits.”
THOMAS RUSIAK
Artist/writer/producer and hip-hop act Thomas Rusiak recently exploded in Sweden with the platinum single, “Hiphopper” which stayed 19 weeks in the top 60 singles chart, peaking three weeks in a row at No. 1 from his debut album, Magic Villa. Rusiak, who has a new US deal with Republic, has also produced Swedish MCKen, Swedish soul superstar Robyn as well as the single, “Frozen,” from Slick Rick’s comeback album, The Art of Storytelling (Def Jam/Universal).
THE HELLACOPTERS
The Hellacopters fourth CD, High Visibility, (Universal Music) debuted on the Swedish album chart at No. 5. It is their first major label release which will be released worldwide through Universal. Their previous albums (all published by Universal) have also been released worldwide through independents. The band has generated a large following through several worldwide tours and even supported KISS.
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