Maria Mena

Maria Viktoria Mena was born in 1986 and named after the popular character in West Side Story, by Leonard Bernstein. She was influenced by her father's passion for music, but lost contact with him when her parents separated. She suffered depression and anorexia at the age of 9. When Maria Mena was 13 years old, she moved in with her father and sang and wrote to give complete vent to her feelings and frustrations. Her song, 'My Lullaby' is a clear indication of the pain she suffered from her parents' divorce. After pleading with her father, meeting some of his contacts within the music industry and presenting a demo to several record companies, she finally signed on the dotted line with Sony Music.

Her debut single was 'Fragile - Free' in Norway. She recorded and released 'My Lullaby' and it went on to upset a number of contemporary artists, nestling at the Number five position on the Norwegian Singles Chart. It was not long before the song picked momentum on NRK, Radio 1, Radio Oslo and P1, P3 and P4. She quickly bagged her first Platinum Record and gave the world another chart buster with 'Another Phase'. In 2004, Maria Mena appeared in a July flick of The Late Show With David Letterman. She gave fans something to remember with her first international album called 'White Turns Blue'. The songs from the album scaled the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart and the Billboard 200.

Maria Mena made a breakthrough with 'You're The Only One'. She rose to claim the world wide singles charts and the song became very successful in many countries. The song featured at enviable positions on the U.S. Top 40 Mainstream, Dutch Top 40 and Mega Single Top 100. Her second album 'Mellow' may have been less successful than the spectacular 2002 debut, but scaled to Number 7 in Norway. The 2005 'Apparently Unaffected' had great singles like Miss You Love and Just Hold Me. The album also earned Maria Mena three prestigious Spellemann nominations in the categories - Best Female Artist, Best Hit and Best Music Video.

Maria Mena has given the world a taste of the deadly combination of talent, grit and multi faceted 'girl' power. Her album 'Apparently Unaffected' was released in the Netherlands in June 2006. The album rocked at number 82 and slowly scaled the rung to reach peak position in week - 27. Just Hold Me got the deserving airplay recognition once again, but unfortunately did not feature in the Dutch Top 40. This was hardly the end of the road. The song was spot-lighted 'Number 27' in the country's physical singles chart or the Mega Single Top 100 chart. The song is probably one that has been part of the biggest roller coaster ride within the music industry.

In 2006, October, 2006, the song Just Hold Me once again enjoyed heavy airplay and got lucky this time. It managed to reach the official Dutch Top 40 at number 26. A month later, the song reached number 7 on the Mega Single Top 100. Just Hold Me made Maria Mena a name to reckon with and synonymous with good music within the music fraternity. She peaked in every performance at the many 'sold-out' concerts in Amsterdam and Utrecht. The success of "Just Hold Me" made her a star! The album reached number 48 on the Dutch Annual Chart.

Maria Mena has outsold and outdone industry big wigs like Pink, Nelly Furtado and Beyonce. Just Hold Me beat the positions of 'I'm Not Dead', 'Loose' and 'B'Day'. Her second single 'Miss You Love' was also released as an album extravaganza in the Netherlands and has already reached the number 61 position on the Mega Singles Top 100 chart. Maria Mena gave her fans a time of their life with her performance at the German Leg, on the 7th of July, 2007. The performance was an extension of Live Earth, in Hamburg.