Pandora (singer)

Anneli Magnusson (born 20 June 1970 in Västerås), known by her stage names Pandora and United DJs vs. Pandora, is a Swedish Eurodance artist. She was most popular during the mid-1990s in the Nordic countries and in Asia and Australia in the end of 1990s to mid-2000s.

Pandora
Pandora performing at the Blue Moon Bar in Karlstad, Sweden in November 2004
Background information
Birth nameAnneli Magnusson
Also known asPandora
Born (1970-06-20) 20 June 1970
OriginVästerås, Sweden
GenresPop, eurodance, euro house
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter
InstrumentsVocals
Years active1993–present
Websitewww.pandora.se

Musical career

Magnusson grew up with her family outside of Västerås. She learned to play the guitar at an early age. In her teenage years, Magnusson started performing on stage, playing acoustic versions of songs and she could also be seen with different bands, mostly singing rock covers. She was accepted into the musical college Carlforsska, and it was here where she met Henrik Andersson, Martin Ankelius and Peka P. known as Hit Vision. Hit Vision were looking for 'a girl with an attitude in her voice, someone who could sing their melodic dance music'.[1] In 1993, Magnusson and Hit Vision moved to Stockholm and signed with Virgin Records. In October 1993, her debut single "Trust Me" was released under the artist name Pandora. "Trust Me" became the best-selling local single of the year and went gold. Her debut studio album One of a Kind, was released in November 1993, bringing the singer further fame and achieving gold status in both Sweden and Finland and making Pandora the best-selling dance act in Scandinavia (Fennoscandia). "Come On And Do It" was released in December 1993 and also peaked in the top 5 in Finland and Sweden.

In February 1995, Pandora's second album Tell the World was released. In Scandinavia sales of the album again exceeded the 100,000 mark. In addition, Japanese audiences turned out to be very enthusiastic about Pandora. Tell the World selling more than 1 million albums in Asia alone.

Pandora's third album Changes was released in December 1996. It was Pandora's debut release with her new record company Universal Music. Sticking to the motto "never change a winning team", Pandora once again collaborated with her creative trio of Ankelius/Andersson/Johansson. Pandora toured through Scandinavia in the spring and summer of 1997 and did her first 2-week live tour through the main cities of Japan. In December 1997, This Could Be Heaven was released. The album went platinum in Japan within six weeks. Pandora had written three of the songs herself on this album. In 1998, Pandora released "Spirit to Win" which was the official track of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.[2] In February 1999, Pandora released Breathe and a similar album released as Blue in Australia. No Regrets, was recorded between August and November 1999 and was released in end of 1999. It included the track "On a Night Like This".

Pandora's seventh studio album, A Little Closer was released in 2001, but failed to chart. Won't Look Back was released in 2002. In 2003, Pandora competed in the Melodifestivalen 2003 with the song "You". The track failed to make it past the heats. Later in 2003, Pandora released her ninth studio album, 9 Lives, which peaked on the Swedish chart at 16. In 2004, Pandora competed again in the Melodifestivalen 2004 with the song "Runaway". The track also failed to make it past the heats.

On 28 March 2007, Pandora accused British Eurovision act Scooch of having plagiarized her 1999 song "No Regrets" and planned to file a complaint with the EBU. In response to the plagiarism claim, BBC issued a statement saying that Scooch's song is "an original" and the writers "were never aware of Pandora or her songs". BBC confirmed that there had been no duplication of her work.[3]

In November 2007, Pandora released the album, Celebration with United DJs. The album was a collaboration with selected DJs in the recording studio, re-recording and remixing her biggest hits. The album peaked at number 38 in Sweden. In November 2011, Pandora released her tenth studio album, Head Up High.

In Spring 2020, Pandora participated in the Finnish version of the TV show Masked Singer as the Peacock.[4] The next year, she entered Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, the Finnish selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, singing the song "I Love You" with the Teflon Brothers.[5]

Personal life

Magnusson has a son with whom she lives in Sweden. She also has an apartment in Vantaa, Finland, with Finnish former ice hockey player Mikko Peltonen, to whom she got engaged in 2014.[6][7]

Discography
Main article: Pandora discography

Albums

Notes and references
  1. "Biography". Pandora. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  2. "Spirit to Win by Pandora". Amazon. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  3. Royston, Benny (28 March 2007). "We never heard of Pandora". esctoday.com. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  4. Koste, Henna (10 May 2020). "Masked Singer -ohjelmassa paljastunut hahmo: "Rakastin esiintyä maskin takana"". Radio Nova (in Finnish). Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  5. Fuster, Luis (14 January 2021). "Finland: Teflon Brothers x Pandora release their UMK 2021 entry "I Love You"". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  6. Kojonen, Veli (17 February 2020). "Ysärisuosikki Pandora, 49, löysi pysyvän onnen suomalaisen ex-jääkiekkoilijan Mikon, 37, kanssa – upea pari poseeraa Vantaan kodissaan". Iltalehti (in Finnish). Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  7. Kauppinen, Ina (28 December 2018). "Porilainen Mikko tapasi ysäritähti Pandoran ja se oli menoa – rakkaus roihahti ensivilkaisulla: näin kaikki tapahtui". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 17 February 2020. Pariskunta meni kihloihin vuonna 2014.
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