Sonja Kristina Linwood
Encyclopedia
Sonja Kristina is an English musician most recognizable as the vocalist for Curved Air
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at the age of thirteen. Her first professional gig was at a Folk Festival in Southgate, London a year or so later. As of 1968, while studying at the New College of Speech and Drama, Kristina was helping to run, and performing at, the Wednesday evening sessions at London's Troubadour Folk Club. She was appearing generally on the folk scene as "Sonja" having previously had a number of TV slots on the kids' show "Song and Story".
In 1968, Sonja auditioned for and won the part of "Crissy" in the London stage production of the stage musical
Hair
. She appeared on the original cast album singing the song "Frank Mills", also released as a single. She also sang for a short while with The Strawbs following the departure of Sandy Denny
. Dave Cousins
remembered:
Cousins eventually released the book, called The Bruising of Hearts, The Losing Of Races, in 1993. It included a poem "Silver Smile", written to Sonja Kristina back in the late 1960s.
members as a house band, who suggested, once the stage show closed, that they add Sonja Kristina to the line-up. Another version has it that it was manager Mark Hanau who had the idea that Sonja's vocals could become a vital ingredient for a new band. On January 1, 1970, the singer received an official invitation to become a member of Curved Air. She remembered to have listened through (while sitting on a theatre stairs) the cassette with the band's music which Hanau gave her and was much impressed.
Curved Air had a changing line-up over its nine album
s (1970–1976 and 1990), and Kristina was the only member to take part in every line-up. Since 2008, she has been taking part in a series of Curved Air reunion concerts.
After Curved Air, she returned to Hair for a second spell. She has performed solo
, including her involvement with the acid folk movement in London in the early 1990s, culminating in her critically acclaimed Songs from the Acid Folk in 1991, and in multi-media duo
MASK, along with Marvin Ayres
.
in 1982. She met Copeland while he was first road manager and then drummer for Curved Air (1974–1976); they divorced in 1991.
Curved Air
Curved Air are a pioneering British progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classic, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band was a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements...
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Biography
Sonja Kristina Linwood was born in Brentwood, daughter of a criminologist and granddaughter to Swedish actress Gerda LundequistGerda Lundequist
Gerda Carola Cecilia Lundequist was a Swedish stage actress, an Ibsen and Strindberg-thespian that in her time was known throughout Scandinavia as "The Swedish Sarah Bernhardt".-Career:...
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Career
Sonja Kristina debuted on stage at the Swan Folk Club in RomfordRomford
Romford is a large suburban town in north east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan...
at the age of thirteen. Her first professional gig was at a Folk Festival in Southgate, London a year or so later. As of 1968, while studying at the New College of Speech and Drama, Kristina was helping to run, and performing at, the Wednesday evening sessions at London's Troubadour Folk Club. She was appearing generally on the folk scene as "Sonja" having previously had a number of TV slots on the kids' show "Song and Story".
In 1968, Sonja auditioned for and won the part of "Crissy" in the London stage production of the stage musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
. She appeared on the original cast album singing the song "Frank Mills", also released as a single. She also sang for a short while with The Strawbs following the departure of Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny , born Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny, was an English singer and songwriter, perhaps best known as the lead singer for the folk rock band Fairport Convention...
. Dave Cousins
Dave Cousins
Dave Cousins has been the leader, singer and most active songwriter of Strawbs since 1967.-Career:...
remembered:
Cousins eventually released the book, called The Bruising of Hearts, The Losing Of Races, in 1993. It included a poem "Silver Smile", written to Sonja Kristina back in the late 1960s.
Curved Air
According to AllMusic, it was Galt McDermott, producer both of Hair and another musical Who the Murderer Was, who employed the four of Curved AirCurved Air
Curved Air are a pioneering British progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classic, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band was a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements...
members as a house band, who suggested, once the stage show closed, that they add Sonja Kristina to the line-up. Another version has it that it was manager Mark Hanau who had the idea that Sonja's vocals could become a vital ingredient for a new band. On January 1, 1970, the singer received an official invitation to become a member of Curved Air. She remembered to have listened through (while sitting on a theatre stairs) the cassette with the band's music which Hanau gave her and was much impressed.
Curved Air had a changing line-up over its nine album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s (1970–1976 and 1990), and Kristina was the only member to take part in every line-up. Since 2008, she has been taking part in a series of Curved Air reunion concerts.
After Curved Air, she returned to Hair for a second spell. She has performed solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
, including her involvement with the acid folk movement in London in the early 1990s, culminating in her critically acclaimed Songs from the Acid Folk in 1991, and in multi-media duo
Duet (music)
A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...
MASK, along with Marvin Ayres
Marvin Ayres
Marvin Ayres is a british composer / cellist / violinist and producer. He has composed and recorded a diverse selection of minimalist albums, incorporating spatial soundscapes and psycho-acoustics and latterly 5.1 Surround Sound...
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Albums with Curved Air
- AirconditioningAirconditioning-Side one:#"It Happened Today" – 4:55#"Stretch" – 4:05#"Screw" – 4:03#"Blind Man" – 3:32#"Vivaldi" – 7:26-Side two:...
(1970) - Second AlbumSecond Album (Curved Air album)Allmusic's review was largely negative, saying that the album lacks the innovation and originality of the band's other releases, replaced by "a crop of relatively straightforward but sonically flat rock songs"...
(1971) - PhantasmagoriaPhantasmagoria (Curved Air album)Phantasmagoria is a 1972 album by Curved Air. It reached No. 20 in the UK Charts and is notable for its early use of the EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer to process lead singer Sonja Kristina's voice on the second side...
(1972) - Air CutAir CutAir Cut is the fourth studio album by Curved Air and was recorded in 1973, following the departure of three of the band's founder members. Only Sonja Kristina and Mike Wedgwood remained in the band from their previous album and Air Cut took them in a more rock-oriented direction.-Reception:While...
(1973) - LiveCurved Air - LiveAllmusic wrote that "Kristina herself is possibly in her best voice ever, while the instrumentation rides roughshod over the... belief that Curved Air were at their best in the studio", offering high praise to nearly all of the individual cuts while criticizing none of them.-Track...
(1975) - Midnight WireMidnight WireMidnight Wire is the fifth studio album by Curved Air and was recorded in 1975. It marked another line-up change in the band, with Darryl Way and Sonja Kristina recruiting new musicians after the end of the reunion tour marked by the "Curved Air Live" album...
(1975) - AirborneAirborne (Curved Air album)Airborne is the sixth studio album by Curved Air and was recorded in 1976. Like their last few releases, it was not a significant commercial success. After a follow-up non-album single, "Baby Please Don't Go" b/w "Broken Lady", the group disbanded. Drummer Stewart Copeland went on to form The...
(1976) - LovechildLovechild (Curved Air album)Lovechild is the seventh studio album credited to progressive rock band Curved Air, though only half the tracks are actually performed by the group. The album consists of previously unreleased demos overseen by Clifford Adams in the early 1970s: one by John O'Hara, two by Eddie Jobson, a demo for...
(recorded 1973, released 1990) - Live At The BBC (1995)
- Alive, 1990Alive, 1990Alive, 1990 is a recording from the Curved Air reunion concert 23 September 1990. The lineup reunited Sonja Kristina, Francis Monkman, Florian Pilkington-Miksa, and Darryl Way, sixteen years after the last time all four of them played together....
(2000) - Masters From The Vaults
- Reborn (2008)
- Retrospective (2010) - compilation including three MASK tracks
Albums as Sonja Kristina
- Sonja Kristina (1980)
- Songs From The Acid Folk (1991) (with TY-LOR and friends)
- Harmonics Of Love (1995)
- Cri De Coeur (2003)
- Heavy Petal CD + DVD by MASK ft Sonja Kristina (2005)
Other Recordings
- HairHair (musical)Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
soundtrack - Sonja sings lead on some tracks.
- Vampires Stole My Lunch Money Mick FarrenMick FarrenMichael Anthony 'Mick' Farren is an English journalist, author and singer associated with counterculture and the UK Underground.-Music:...
(1978) - Sonja Kristina and The PretendersThe PretendersThe Pretenders are an English rock band formed in Hereford, England in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde , James Honeyman-Scott , Pete Farndon , and Martin Chambers...
' Chrissie HyndeChrissie HyndeChristine Ellen "Chrissie" Hynde is an US musician best known as the leader of the rock/new wave band the Pretenders. She is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, and has been the only constant member of the band throughout its history.-Early life and career:Hynde is the daughter of a part-time...
provided backing vocals on this album.
- Sheep In Wolves' Clothinghttp://www.alanburridge.freeuk.com/mhb/#SHEEP Motorheadbangers fan club tribute CDAlan Burridge (writer)Alan Burridge , is the official biographer of the heavy rock band, Motörhead. He is also a writer of fiction novels and local interest books.- Life :...
(2008) - Sonja contributed an acoustic version of Motörhead's "I Don't Believe A Word."
Personal life
Kristina married firstly Malcolm Ross in 1971, and secondly Stewart CopelandStewart Copeland
Stewart Armstrong Copeland is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band The Police. During the group's extended hiatus from the mid-1980s to 2007, he played in other bands and composed soundtracks...
in 1982. She met Copeland while he was first road manager and then drummer for Curved Air (1974–1976); they divorced in 1991.