Early career Anderssen was born in the
Faroe Islands to a Canadian father and a Faroese mother but moved to Canada when she was two years old. Her family relocated numerous times in the following years to
Victoria and
Vancouver in British Columbia;
Thunder Bay, Ontario; and
Montreal, Quebec. Just before she turned 17, Anderssen moved back to the land of her birth with her mother and three siblings. Norwegian drummer
Remi Fagereng was visiting a coffee shop in the Faroese capital of
Tórshavn, where Anderssen worked, when he overheard her singing to herself and realized her talent. Weeks later, she joined his cover band, Next Step.
Long Distance After playing one of the main characters in the successful Faroese musical
Skeyk, Anderssen began collaborating with its musical composer,
Niclas Johannesen. Together, they wrote the songs that comprised her debut album
Long Distance, which was produced by Johannesen and released in the Faroe Islands only. At the beginning of the new millennium, Anderssen and Johannesen partnered with the
Danish Music Awards-winning producer,
Óli Poulsen, to produce three songs. One song, "I Still Love You," became a hit when it was released as a radio single in the Faroe Islands.
Songwriting During their first three years of collaborative work, the songwriting team of Anderssen and Johannesen penned more than 100 songs, including "Waiting In The Moonlight," which became a breakthrough hit for Faroese vocalist
Brandur Enni in 2002. That same year they wrote 10 songs for the
Faroese National Radio for use in a Christmas radio play entitled "Stjørnan í Hvarv." The songs were later included in an album of the program, which was released during the Christmas season of 2003.
''Can't Erase It'' Anderssen worked with Johannesen and Poulsen again on her next album, ''Can't Erase It'', which was released in Denmark under Danish independent label
ArtPeople. The album was chosen as Album of the Week on
Danmarks Radio's Programme 4 (P4) as well as on the commercial station
Sky Radio. Anderssen promoted the album while touring with American singer-songwriter
Beth Hart. Notably, the title track was offered as a free
MP3 download on a music website sponsored by
Coca-Cola and
Paste Magazine. It was one of ten songs in the "European Beats" category of a joint-venture
podcast program called "For the Love of Music".
Let Your Scars Dance In 2006, Anderssen began work on her third album,
Let Your Scars Dance. She traveled to the famous
Abbey Road Studios in London, England, to record a live performance of the song "Stones in My Pocket" and put finishing touches on several other tracks.
Dan Clews provided the arrangements for the session. The album was released in the Faroe Islands on 30 April 2007 and in Denmark on 27 October 2008.
Let Your Scars Dance was chosen as Album of the Year at the
Planet Awards in December 2007. In February 2008, readers of
Dimmalætting, the oldest and most acclaimed newspaper of the Faroe Islands, voted
Let Your Scars Dance as Album of The Year.
Letters From The Faroes In November 2011 Lena released her critically acclaimed album "Letters From The Faroes" which was chosen Album of the Year at the Planet Awards in December 2011. The album was scheduled to be released in Denmark in October 2012 through Danish label
Artpeople. In November 2012
Danmarks Radio's Programme 4 (P4) chose
Letters From The Faroes as Album of the Week. The album was scheduled to be released in Poland in 2013 by MJM Music. ==Discography==