Gårdenäs was born on 10 April 1947 in Brännkyrka a suburb of Stockholm, but at the age of five she moved to Helsingborg. She started her career as the lead singer in the music group Rainy Day Women in 1966, and later sang in the group Lena Maria & Sweet Wine in the 1970s. Along with the group Rockfolket she participated in a so called barshow at Bachu Wapen in 1978, and in the early 1980s she worked with Janne Loffe Carlsson in his show at Berns salonger in Stockholm. She also toured with
Eva Rydberg,
Janne Lucas and
Jerry Williams in Sweden, and with
ABBA on their tour around Europe and Australia in 1977. She is part of the movie
Abba – the Movie. Between 1980 and 1981, she had her own show on SVT the
Lena Maria Show, at the same time she released new music with the LPs
Lena Maria och
Lena Marias Nya. ==References==