Meja was born Anna Pernilla Torndahl in
Nynäshamn, Stockholm County. She had her stage debut at "Ystads City theatre" at the age of 7. She was brought up in a musical family, her grandfather, Per Lundkvist, was a composer of both classical and contemporary music and her mother, a recording artist as a child before choosing a path as a painter. In 1986, at the age of 16, she moved to
Mallorca, Spain, to study. She was introduced to American jazz trumpet player/singer Stephen Frankevich and started to take vocal lessons with singer Deborah Carter. Meja went to Stockholm in 1990. She sang in different bands there before getting out on tour as a backup singer for the Swedish group
Rob n Raz DLC in 1991. In 1992 Meja moved to Los Angeles to continue her studies at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood. She graduated from the vocal program in late 1992 then returned to Sweden.
Legacy of Sound (1993–1995) In 1993, Meja worked with the dance project
Legacy of Sound. She co-wrote with
Anders Bagge the first single, "
Happy", from the album
Holy Groove. The song reached the Top 10 on the
Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, and it peaked at number 68 on the Top 100 during a 12-week stay on the chart. "Happy" was released in over 20 countries. Meja recorded one more album with Legacy of Sound in 1994,
Tour de Force.
Solo artist Meja teamed in 1995 with Swedish manager Lasse Karlsson, manager of
Ace of Base, and writer/producer Douglas Carr to provide the vocals for the demo
The Juvenile titled The Goldeneye. The first solo album
Meja, was released in 1996, with songs co-written by
Billy Steinberg. In 1997 Meja had her first concert tour in Japan: The Flower Girl Jam Tour. Meja released the album
Seven Sisters in 1998. Later that year Columbia (Sony) launched the album in the U.S with the single "How Crazy Are You?" That song would later be notable for its use as the theme song for
Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
Realitales (2000) Meja went to Miami in 1999 to record "Private Emotion", a duet with
Ricky Martin for his debut album
Ricky Martin. After shooting a video for the song, Meja stayed in Los Angeles to work on her next album
Realitales (2000) with Steinberg. She also co-wrote two tracks for the album in London with
Stephen Lipson. The artwork for this album was shot by Swedish director
Jonas Åkerlund.
Mellow (2004) In 2003 Meja started to work with her former Sony Music boss, Richard Ogden. The album
Mellow was released in 2004, with songs in Portuguese ("
Água de Beber", "
Dindi") and Spanish. She covered a
Caetano Veloso song "
O Leãozinho" that she named "Little Lion." The album was produced by
Hamish Stuart. One song, "Simple Days-Walking the Distance", was used in the Japanese film
Lakeside Murder Case.
NU Essential (2005) Sony Music Japan released Meja's album
NU Essential in 2005.
Urban Gypsy (2009) In 2006 Meja went back to Los Angeles to collaborate again with Steinberg on a new album, also working with writers
Jeff Barry,
Billy Gibbons, Jed Leiber and Boz Boorer. The first single "At the Rainbow's End" was released in June 2009, the second single "Regrets (I Have None)" in August, and the album
Urban Gypsy was released on her own label Seven Sisters Network in October on a license deal with Sony Music. A remix of
Mando Diao's "Dance with Somebody" was released early 2010.
AniMeja (2010) As a tribute to the Japanese
Studio Ghibli, Meja released an album on which she covered soundtrack songs from Japanese films.
Stroboscope Sky (2015) The first release from the album
Stroboscope Sky was the single "Blame it on the Shadows" (2013) produced by Ebbot Lundberg. Meja teamed with producer Nicolas Gunthardt and together with his sister Alessandra they wrote "Yellow Ribbon" which served as the theme song for the album. "Yellow Ribbon" was released as a single in collaboration with
Amnesty International/Free the Angola 3 to help raise awareness of the case of
Albert Woodfox. A remix EP was released with remixes by
Deep Forest,
Dj Swami,
Gota Yashiki,
DF Tram, NORD and more. ==Discography==