Having shared the stage with the likes of Swedish Grammy nominee Peter Asplund, the Grammy nominee vocalist Frida Öhrn and other well known Swedish jazz musicians as Vivian Buczek and Magnus Lindgren, professional jazzvocalist Mary Nelson has in every way found her place in the genre by being an accomplished jazz singer.
At age 17 she had her first taste of singing with a jazz band, performing "My funny valentine" at the big school concert with an audience of around 700 people and she went on attending Kulturamas school of the Arts in Stockholm studying musical theatre. Here she found her voice with professional vocal coaches and fell in love with the subject of interpretation of songs. That with a frase, a word and improvisation one can make something new of the same song each time. That the lyrics and music always go hand in hand, and that she as a vocalist always would be a story teller.
In 2001, Mary went out on tour with different musical shows travelling around Europe and when finally back in Sweden she started playing with different bands and immediatly felt at home. The jazz and songs from the "magic era" of the 30s och 40s was in her blood and she felt at home with all the old songs her American father Paul had played for her growing up.
In 2006, Mary began writing together with friend/collegue/pianist Daniel Palm and they set out with the plan to write "new jazz standards", new songs but in the feeling of the old classic jazzstandards. Mary also hooked up with jazz guitarrist Fredrik Vislander, at that time living in London playing at the bigger jazzscene, and wrote some songs with him, including the jazz duet from the debut album sung with world famous jazz trumpeter and singer Peter Asplund.
In November 2009 Mary went in to the recording studio at Hacienda Studios in Stockholm and recorded her debut album in 5 days, with live takes with her fantastic band with Fredrik Vislander on guitar, Martin Lundberg on up right bass, Johan Liedberg on soprano- and alto saxophone, Daniel Palm and Johan Rask on piano, Hasse Sjölander on drums, with guest artists Peter Asplund on voclas and trumpet and Frida Öhrn on vocals. Producer Hasse Sjölander and Mary mixed the album together and the release concert was held at Hotel Marriott Stockholm with some of the biggest names in the Swedish music industry in the audience. Reputation as an up-and-coming talent led her to become increasingly in demand. She began playing extensively in many of Stockholm’s top venues, including Mosebacke, Södra Teatern and doing an exclusive performance on television for Good Morning Sweden, with 4 million viewers seeing her perform two songs from the album, "Mistake" and "Hallelujah".
After the success with the television performance Mary was privileged enough to perform in Swedish National Radio with a one hour concert, live in the studio, focused only on her own songs from her debut album and about her as a performer.
Teaming up with old friend/collegue/director Nina Eremar, working at SVT (Swedish network television) , bringing a professional team from recent movie production, they made the music video to the song "Mistake" in the early morning of late August in the central part of Stockholm. Mary having sponsorship from designer Orkan Lia with her stage dresses, they chose to film the video in an old fashioned style from the 50´s and 60´s, inspired by favorite TV show Mad Men.
Mary is also a featured soloist in the duo The Ciccones, a tribute band playing Madonnas songs in jazzversions, making a huge success in the Stockholm gay scene, and playing at well known clubs and also opening the Stockholm Pride festival 2010 with 17.000 people in the audience, backing up some of the biggest acts in Sweden like Darin, Marit Bergman and many more.
Mary enjoys a wide range of music, and draws influences from everything from classical music (Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy), Swedish folkmusic (with the melancholy melodies), and in jazz: Ella Fitzgerald, Nellie Lutcher, Anita O´Day, Nat King Cole and many more.
