Alda

"Who was Alda?". This is a question which "Music Box" has continually asked itself since it first lifted its mighty lid. Alda was an instantly memorable nineties pop star, hitting the Top 10 in 1998 with the shoutalong hit "Real Good Time", and then further gracing the Top 20 with its equally singable follow-up "Girls Night Out". Always near the top of our list of subjects to cover, the frizzy-haired Icelandic singer nevertheless proved resistant to Google searches for further information. Alda seemed to have disappeared! So where was she? The trail unexpectedly warmed up again a few weeks ago, when somebody on a forum found her listed as a Director of a Catering Company in Barnet! There was also some hitherto unavailable information from the lady herself as to how she ended up there...

Alda was born in Iceland and began her singing career at 16, in bands with outlandish names like Spectrum Showband and Stjornin. After writing with one of Iceland's most famous singer-songwriters, Sverrir Stormsker, Alda came to the UK, where she arrived with two suitcases and not much else. Hunting down work as an Au Pair, she soon left her first family when "the old git turned out to be a bit of a perv".

Meeting her future husband and songwriting partner while playing local gigs, Alda was eventually signed to Wildstar Records and had an immediate hit with "Real Good Time". It was also via this website that I was able to e-mail Alda and fill in the gaps in the story from the most reliable source of all... Alda herself! So without further "ado", Music Box is proud to present a Vervoid Exclusive interview with the glamorous pop icon herself!

Alda scored two UK chart hits in 1998. But how did she find the experience of suddenly being thrust into the pop limelight?

"It's great fun to travel the world and see other countries and cultures, but when you're on a promotional tour you don't actually see much of the places you visit," Alda told me. "People think that being a pop singer is very glamorous and just fun, fun and more fun. But it is a job like any other, and it's hard work. One thing I've learned and come to realise is that you've got to try and enjoy every moment of it when it's happening. It's difficult when your life is running at 150 miles an hour, but you've got to find time to reflect and relax... something I did not do very well at the time of the height of my success..."

Alda played Wembley Stadium during her time ruling the UK charts, something she describes simply as "awesome". "The first time I sang on Top of the Pops was also pretty cool." she says, of her unforgettable appearance with wild red hair. What's less well known about the saucy Icelandic pop siren is that Alda writes all her own material, then and now, and so was a cut above your typical pop act of the day. Happily, she has no pretensions about being anything other than a thing of pure pop splendour, however. "I was singing very poppy music," she explains. "Of course I was going to be marketed that way. I can't blame anyone for that but me."

The "Out of Alda" album emerged in May 1999, but sadly there was no follow-up release.

"I would've liked to have carried on, but the reason for it all is a very long story," Alda reveals. "To put it in one short sentence, I was very unlucky with the people who were in charge of my career, like so many other artists. The "business" of music is very complicated. There are loads of artists just like myself who could've carried on forever given the chance."

Curse the pop world! Alas, like Next of Kin, the pop majesty of Alda was snatched away before its time.

So what of Alda's Catering Business in Barnet? Well, it's now just another part of her diverse past, and happily the Icelandic songstress has returned to music.

"I'm back to doing music full time now," she confirms. "I'm just doing music that I like, music I would go out and buy myself, not thinking about pleasing the record executives." She describes her current sound as "a mixture of ambient/chill out/a bit of Jazz/electro.....ish". Hurrah!

And music isn't the only pie Alda has fingered. She's also been writing a Rock Opera, a Novel, some children's books and a Children's Album! A Rock Opera! She's for us! The best news however, is that a new album is apparently on the way. Music Box has heard a few of Alda's new tunes and can confirm they are Godlike in their greatness. Especially "Tell Me Now" and "Please Forgive Me" which is about a poor child that vanishes in the snow when Alda turns round to answer the door. It's traumatic!

The "Out Of Alda" album is difficult, but not impossible, to get hold of, but Alda currently plots to make her newer music more widely available.

"I'm just starting to try and sell my music now, so we'll have to see what happens," she notes. "Also my new website, where you can listen to clips and demos, will be ready pretty soon." Before she departed to work on the top pop tunes of the 'morrow, Music Box couldn't resist asking Alda THE burning question that had always niggled away at us... the story behind the frankly baffling appearance of "Real Good Time" on Top Twink Icon Aaron Carter's album "Come and Get It". I mean, just how did that happen!

"It's just one of those things that the manager or record company sorts out," Alda shrugs. "There were actually quite a few artists around the world that did covers of my songs but I had nothing to do with it, and no, I did not meet Aaron Carter! His album did amazingly well though, I received a double platinum disc from North America and several gold discs from other countries around the world from it." So there we have it. Hurrah for Alda!

With thanks to Alda.

Alda at MySpace.com