"Robyn has always been singing", says her father William. And those who has known Robyn since she was a little child, knows his words is true. Robyn was always singing, when she was playing or cleaning, when she were at school or at home, she was singing everywhere… It isn't strange she now has a voice comparable with Whiney Houston's even though she's only 20 years old.
Robyn was travelling around Europe with her parent's theatrical company until she was 7 years old. It means she had a childhood different from many other children, but she thinks it affected her in a positive way.
"I grew up with grownup people, they took me seriously and listened to my opinions. They let me force my ideas through, until something put a stop to me".
When Robyn made her breakthrough in Sweden, many young girls and boys disliked her attitude. Robyn thinks many people looked on her like a cocky girl because she used to go as far as she could and stand by her opinion when she was a little girl. It made her very self-confident, something that many young girls and boys in Sweden don't are today.
"It's important to let people know that you won't be treated unfair", she says. She also thinks young girls should stick up more for themselves.
Robyn was not just loved by the swedish yougnsters. Once an orange hit her in her forehead during a concert. During another concert she broke and asked the audience why they were so rotten to her, after they had shouted a lot of unpleasent things to her.
Without Robyn's enormous motive force, she wouldn't had become that world-famous artist like was in the age of 18. But her career begun much earlier. When she was 8 she tried the actor-job as a little ghost-child, in a play by Strindberg named "Kronbruden". She made money to her family of dubbing cartoons in the age of 9. She also sang the signature tune to the swedish TV-program "Lilla Sportspegeln". When she was 11 her parents got divorced, then she wrote her first song "In My Heart". She performed this song in another swedish TV-program named "Söndagsöppet", in the age of 12.
When Robyn was 14 years old, the swedish group Legacy of Sound made a performanceat her school. In the break she entered the scene and said: "Hi, my name is Robin and I'm gonna sing a song". After the performance the singer Meja talked to Robyn and took her number. Meja told her manager Peter Swartling about Robyn, but only after six months Robyn met Peter and sang to him. She visited his office though she didn't have a demo. Then Peter contacted Ulf Lindström and Johan Ekhe and they became two of Robyn's producers.
The first single was released when Robyn had turned 16, in the summer of 1995. It was called "You've Got That Somethin'". The whole album "Robyn Is Here" was released a few months later, and also the second single "Do You Really Want Me". The second single became a great success and reached the top of the radio hit-lists. With this song she made her real breakthrough. Robyn Is Here contains 12 well-produced songs and one song a capella.
Robyn left Eriksdalsskolan in June 1995 with a certificate at 3.6. After the summer she started at the music continuation school Rythmus in Stockholm. But she left the school after just a few days, when she decided to bet on the music career. "My parents weren't very happy, but they realized that you only get one chance in your life like this. But the school will still be there when you want to study."
In 1996 Robyn released two more singles from Robyn Is Here. It was "Do You Know (What it Takes)" and then "Don't Want You Back". In the winter 1995 she went on a small tour in Sweden, in the summer it was time again. She attended on some of the biggest festivals of Sweden as Hultsfredsfestivalen, Vattenfestivalen and Lollipop. In 1996 she also assisted at two other albums, Players and Blacknuss. Robyn also wrote a song to another young girl, Michele. It was called "Do Me Baby".
Then it was quiet about Robyn for a while. She was planning her introduce abroad. In February 1997 she appeared in the papers and magazines again, though she released a new single outside the album called "Show Me Love". It was a soundtrack to the swedish movie "9 Millimeters". Show Me Love became such a big hit that they made a change in the track-listing before they released Robyn Is Here in the U.S. Show Me Love replaced the song "Where Did Our Love Go", which means that many american fans have never heard that song. A new cover was made, and Robyn Is Here was ready for the americans. In the summer 1997 Robyn took the flight over the Atlantic Ocean to do a promotion tour in the states for almost a year. She appeared in talkshows like "Joe Letho Show" and "Good Morning Amercia", magazines, radiostaions, CD-shops… She travelled to London to do some jobs for MTV. Robyn became as popular abroad as she was offered 1 million dollar to do a job for Playboy.
Before the introduce in the U.S. she helped another young swedish girl in the world of swedish music, Cajsalisa Ejemyr. Robyn and Cajsalisa wrote a song called "Du Gör Mig Hel", which Cajsalisa performed in the music competition "Melodifestivalen". The song reached the fourth place. Robyn also helped Cajsalisa with three other songs on Cajsalisa's debut album.
When Robyn came back to Sweden in the spring 1998, after a big succes in the U.S., she was tired of everything which had to do with her music. She had lost all the inspiration to write. During the summer she had a rest in her summerhouse in Gnesta with her family and friends. During her stay in the U.S., she lost a lot of friends, she also lost her boyfriend Heykel Rayhi.
When the inspiration came back she started to write on the next album. Robyn had an abortion in the autumn. She chose to let us know because she says it would have been officially anyway. "But I'm disappointed in some magazines and the way they wrote about it", she says. "It was hard enough already".
In March -99 the first single from the second album "My truth" was released. It was called "Electric" and became pretty popular. My Truth was available from May 17th. In June she released the second single Play, and she spent the summer on a tour through Sweden.
My Truth is very different from Robyn Is Here, partly because she has grown up and partly because eight different producers has been involved. During the recording of My Truth she did some other jobs. She assisted on Christian Falk's debut album, and on another album named "För Amnesty", an album for the benefit of Amnesty. She also assisted as a model for the company H&M.
Robyn has begun her promotion tour for My Truth abroad. The album will be released in the U.S. in January, and the rest of Europe during the spring.