NIGHTWISH Singer ANETTE OLZON Taps MADONNA/CELINE DION Songwriter For Solo Album

NIGHTWISH singer Anette Olzon has tapped Swedish producer/songwriter Anders Bagge to write material for her upcoming solo album, which she plans to record during the band's downtime in early 2010.

Commented Olzon: [Bagge] is a very famous and incredibly talented songwriter. He has done so many hit songs and has been working with MADONNA, CELINE DION, JANET JACKSON, JESSICA SIMPSON and many, many more. He is also one of the jury members in Swedish 'Idol' [TV talent competition] and a show called 'Made in Sweden'. He is a true CANNIBAL CORPSE lover and rock lover.

"At the moment, he has done some albums and one of the bands he is doing at the moment are called APOLLO DRIVE. I really liked the songs he played and the first single, 'Time', is a bit heavier and I like it!

"Me and Petri [H. Lundén, Anette's manager] came to [Bagge's] big house [on Thursday, August 27] and had a meeting with him and his two co-writer team. It was a really fun and crazy moment. Anders is a really funny guy and I laughed all the time.

"I am looking forward to do songs now and I believe this will be great."

Olzon performed on August 13, 2009 with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra at a special concert in Stockholm, Sweden as part of the Stockholms Kulturfestival (Stockholm's Culture Festival). According to Anette, "The evening [was] in the theme of Sweden-Finland and it [was] called Suomi Safari. There [was] a big symphonic orchestra, choir and more soloists that have something to do with Finland."

Video footage of Anette's performance can be viewed below.

Olzon recently wrote a blog entry on her official web site where whe talked about singing technique. She said, "It's hard to go in to exactly what I do when I sing since some things are 'by nature' and just come naturally but, of course, a lot of things are what I have learned earlier in vocal lessons and also during my career as the singer in NIGHTWISH where my voice is needed to be able to sing many high-pitched songs for 1.5 hours many nights a week.

"First of all, what I use most when I sing is a technique called 'belting.' For you who don't know what kinda vocal sound types normally are talked about, there are different sounds and techniques to use when singing. This technique is a way to come very high up by pushing the vocal cords together, slamming them against each other, so that no air at all can leak through. If any air leaks through, it can make the voice soar and aching. I do this technique also by thinking that I lift my upper lift upwards, kinda showing my teeth and a good sound to practise for it is to imitate an evil witch. You know the evil laughter. Also imitating a car like: öhrn, öhrn, öhrn... as a car accelerating forward. These things make me lift the lip and close the cords. Of course there are so many more things to do to make this technique perfect but that's an easier way to explain what I do."

In an interview with Classic Rock's Dave Ling, NIGHTWISH keyboardist/mainman Tuomas Holopainen was asked if alarm bells rang when, echoing her predecessor, Olzon recently hired a personal manager (Swedish management company Hagenburg Management, which also represents EUROPE and THE CARDIGANS). "At the beginning I had a feeling of déjà vu," he replied. "But when we discussed it I understood that she needs somebody who speaks her own language [Swedish]. Her manager is a very, very reasonable guy."

When asked how Anette is handling the fame, Tuomas replied, "She has told me a couple of times that she might not be able to handle it, on top of her divorce. I've seen her close to collapse and it has scared me, so we are protecting her."