For Swedish chanteuse LÉON, it’s all in the family
Does Lotta Lindgren blame nature or nurture for her gradual transformation into soulful singer LÉON—as heard on debut EP Treasure and its flagship single, “Tired Of Talking”? A bit of both, swears the Swede. Growing up in Stockholm, her classical-composer father introduced her to Motown, David Bowie, the Beatles and the guitar. And since he anchored a rock band when he was a high schooler, he applauded his daughter when she formed her own Aretha-and-Etta-inspired R&B combo in her teens, as well. But it was her mother—a professional cellist in local symphonies—who proved most influential.
“Part of my mom really wanted me to become a cello player, too, so I started playing when I was five,” says LÉON, now 22. “And then I quit when I was 19. I thought it was really fun when you got to perform, but I was never a big fan of rehearsing. And I resisted learning to read notes for a long time—I don’t think I had that in me. I wanted to do other things more, like writing and singing instead.” Her turning point: a church recital alongside her cello instructor, wherein she forgot most of the notes. “It was very quiet, awkward and embarrassing,” she says.
But once LÉON entered a music academy and met her current co-writer and producer Agrin Rahmani, and arrived at pop/soul hybrid “For You” (included on her upcoming, as-yet-untitled first album), she discovered that bowing a cello was eerily similar to singing, dynamics-wise, and just as passionate. So it was natural for her to include said instrument on her debut.
“I’m really excited about that, but it’s not me playing,” she says. “It’s actually my mom and my uncle and a few others. When I mentioned to her that I wanted to have strings on my songs, she was like, ‘Wait a minute! So, uh, who are you recruiting?’”
—Tom Lanham
