Monica Heldal, in spite of her young age (21) managed to garner both domestic and international attention. With her brilliant and technically advanced guitar playing and alluring voice she has left audiences spellbound in all manner of settings. Her deep-seated love of American country-blues and for the deceased Irish singer, guitarist and songwriter Rory Gallagher led to her being invited to play last year’s ”Rory Gallagher International Tribute Festival” in his home town. After many plaudits she was invited back this year and that led to further invitations to play at Notodden, in Oslo, The Netherlands and France.
On January 18th 2014 she won the Norwegian music award: Spellemanprisen 2013" for Best pop artist 2013, Best new artist and she also won The Gramoprize.
Monica Heldal releases her debut album ‘Boy From The North’ October 9th on Warner Brothers. This 24 year old from Bergen has created a wonderful sound – an engaging mix of Americana, Bluegrass and Irish Folk.
The album features ten original songs written by Monica Heldal and produced by Ben Howard’s drummer Chris Bond who also plays on the album. Along with her band, they recorded at Deep Litter Studio in Devon.
Monica has supported Tom Petty in Oslo, who quickly became a fan, and toured Europe with Ben Howard. Her musical influences include Nick Drake, Emmylou Harris, Rory Gallagher and the acoustic side of Led Zeppelin. This lovely record recalls all of them and more.
