In the work of her latest album “Euforia”
Helen has been assisted by Tomas Andersson Wij,
who interpreted by Billy Joel’s lyrics into Swedish.
Året Runt 110414
By: CHRISTER OLSSON Photo: MONICA FRANZON
After working intensively for years Helen Sjöholm has an unusually restful work schedule in the spring and summer. But ideally she would like her calendar to be completely empty…
It´s very easy for me to identify myself with other people, and how they feel, says Helen Sjöholm, 40.
– I have an incredible feeling for what happens when people meet. Chemistry or lack of chemistry, I see how others react, how they feel and I am always interested in why…
This might partly explain why Helen is able to sing with such passion and why she is so extremely loved by the Swedish people. Her hit “You are my man” was in the Swedish charts for incredible 278 weeks!
When I meet Helen, she has a break in her winter and spring tour, which is based on Swedish interpretations of the American singer Billy Joel’s songs.
– It’s like vacation to go on tour, Helen says, laughing. I can go to sleep late! It´s so luxurious to do it with a complete band and a string quartet. Everywhere we go, we meet a wonderful audience! I have enjoyed it and pinched my arm…
Actually, 2011 should have been a year off for Helen, after a 2010 which involved several tours, her third movie (Simon and the Oaks, premiere this fall), the recording of her Billy Joel-CD “Euforia” and work with the Stockholm City Theater’s production of Harry Martinson’s space epic “Aniara”.
It’ll be a half year off
But it will not be a real year off. In addition to the spring tour, Helen has the summer performances with Benny Andersson Band to look forward to.
– It may just be a half year off. But I still think it feels like a calm spring.
That spring is coming doesn´t bother Helen, but she doesn´t say no to the winter time either.
– I get a sort of calmness in the winter. In summer there is so much to keep up with! It often feels a bit… too crowded! We live so nicely and this winter I have spent a lot of time walking by the lake, it’s wonderful in winter.
I met David on a 50-year celebration
A few years ago Helen moved with her husband David Granditsky and their son Ruben from an apartment in Södermalm (in the city of Stockholm) to a house in Nacka.
– It was David’s idea, he wanted to move out of town. I liked Söder very much, but I really enjoy it here too!
Helen and David met at a 50th birthday party nearly five years ago.
– David wasn´t the man I had imagined that I would meet, not at all. He was a city guy and not at all interested in going to the mountains, living out of town, having cozy evenings with dinners – everything that I thought was nice in life. Just because of that, it was so liberating…
The fact that David had humor played a large role.
– Humor has always been the first “click” for me. Attraction through humor, I think it´s number one when you begin to like another person. Humor is really important, in many ways. I’ve almost always had “pity” roles, which certainly have influenced people’s views to look at me as a person. When I do my concerts and I´m using humor between songs, people get surprised, “She can talk too” I guess they think. The only really cool stuff I’ve done, which undoubtedly is about humor, was when I worked with Magnus Härenstam and Lasse Berghagen at the China Theater in Stockholm. It was fun and good for me! Educational!
Traditional holidays such as Easter and Christmas do not mean as much to Helen today as before.
– Sure you can paint Easter eggs with your four year old, but not necessarily in the same time that you cook a large Easter dinner for the whole family. Previously it has been many things like that in my life. It has been great and I surely wanted it that way, but those wishes have slowed down with my age.
When Ruben was born there were big changes in Helen’s life.
– These days he comes first, in all situations. The love of a child is a love you can not imagine, before you have experienced it. In a way, it´s a kind of infatuation, but also a great, great love that in a way made me calmer, but also created a large room of concern. Life has become larger. There are many more emotional rooms, a wider range of colors but certainly not just pink and rosy, but all colors…
I’m not going to be sedentary
When Helen does not do puzzles or read to Ruben (“I’m not a crafting mother”, she says), or David builds Lego with him, Ruben is watching “Bolibompa” on kids TV or playing “Bolibompa” games on the computer.
– Ruben is very fast when he plays on the computer, Helen says proudly. First he didn´t understand anything, but two days later he began to play and as long as he learns something and thinks it’s fun, he may keep on, sometimes…
When I met Helen for the first time, many years ago, she had just broken up from a long relationship and she lived alone in an apartment in Enskede in the south of Stockholm. Today she has a husband, house and children. It’s just a shaggy dog that is missing before the idyll is complete. Still, she doesn´t feel that she is there yet. The goal isn´t reached.
– I’m so happy for everything I have, but no, I do not think I ever will be sedentary.
I know that life is changing
– I´m questioning myself constantly, what I want to do and why. I’m not as cocksure of things today, as I was when I was young. It´s not always easy to put your finger on what´s right or wrong and how you want it to be. The more you see and experience, the less black and white life becomes. It makes life easier – and more difficult at the same time.
This summer Helen and Tommy Körberg, as usual, are singing with Benny Andersson Band. Of all talented colleagues Helen has worked with, Benny Andersson has a special place in her heart.
– Benny is such an incredible musician, I think he is gorgeous! He still writes the best music after so many years, tunes just come out of him. He goes to work every day, it´s both a desire and discipline. In addition, he writes with a width which is unusual – from symphonic and folk music, to pop and dance band music. Benny is limitless and yet you can recognize his special tone instantly! Benny is also very intelligent and nice to talk to. Nevertheless, I feel that you get to know him most by playing with him, and I actually think it is so for most musicians.
Including Helen herself.
– Absolutely. I don´t think I can communicate better with someone than through music. If you have a strong driving force to sing, it´s not certain that you can communicate equally well in other ways.
So far, Helen is vacant this fall. The calendar is intentionally blank.
– It feels good. I think I will not bother to do all those things which need to get done: paint, fix the door, travel. Doing nothing at all, it´s the great challenge of a doer like me! I will just try to relax! I need to get some new desires, a sense of what I want to do in the future, and that will take time! I would like to make a new album and it´s one of the things that I need some time to think about.
Helen smiles.
– Everything is constantly changing, life is like that! When I was young I was more categorical: It must be like this! I want my life to be like that! But now I notice that most things go up and down, that life is changing. Right now it’s good like this, but then we don´t know where we are going… I enjoy being with my family, but where we end up and what we do is not the most important, the important thing is that we are doing it together!
HELEN SJÖHOLM GRANDITSKY
Profession: Singer and actress
Age: 40 years
Family: Husband David Granditsky, 45, and son Ruben, four years in July
Lives: In house in Nacka, outside Stockholm
Current: On tour in April, with her Billy Joel program. In the summer she has eight gigs with Benny Andersson Band scheduled, beginning in July.
What did you read the latest:
– I’m reading Carl-Johan Vallgren’s book “Kunzelmann & Kunzelmann”. It is great! He writes amazing.
What movie did you see the latest:
– I have not seen a movie at the cinema in ages! It´s DVD that apply when you are a parent of young children, but I manage just 45 minutes, then I am totally exhausted.
Three things you can not live without:
– I can only find two things. My photo album and my diaries. I couldn´t do without them. I have posted a diary since I was 14 years old and I still write every day, as therapy it is really lovely. I like the words to formulate a day that’s gone.