Biography Elize Ryd

Elize Ryd was born into a family of musicians and started to sing and dance as a 3 year old child, together with her brother Johan Carlzon and sister Elina Ryd. From the very beginning it was obvious that she had a unique voice and a natural talent for singing and performing. She started with dance lessons early and was only 4 when she performed in public for the first time. At the age of 13 she won a talent contest in Gothenburg as the youngest participant in the competition, and also received a scholarship award as "most promising singer". After graduating from elementary school, she decided to become a musical artist and entered the Kongahälla High School Musical Line for 3 years, where she was awarded for "most beautiful voice".

Elize auditioned with all her teachers, singing in front of different audiences and often bringing tears in their eyes from her amazing voice. Soon she got in touch with the singer of the Swedish power metal band Falconer, who asked her to be a guest singer on their next CD. It would be her first step into the rock music industry. Elize had always been wanting to do musicals and shows and from that moment on, her career was launched and on its way up.

After working as a "Cabaret Virtuoso" in the high-class Cabaret Lorensberg in Gothenburg, she met Jake E., from the band Dreamland. With Dreamland she recorded the song "Fade Away". Then Olof Mörck asked her for a collaboration in his band Dragonland and she recorded vocals on their album "Cassiopeja". It was the beginning of a strong and fructuous friendship between Jake, Olof and Elize. It's around the same time that the band Nightwish showed some interest in Elize for the spot of front singer, as a replacement for Tarja Turunen. However, at this moment Elize had just graduated from a three year long education at Gothenburg's Performing Arts School - School for Professional Musical Artists - and her interest in joining Olof and Jake's project was already aroused. Nightwish's attention was taken as a sure sign that Elize had great potential as a singer, and a few months later Avalanche, later renamed Amaranthe, was born.

Amaranthe's first single "Leave Everything Behind" was high charted in Sweden and Finland. Their debut album was released in April 2011 under Spinefarm/Universal Records and reached immediate recognition. Swedish newspapers praised them as a band able to "conquer the world". Indeed that catchy album, where Elize's voice stands out for its warmth, energy and purity, was soon acclaimed worldwide, even being the 84th most played album on Spotify in the whole world, all genres.

In Spring 2011, Amaranthe did a full European Tour with the legendary metal masters Kamelot, followed by appearances at major festivals such as Loudpark in Japan and Metal Female Voices Fest in Belgium, and a whole new European Tour in Autumn 2011, with the Swedish power metal band HammerFall.

In 2010 Elize was chosen by Kamelot as one of their female touring vocalists; in 2011 she joined them again for their Worldwide tour, doing special guest appearances all over South America, North America and Europe.

During the past two years she went on working as a show performer, but she's now more and more focused on Amaranthe and her singing career. Besides her collaboration with most known metal acts above, she took part in many albums by Swedish and international artists, such as Takida, Renegade Five and Houston. Dragonland have also just released their 5th album, where Elize does guest vocals again. She receives countless requests from well-known artists to feature her great voice on their albums, and is undoubtedly one of the most promising female vocalists in the current rock/metal scene.

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