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Axella Johannesson
Background information
Born	January 11, 1958 (1958-01-11) (age 49)
Origin	Mount Vernon, New York, U.S.
Genre(s)	Blues Rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1973–present
Label(s)	Smokin' T
Website	Axella.com

One of the first "music cyber stars", due to the ability to distribute her music primarily via the Internet, Australian Singer/songwriter Axella Johannesson was born January 11, 1958 in Mount Vernon, New York, United States. Image File history File links Wikitext. ... Image File history File links Axella. ... is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Motto: The city of homes Coordinates: Counties Westchester County Government  - Mayor Ernest D. Davis (Dem) Area  - City 11. ... This article is about the state. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... “Blues music” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Rock music (disambiguation). ... The term singer-songwriter refers to performers who both write and sing their own material. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... It has been suggested that Virtual world be merged into this article or section. ... is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto: The city of homes Coordinates: Counties Westchester County Government  - Mayor Ernest D. Davis (Dem) Area  - City 11. ...

Personal life

Johannesson's family moved to Selden, New York in 1963, as part of the great exodus to the suburbs. She later moved to the Smithtown area with her mother and sister, when her parents divorced. "Things were kind of weird back then," she said. "I'd attended six schools by fourth grade." Her mother remarried and the family settled in St James, NY. Selden is a hamlet ( and census-designated place ) located in Suffolk County, New York. ... Suburbanisation is a term used by many to describe the current social urban dynamic operating within many parts of the developed world and is related to the phenomenon of urban sprawl. ... Smithtown redirects here, see Smithtown, New South Wales for the small town in Australia. ...

Before she reached her teens, Johannesson became both a vegetarian and an avowed atheist, and remains so to this day.

Johannesson credits her mother's 45 rpm recordings of '60s pop music, her father's recordings of Trini Lopez and Hank Williams, and her stepfather's diverse collection of recordings by artists including The Animals and Charlie Parker, along with her grandparents' recordings by artists including The Ink Spots and Nat King Cole, with helping her to learn to enjoy many styles of music. Listening to these artists throughout her childhood caused her to decide to try songwriting. 45 RPM is a collection of songs by The The. ... Bold text For popular forms of music in general, see Popular music. ... The US edition of The Animals self-titled debut album. ... Charles Bird Parker, Jr. ... The Ink Spots were a popular black vocal group that helped define the musical genre that led to rhythm & blues and rock and roll, and the subgenre doo-wop. ... Nathaniel Adams Coles, known professionally as Nat King Cole (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965) was a popular American singer, songwriter, and jazz pianist. ...

"I was 12 or 13 when I wrote the first one, and in retrospect, it was pretty awful, as you'd expect. Those were the 'Hippie' days back then, and I think the song was called, 'Save the World', or something like that. I didn't provide any plan for how the world should be saved, however, just that it should be saved."

Johannesson continued writing songs during her school years, while singing in cover bands. She also enjoyed performing as a solo act with her acoustic guitar, playing "coffee house" gigs. She retired from performing for several years after marrying and giving birth to three daughters. A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays only cover songs. ... For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ...

When her marriage failed in 1989, Johannesson moved to Traralgon in Victoria, Australia, where she later remarried and continues to reside. Location of Traralgon in Victoria (red) Traralgon is a regional city located in the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. ... Motto: Peace and Prosperity Other Australian states and territories Capital Melbourne Governor HE Mr John Landy Premier Steve Bracks (ALP) Area 237,629 km² (6th)  - Land 227,416 km²  - Water 10,213 km² (4. ...

Activism

As an adult, Johannesson was active in consumer advocacy. She often appeard before state and county legislatures to give testimony on issues in the public interest. She wrote extensively about public utility issues and was a registered intervenor, which allowed her to have input on behalf of consumers in public utility tariff cases.

As Executive Director of the Long Island Coalition for Consumer Awareness, Johannesson participated in the fight against the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant. She campaigned to put seat belts on school buses, and pushed for what became known as "The Lemon Law", a law written to protect car buyers. She was a frequent contributor to Suffolk Life Newspaper on consumer issues, and was heard regularly on "The Joel Martin Show" on WBAB radio in New York.

Cyber Musician

With the rise of the internet, Johannesson was one of the first to achieve "cyber fame" via on-line music delivery sites (OMDs) such as IUMA, Besonic, and mp3.com, among others, in the 1990s. She achieved several genre number ones on those sites. She also held the number one spot site-wide for a month on Ampcast.com in 2001, with "Mama Never Told You About Me", co-written with Jon Andersen of Texas. The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... MP3. ... Official language(s) No official language See languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Largest metro area Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington Area  Ranked 2nd  - Total 261,797 sq mi (678,051 km²)  - Width 773 miles (1,244 km)  - Length 790 miles (1,270 km)  - % water 2. ...

After years of writing rock songs, and releasing the albums Fighting the Good Fight and Mama Never Told You About Me, Johannesson decided to pay homage to her roots by recording covers of some of her favorite '60s pop songs. Thanks to her early exposure to rhythm and blues records, she began to write and record in that genre ("I'm old enough to sing the blues now"). Her song "Ugly Man Blues", a comedic song recorded in 2004, received much airplay on internet radio, as well as being played on commercial and public radio world-wide. Finding it extraordinary that people on the other side of the planet were listening to her music, Johannesson said, "When someone told me that he heard one of my songs on the radio while sitting in a bar in Los Angeles, it blew my mind! I never would've thought that I'd live long enough hear someone say that!" For other uses, see Rhythm and blues (disambiguation). ... Internet radio (aka e-Radio) is an audio broadcasting service transmitted via the Internet. ... Public broadcasting (also known as public service broadcasting or PSB) is the dominant form of broadcasting around the world, where radio, television, and potentially other electronic media outlets receive funding from the public. ...

More recently, Johannesson has branched out into writing music for short films.

Although she still records, Johannesson's live performances are becoming relatively rare.

"I don't have a band, but that means I also don't have the hassles that go along with having a band... I'm not going out of my way to put another one together at this point in time, because when they break up, it's almost like losing your family. I've got a studio in my house, and when I feel inspired, I pick up a pen or an instrument, and go for it. It's very liberating."

– Axella Johannesson, Artist Bio, www.mp3.com.au/axella

External links

• Axella Johannesson's Website
• Axella Johannesson at MP3.com.au
• Axella's MySpace page and Blog

Trivia

Was a childhood neighbor of Denzel Washington, as both lived on Mundy Lane in Mount Vernon, NY. Coincidentally, Johannesson's cousin (also from Mount Vernon), would later go on to be Washington's agent. Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. ...

Cousin of Ed Limato. Ed Limato is the president and vice-chairman of International Creative Management (ICM), a Hollywood talent and literary agency. ...

July 2007 - Appeared as a contestant on the Australian game show "Temptation", winning $15,000 in cash and prizes.