The Real Group


The Real Group is an a cappella group from Sweden. Members are Emma Nilsdotter, Lisa Östergren, Anders Edenroth, Anton Forsberg and Jānis Strazdiņš. The group's members compose and arrange most of their songs. They sing in English and Swedish and cite American vocalist Bobby McFerrin as an inspiration.

Background

The Real Group has performed more than 2000 concerts worldwide. In 2002 The Real Group performed at the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup in Seoul, South Korea to an audience of 60,000. On 22 December 1993, to commemorate the fiftieth birthday of Queen Silvia of Sweden, The Real Group backed up former ABBA member Anni-Frid Lyngstad in a performance of the ABBA hit "Dancing Queen", using an a cappella arrangement that was released on the album Varför får man inte bara vara som man är.
The Real Group was formed in 1984 when its members were students at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. All of them attended Adolf Fredrik's Music School. Margareta Bengtson was the soprano in the group at its inception, but she left to work on solo albums in 2006. Johanna Nyström filled her spot for some time until Emma Nilsdotter replaced her in 2008 and had her first appearance with the group in Kremlin Palace. Johanna Nyström also filled in for both Margareta Bengtson and Katarina Henryson when they were on maternity leave or otherwise away. Morten Vinther Sørensen joined the group in 2010 to replace Peder Karlsson, who shifted his focus to develop The Real Academy. In 2015 Jānis Strazdiņš joined the group as the bass after Anders Jalkéus retired due to health reasons.
On 19 January 2016 the Real Group announced that Lisa Östergren would replace Katarina Henryson.

Vocal ranges of previous members

Awards and honors