Ida Sand

Swedish jazz singer and pianist Ida Sand was born November 5, 1977 in Stockholm. Her father sang opera professionally, while her mother played music in the family’s church. She discovered a talent for playing the piano as a child, learning pieces by ear, and soon began singing as well. After graduating with a music degree from the University of Gothenburg, she started to make connections in the Swedish jazz world, playing with notables like Christian Walz and Lisa Nilsson. One of her demos led to a call from the German label ACT, and they signed her. She made her recording debut on a Christmas album released by one of ACT’s biggest stars, Nils Landgren, who would become a mentor for Sand. In 2007 she recorded her debut LP, Meet Me Around Midnight. Fusing jazz with elements of blues and soul, and applying it to an eclectic collection of songs that included numbers written by Stevie Wonder, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and the team of Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, the album got good reviews and she established herself in both the German and Swedish musical worlds. Her 2011 album, The Gospel Truth, became her biggest chart success to that point, getting to number 23 in her home country, and 2015’s Young at Heart, a collection to songs written or made famous by Neil Young, climbed to number 52.