Sector7seven

A photo of Sector7seven taken in mid-2004 – From left to right: Ricard Jensen, Cecilia Mörnhed, Anders Swartz

Sector7seven is a dance act consisting of Ricard Jensen (born 13 November 1980 in Malmö, Sweden), Anders Swartz (born 14 March 1980 in Lund, Sweden) and Cecilia Mörnhed (also born in Malmö, Sweden). The group was originally formed as a production duo consisting of Jensen and Swartz, with Cecilia joining as a vocalist later on. The trio is best known for their forthcoming single release "Don't Follow the Stream", which was the winning track in the 2001 eJay contest ran by the European version of MTV.

1 History
2 Notable tracks
3 Discography: Singles
4 External links

History

Early days

Anders Swartz and Ricard Jensen formed Sector7seven as a production duo in 1999. For the first year working together the duo had made 'fast-tracker' tracks with no real purpose, lacking a vocalist and thus the ability to make a popular song, and so in 2000 the two decided to look for a vocalist.

They found one in Cecilia Mörnhed, a girl who had just finished school, becoming impressed with her vocal range and abilities. They immediately began to record the group's first serious tracks, with Cecilia doing most of the songwriting and the two producers doing all of the production on the track. The acquisition of a vocalist paid off, as in the Summer of 2000 the song "Don't Follow The Stream" was recorded and published on the internet, to positive feedback.

Although the track had originally been named "Don't Follow The Stream" it was, in its early days online, posted around the internet as "The Summer". At the time of recording the track the group had become involved with an un-named German who promoted the track, claiming credit for it in some cases. He had renamed the track when entering it, without Sector7sevens permission, into a new "Dance eJay of the Week" competition being ran by MTV Europe. He had claimed that the track needed a shorter name as his reason for renaming it, although it is not known whether this is true.

The first Dance eJay competition was set to be a large one, ultimately featuring all of the greatest tracks created over time with the popular eJay software. Although Sector7seven hadn't actually made their track in the software, instead using more upmarket options, they entered the competition and won, resulting in the track being played on MTV across Europe in 2001.

The German who had entered the track into the competition continued to promote the group for some time, although due to some major differences between him and the group, he gradually discontinued his involvement with Ricard, Anders and Cecilia before ending his involvement with the group altogether.

Post-MTV success

After the airplay on MTV interest in the relatively unknown group soared for a short time, with the track being posted on many internet websites and forums, others asking about the track having seen it on MTV. This would've been seen by many as the ideal time to release the track, but while there were offers of a record deal to release the single from Germany, the group was not satisfied and opted to reject all of the offers.

Over time interest in the group dropped, despite the release of a new track, "Stay Forever", to the web. Other tracks such as "Take Control" and "I'm Your DJ", the latter featuring male vocals as opposed to Cecilia's, were made but ultimately failed to match up to the success of Don't Follow, which proved to over time fall into decline with both the interest in and availability of the track very low by the end of 2002. Some interest in the track, however, was sparked at this time due to fellow dance group Flowparty performing it on tour. Their performing the song without Sector7seven's annoyed the band, and as a result of the tour some believe that the song was originally Flowparty's.

Gradually the Sector7seven project also fell into decline, the members losing interest due to other aspects of their life. The great record deal offer had not yet come, and at around the start of 2003 the group dis-banded and gone their own ways. Ricard opted to work on other projects, such as SilverBEAT Productions, whereas Cecilia pursued a solo career by attending a Swedish music school.

Re-formation and new material

The cover of the CD single for "Don't Follow The Stream (remixes)", which is set to be released in late April

Over time the group had become less and less well known, resulting in their music being forgotten about and remaining only on the surviving websites which it had been distributed to two years earlier. However, in the middle of 2004 interest in the groups music suddenly returned, with radio stations in the United Kingdom inparticularly showing a sudden interest in their major hit "Don't Follow The Stream". After two years of not making much material at all Jensen, Swartz and Mörnhed got back together to, on the back of a new set of fans, record new material.

The results of the re-formation of the group were two new tracks. The first of these was "Life Is Brighter Than Light", a track unlike their others in that it was rather slow, with an instrumental part resembling the 1998 hit "World Cup Samba" by Dario G. The second was "Don't Wanna Lose This Feeling", a breakbeat track with a quick beat. The new music had changed the group's sound slightly, but kept the same winning formula of their early work. The result was increased publicity, and UK airplay.

Interest from record labels returned, but despite the new music the interest was in releasing the now three-year old "Don't Follow The Stream", which had withstood the test of time and become the groups 'trademark song'. Although multiple offers were made from various different countries, the group finally agreed to release the song on the new, Dutch record label Xing Records.

Xing Records had just formed as a subsidiary of the UK-based holding company Xing Interactive. Despite the strengths of the original Don't Follow track and the band's intentions to release it as the main track on their first single with Xing, the record company insisted on releasing the single as a set of remixes, without the original version of the song. Although the single has not been released it is expected to be a minor hit in Holland, where it will be released in late April. The single will feature two remixes by the Norwegian producer Torstein Nicolaysen, one remix by the German production duo TbO and Vega and one remix by the group themselves.

Cecilia's solo career

Cecilia Mörnhed in September of 2004, with publicist Kev Atkinson, during her promotional visit to the UK

Along with her work with Sector7seven, vocalist Cecilia Mörnhed is currently pursuing a solo career. Having written and performed all of Sector7seven's major material, Cecilia has decided to move away from the group's sound, instead opting to make more soul-influenced music. She has recorded an album worth of material already, selling the track "U Wanna Dance With Me" to an Italian group, and generating interest from several record companies. She has rumouredly been in contact with the major record label BMG about her music, although as of yet she has not signed a record deal, due to Sector7seven's upcoming single release.

Mörnhed was given inparticularly notable promotion on the popular Metro Radio show Nightowls, presented by Alan Robson, where he played her track "Too Late For Me". Nightowls is currently Britain's most listened to radio show and provides a soundbase for new and upcoming artists. She also made a promotional visit to the UK in September of 2004, being interviewed and promoted by her publicist Kev Atkinson, resulting in further interest from record companies around the UK in addition to airplay on various North East radio stations.

Notable tracks

Don't Follow The Stream (2000)
Stay Forever (2000)
Take Control (2000)
Life Is Brighter Than Light (2004)
Don't Wanna Lose This Feeling (2004)

Discography: Singles

Don't Follow The Stream (remixes) (2005)

External links

Categories: Swedish musical groups