Early life

Maria was born and raised in Nesna. She taught herself to play guitar and began performing at local concerts at age 14.^[1]

Career

Maria gained considerable success in Norway in 2007 after winning two national competitions for unknown artists - Zoom urørt 2006 and Urørtkonkurransen 2007 - and playing successful shows at the annual Norwegian music industry festival By:Larm 2007 and 2008. In 2007, Maria released her first singles "Oh My God", "Drive Away My Heart", "Stella" and "Queen of the World".

Her debut album, Fortress Round My Heart, was released on 28 July 2008 and reached #5 in the Norwegians record chart, #38 on the Irish Albums Chart and #39 on the UK Albums Chart. The single, "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked", entered the UK Singles Chart at #18 on downloads alone in July 2008 and peaked at #13. It also reached #18 in the Norwegian singles chart. In August 2008 the song entered the Irish Singles Chart at #34. The song was also featured on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2008 in Australia. A deluxe version of her debut album containing unreleased tracks was released in February 2009. Fortress Round My Heart was finally released in the United States in March 2009 with "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" appearing on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart in April 2009. In July 2009, "Oh My God", Maria's debut single in 2007, was re-released as a single along with a music video. In September 2009, a remix version and music video for "Oh My God" featuring punk rock icon Iggy Pop singing backing vocals was released.^[2]

Having performed at various festivals, including the Glastonbury Festival^[3] and Reading festival, and being nominated for Best Rock/Indie Artist category at the BT Digital Music Awards 2008, Ida Maria has toured in Scandinavia, the UK, the United States and Australia.^[4] She performed her song "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2009.^[5]

Her second album, Katla, was released in Norway on 8 November 2010 (where it reached #14 on the album chart) and eventually in the United States in July 2011.^[6] and internationally on 7 June 2011.

Her third studio album, Love Conquers All, was released in August 2013 and was followed in February 2014 by her first EP release, Accidental Happiness.

Scandalize My Name, her fourth album, was released on 18 April 2016 and consists of a collection of American spirituals.^[7]

She competed in the Melodi Grand Prix 2018, attempting to represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song 'Scandilove'. Her song was not one of the four songs that progressed to the Gold Final, and was eliminated.

Maria will release the 5 song EP, Dirty Money, in June 2021.^[8][9]

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles