Daniel Lemma

Lemma first became known to a wider audience in 2000 when he provided the soundtrack for Josef Fares' film Jalla Jalla. The hit single "If I Used to Love You," sounded bewilderingly old-fashioned, Southern soul with a little dose Jimmy Cliff. When the single was played on the radio, people often thought it a soul classic that they might not know. But before this, Lemma had both recorded an album that was not released, and lead the bands Mo Blues and Mo Funk. Mo Blues played old Delta blues and songster music, while Mo Funk played soul and party funk at clubs around Göteborg, Sweden, but did not release any records. Then Lemma went to New York for a few years, where he wrote songs and recorded a soul album. But before the album could be released, the record company when bankrupt and the album got caught in the legal process that followed. For two years, Lemma waited in vain before he went back to Göteborg. Here, he was contacted by Josef Fares and agreed on writing the music for his film, and the next year Morning Train was released, produced by Lemma himself and using many of the musicians he had played with in his other bands, among them bassist Stefan Wingefors and guitarist Mats Eriksson. This album reminded listeners of what Lemma had played earlier, but was more gentle and contained no pure blues and few up-tempo songs. It was an instant success and went way up on sales lists, attracting a diverse audience with its friendly soul, sometimes with a singer/songwriter touch. ~ Lars Lovén, Rovi