"There's a taste in my mouth that I never had before/ To be a cheater, defeater, are things I won't ignore" - "Heads Will Roll"
Marion. Raven. Two names that will mean a lot to people in the future. They belong to a strikingly beautiful young singer/songwriter. Marion Elise Ravn was born on May 25, 1984 in Lørenskog, Norway. Marion was part of the duo M2M along with Marit Larsen. When M2M disbanded in September 2002, Raven was offered a million dollar recording contract with Atlantic Records, and released her debut album Here I Am in 2005. The album was described as having a more organic pop/rock sound similar to Avril Lavigne and Evanesence. As her official site puts it "the songs on (her) "Heads Will Roll" EP are dark, vengeful, mysterious, dangerous, but ultimately uplifting and cathartic."
In 2006 she switched lables to an indy recording company called Eleven Seven Music, who also have Everclear and Nikki Sixx (the main songwriter for Mötley Crüe). Her second album "Heads Will Roll" will be released in early 2007, with the title song (a re-recorded version of a song that was on her debut album) being featured on the "Van Wilder 2: Rise of the Taj" soundtrack. The video for the single caused controversy, depicting Raven lying half-naked amongst naked women, and featured exposed breasts. She also did a duet with Meatloaf for his final volume in the Bat Out Of Hell Trilogy "The Monster Is Loose" her voice can be heard on the single "It's All Coming Back To Me Now".
Many of the songs on "Heads Will Roll," all of them written by Raven who plays both electric and acoustic guitar as well as piano, some in collaboration with others, are about heartbreak and disappointment, the result of a real-life relationship gone bad. For example, "13 Days," which she composed with Canadian singer/songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk and Our Lady Peace's Raine Maida, is about a fling she had lasting just that long.
"My ex-boyfriend is not going to be happy when he hears this album," says Raven about songs like "Spit You Out" and "Heads Will Roll," which target infidelity with the raw venom of a woman scorned.
Says Nikki Sixx "I've written with artists as diverse as Joey from Saliva to Meat Loaf and Vince Neil, but Marion is the f*cking most talented new artist I've worked with since I've been making music."
"Marion Raven has the dark edge that Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson wish they had. I declare her the new Joan Jett of Rock and Roll," states Scott Stevens of the Exies.
Already a huge success in Japan where her album, Here I Am, debuted at #6 on the charts and her single hit #1. US audiences can get a taste of Marion September 12th when her EP is released on the internet. Her full length will be released first quarter 2007.
Marion Raven is already making waves in the US not only having written with Nikki Sixx from Mötley Crüe, but also with Art Alexakis from Everclear and Keith Nelson from Buckcherry and Meat Loaf. "I've sung duets with everyone from Cher to Pavarotti. I had the opportunity to sing with Marion Raven on Bat Out of Hell III, for 'It's All Coming Back To Me Now,'" says Meat Loaf. "Marion can rock better than anyone I know, her voice is the perfect combination of raw emotion and heart felt intensity."
