From: Billed Bladet, Danish magazine, 26/6-97
She is only 23 years old, light of build, and when she sings the
discohit "Barbie Girl", she deliberately plays the little naive and
defenceless girl.
When Lene was 17 years old she tried the Norwegian Home Guard,
where she learned to fire pistols and even Bazookas. "However I will
never fire bazookas again", Lene tells Billed Bladet, "The recoil was
so powerful that it threw me back".
Lene grew up in Toensberg in Norway. Her father was a lieutenant
in the Norwegian Home Guard, and that was the reason Lene
wanted to try the Home Guard.
"I wanted to be the best in my group of 21 boys, and so I did"
"I always liked to sing and play theater, so I felt a bit misplaced in
the socially studies line Gymnasium". After she graduated she
worked as a the TV-hostess on "Casino", which is the Norwegian
version of "The Wheel Of Fortune".
"I get very touched when I think of all the interest in Aqua, and I
cannot believe that we have sold 220.000 records in Denmark alone,
and now the rest of the world wants to hear us.", Lene says to Billed
Bladet, and furthermore dedicates her succes to her parents. "With
out them I wouldn´t be where I am today."
The tough look
"I wanted to have something out of the ordinary, so I ended out
with this big rocker-like tatoo."
But Aqua´s norwegian singer Lene is far from being defenceless: "I
grew up with boys and I have always played better with boys than
girls."
On "Casino" she had the opportunity to sing, which René Dif heard,
while he was working as a DJ in Norway. Since then the fantastic
four has been working together for a year in an apartment in
Copenhagen.
"It has stayed on for 4 days now, but it can easily be removed with
water and soap", says Lene Grawford Nystroem to Billed Bladet,
about the tatoo on her left upper arm. Lene does not see herself as
a "Barbie Girl", but enjoys being out of the ordinary with her
colorful choice in clothes.
"If I don´t want to be recognized on the street, I simply put on a
pair of jogging-pants, and wear my hair in a ponytail."
