User:Caroline Mayer

Caroline’s story starts when she was just 4 years old. Swedish by birth, and encouraged by her enthusiastic parents, she studied classical piano under the auspices of strict Russian teachers who introduced her to the works of Chopin, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. It wasn’t long before she was giving concert recitals in her own right. By the age of 10, she was accepted into the well-renowned Adolf Fredricks Musikskola in Stockholm, eventually performing for the Swedish royal family, and indeed at one of the Nobel Prize Award ceremonies

At 16, she decided that the piano didn’t work for her, and that singing was her forte. During this time she studied the intricate details of technique and style, and spent long hours experimenting writing music of her own.

However, it wasn’t until one summer in the south of France, where she spent this time with her mother, that she discovered the thrill and spontaneity of street performance. Combining her voice with her acting skills – it worked. During the day it was the streets of Cannes and Antibes, and in the evening the old town of Nice.

Convinced that the approach and attitude of southern Europeans suited her better, she continued her formal studies at the Bernstein’s School of Musical Theatre in Bologna. Here, teachers inspired her from The Actor’s Studio in New York. This was the start of her passion for the ‘Golden Age’ of musicals and roles in ‘Ragtime’ and ‘Sweeny Todd’ followed.

In 2006 at the age of 23, and only a year after starting at Bernstein’s, the teaching staff advised Caroline that possibly because of a childhood throat infection, her voice did not, in their opinion, have the strength to develop in the direction they wanted. Accordingly, they advised her to concentrate on acting.

After graduation, she remained in Italy where minor roles in Italian movies followed. But it wasn’t until she was asked to perform in London at the 100th birthday of the famous London Palladium, that the passion returned and she found the courage to re-connect with her love for singing. By this time jazz was at the forefront of her musical development, and she readily identified with the emotion-ridden songs of Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Amy Winehouse. Remaining in London for two years, performance once again became the imperative, and numerous small club gigs followed.

Now based back in Stockholm, Caroline continues to develop her unique clarity and style that only a story like this can produce.