HOMETOWN: Lidingö, Sweden
INFLUENCES: ABBA, Ane Brun, Regina Spektor
ALBUM: Amanda Mair, out now
WEBSITE: amandamair.nu

Singer and pianist Amanda Mair began playing music and taking voice lessons at age 8. Born in Sweden, she was discovered in 2008 when a friend played her three-song recording for Swedish-based Labrador Records. Mair, 18, has racked up accomplishments at a rapid clip since signing to the label. On the strength of her self-titled debut album, she was voted 2012’s breakthrough artist in a poll conducted by the Swedish music industry. Plus, Mair’s first music video, “Sense,” has received more than 120,000 views on YouTube. This summer she performed in Paris and London, and plans to tour more next year, when she no longer has to worry about age restrictions in European nightclubs. She says she’d been looking forward to her last birthday “so I can play live shows without my mother and father.” Mair is currently finishing studies at Rytmus Musikergymnasiet, a music school in Stockholm.