Thanks to my friends over at Purple Entertainment, I am excited to present upcoming artist EJ.

EJ, real name Edwina Johnson, was born in Stockholm, Sweden and spent the majority of her youth with extended family in Gothenberg. The racially diverse community that EJ surrounded herself with and the influence of her afro-cuban guitarist father, definately had a huge impact on her musical talent and style, “We had a great musical community there” she said, “the racial mix really mixed. Iranians, Turks, a big Somalian community. It all worked together.”

The singer’s musical influences ranged from the gospel she would hear during her regular Sunday visits to the local church with her Grandmother and the unavoidable Michael Jackson phenomenon that swept the World during her youth, “‘My grandmother took me to church every Sunday”, She adds, “The house was swarming with grandchildren. I had that mix of church singing and then getting back to her house and seeing cousins breakdancing, listening to Michael Jackson.”

EJ’s debut single is unlike anything you are hearing in the charts currently. The simple cavalry’esque drums and EJ’s rasping vocals create a simple, catchy and extremely commercial track. You can certainly pick up on the singers gospel routes throughout and , although it only for just 2 minutes, its just enough to leave you begging for more from this obviously incredibly talented and exciting new artist.

I predict big things for EJ in 2012 as she has more singles planned with an album on its way.

Remember where you heard it first!

Check out EJ’s brilliant debut track ‘Mama, I’m Gonna Sing’ right here:

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