Lene Nystrøm

In August 2001, Lene Nystrøm married Søren Rasted in Las Vegas. They have a daughter, India, who was born on November 6, 2004. Their son Billy was born in 2006. The couple split in April 2017.

Lene Nystrøm was born on October 2, 1973 in Tønsberg, Norway, to mother Berit Nystrøm and father Tore Nystrøm, who was a supervisor for Elf in the North Sea. She has a sister Emilie. Passionate about music from an early age, she became interested in performing when she was a teen.

Before starting a career in music, Lene Nystrøm did modeling for some time, and also worked as a bartender. She even worked as a television anchorwoman. From 1990-93, she was featured in the Norwegian game show ‘Casino’.

In 1994, when she was working as a singer on the Norwegian cruise ship MS Peter Wessel, musician René Dif spotted her, and recruited her as the lead singer of the music group Joyspeed, which was later renamed as ‘Aqua’. Besides Nystrøm, the group consisted of vocalists Dif along with Søren Rasted and Claus Norreen.

In 1994, a Swedish record label signed them, and their first single ‘Itzy Bitzy Spider’ was released in Sweden, which failed to become popular. The group was disappointed and quit the record label.

The group then began to develop their famous bubblegum pop sound. Soon they attracted the attention of Universal Music Denmark, and accepted its recording contract in 1996. Their first release under the name ‘Aqua’ was ‘Roses Are Red’, a dance song with a unique pop sound. The song was released in Denmark in September 1996. Their follow-up single ‘My Oh My’ was released in February 1997.

In March 1997, Aqua released its debut album ‘Aquarium’ in Denmark. The album consisted of 11 tracks, including their upcoming single ‘Barbie Girl’. By now Universal Music Group had decided that the group should not just focus on the Danish market, but instead on the general European market.

The Aqua single ‘Roses Are Red’ stayed in the national charts for over two months and was certified platinum. The single ‘My Oh My’ broke all Danish sales records, and was certified gold within six days. It peaked at number one in Denmark.

The song ’Barbie Girl’ was also highly successful, becoming the number one single in Denmark, the UK, and Australia, and reaching the top 10 of Billboard Hot 100.The single ‘Doctor Jones’ peaked at number one in several countries, including the UK, and Australia.

‘It's Your Duty’, Nystrøm’s debut single, peaked at number three on Denmark's Hitlisten chart, and number 9 on Norway's VG-lista chart. The single ‘No Good Advice,’ which she recorded and co-wrote with the band Xenomania for the Girls Aloud debut album ‘Sound of the Underground’ became a breakout hit for the group.