Maria Emrik is born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1975.

Inspired by music icons like Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker and Julie London Maria started singing professionally in a jazz quartet at the age of 15 in a wellvisited and popular jazz cafe at the time.

She has sung in several different groups and constellations over the years but when she met the team behind  Ali Production she wanted to record some of her many jazz favourites instead of being on the road. In fact, Maria found out, that she would rather use her time in the studio than giving concerts. And that is how she still feels.

Maria: ”What I really love is working in the music studio with my amazing team, where I can try - play - sing, and have a lot of fun in the sea of ​​technical possibilities. I love to follow the journey of the very first fragile tone, mood and word to the complete recording. It is always exciting to hear if it turned out as intended and the process is very inspiring for both my voice and my writing skills”

The collaboration resulted in the album “Black Coffee” which was released in the spring of 2015. The album consists of 11 carefully selected jazz classics counting ”Fly Me To The Moon”, ”Angel Eyes”, ”BodyAnd Soul” and ”This Masquerade”.

After the release of Maria’s first jazz recording the spirit in the team was so high that a second album was recorded and released late in the fall of 2015. It was the album “Don't Explain”, which contains 12 jazz classics such as ”Autumn Leaves” and ”Misty”. This album also contains a cover version of ”Shape Of My Heart” by Sting which is one of Maria’s favorite songs.

Maria: "The song "Misty" from the "Don't Explain" album was the very first song I sang at my very first jazz concert when I was just 15 years old"

After the first two album releases, Maria wanted to try writing her own songs and lyrics. On the album "Gloomy Sunday" from 2016 you will find, in addition to 9 jazz classics, the 2 songs ”Don’t Look Back” and ”You Are The Love Of My Life” composed by her good friend J. B.Nelson and with lyrics by Maria.

This dynamic duo produced 9 songs for the completely self-composed jazz album “Road To Heaven”, which was released in the spring of 2017. Some of the songs are very personal, for example ”Lullaby Waltz” written to Maria’s nephew, and ”Say Goodbye” written in memory of Maria’s mother-in-law. Maria is extremely proud of this album.

Another album composed by the duo “Dear Moon” followed in 2018, containing 10 lovely tunes.

On this album you find the happy song ”Trouble In A Bubble” and the more sensual ”Perfume”, but you will also find that some of the songs may not be jazzy-jazzy like ”Until He Was Gone”.

Maria: ”During full moon I sometimes find it very difficult to sleep, and one night I sat in the window, looked at the beautiful moon and a new song was born. The song "Trouble In A Bubble" also from the album "Dear Moon", was written because I love soap bubbles, it was also produced in a single version that was sent to the radio stations, which is quite different from the long version."

A funny anecdote is that in the fall of 2018 Maria kept coming across the jazz classic "The Night We Called It A Day" - whether she turned on the radio, Twitter or the Internet, and it was almost as if it was a sign that that tune would like to be recorded. So it was! Along with 8 other beauties. The album was released in the spring of 2019.

Maria also found the time and energy to release the Christmas album ”Merry Christmas” in November that year, containing 2 self-composed songs ”Winter Song” and ”Christmas Time”.

Maria: "Winter Song" is originally with Danish lyrics, but I have translated it into English as I thought it would fit well with the rest of the album."

In the end of 2019 Maria discovered, that W. A. Glutsson, who had been part of the team all along, had secretly written songs to her. She was very happy and surprised when she found out, and she immediately started writing lyrics to his wonderful new songs.

In the spring of 2020, the world stood still and was shut down. But in the midst of all that was happening, a new album was born.“Blue Heaven”with 10 brand new songs created by the new duo. This album also has a pretty awesome cover.

The energetic duo actually created one more album that year, which was released in November 2020. “Homeless Heart” contains 9 songs. Maria’s good old friend J.B. Nelson also contributed to the album with his wonderful song “Remember June” which smells a bit like a new classic.

After all the songwriting and composing Maria wanted to record a cover album. So in May 2021 the album “Close Your Eyes” was released. This album is packed with 11 handpicked beautiful songs, including ”Willow Weep For Me”, ”You Don´t Know What Love is” and ”The Touch Of Your Lips”.

Maria: ”One of my favorite jazz artists is Chet Baker. His story is a sad one and it comes through very clearly in his music.”

2022 was yet another year with 2 album releases.

The Glutsson/Emrik team composed 11 new songs for the 11th album “Happy To be Me”. Several of the songs contain reflections on the previous years and at the same time lots of hope, light and love for the future. This album was also released in a very special CD book with a 24k CD inside.

November 25th 2022 the album “Christmas Dreaming” was released. In addition to the title song, the album contains 9 good, classic Christmas songs such as "Sleigh Ride", "Silver Bells" and "Winter Wonderland".

To be continued….;)

Maria: ”As the dedicated reader can see, I am somewhat a busy bee ;) I work hard but with joy, and I prioritize my time wisely – therefor I have chosen not to give interviews or answer more details. The music should speak for itself."

As Maria has recorded more than 30 records through many years, only the ones mentioned above are described, as these are the ones that are out on the streaming platforms and can be heard. Although there are many other amazing records that have been recorded and even digital mastered, Maria did not think they fit into the digital world or streaming platforms.

Maria: "Many of my vinyl records just sound many times better than if I listen to them on the streaming services, therefore I have a lot of finished recorded music lying around that just doesn't fit in / sounds optimal in the digital world."