Carita Holmström -

Carita Holmström is a Finnish singer/songwriter who made the 1973/74 EMI albums We Are What We Do and Toinen levy. In 1980, she returned with Two Faces, a jazz-folk duo record with contrabassist Teppo Hauta-aho.

Background

Carita Elisabeth Holmström was born on February 10, 1954, in Helsinki. She learned keyboard through imitation on the home piano, which her mother played by ear. In 1963, she entered classical piano studies at the Sibelius Academy Youth Department, where world class Japanese pianist Izumi Tateno taught one of her classes. Outside the academy, Holmström listened to folk, jazz, Latin, and popular music and learned acoustic guitar.

In the mid-Sixties, Holmström joined The Scarlets, an acoustic-guitar vocal trio. The Scarlets appeared on Finnish television in spring 1968, where Mikael Wiik first saw the group. Holmström and Marianne Nyman soon continued as a duo under their own names and played the weekly folk nights at the Foggy Mountain Club in Helsinki. Their sets covered folk songs, bossa nova, and jazz standards. The Danny Show gave Carita & Marianne a 20-minute segment in 1969 as the duo moved beyond the Helsinki folk-club circuit. Sonet issued “Soi kitarani soi!” in 1969 (b/w “Sano sano sano!”). Carita & Marianne joined the Danny Systeemi-70 revue the next year, with dates at Halkosaari in Lappajärvi and Kalliopaviljonki in Alavus. Yle also featured the duo on Pop Story.

Holmström and Nyman ended their joint performances in 1972 and moved into separate projects. Meanwhile, Mikael Wiik became label manager at EMI Finland, where engineer Antti Joki recorded Holmström at the piano between vocal takes. The tape secured her solo EMI contract. She debuted with the 1973 EMI single “Joki” (b/w “Sua muistelen säälien”). That summer, Wiik produced her first album at Finnvox Studios.

Discography:

We Are What We Do (1973)
Toinen levy (1974)
Two Faces (1980 • Carita Holmström & Teppo Hauta-aho)
Aquamarin (1984)

Sources

Carita Holmström — official biography. Holmström identifies Helsinki as her birthplace, describes her mother as an ear-trained pianist, dates her entry into the Sibelius Academy Youth Department to age nine, and describes her early folk-club partnership with Marianne Nyman and Mikael Wiik. (Carita Holmstrom)
Matti Pajuniemi, Finnish Music Library / Levyhyllyt — “Carita Holmström – musiikillinen monilahjakkuus.” The most useful detailed source for the early chronology. It identifies The Scarlets, Wiik seeing the trio on television in spring 1968, the Foggy Mountain Club dates, the 1969 Danny Show segment, Wiik joining EMI, and Antti Joki making the informal piano tape that Holmström associated with her EMI deal. Pajuniemi draws several details from the 2004 EMI compilation notes. (Levyhyllyt)
Billboard, August 9, 1969. A contemporary trade report states that Scandia signed Carita and Marianne to Sonet and released their debut single, providing independent period confirmation of the record-company chronology. (World Radio History)
Botnia Beat venue archives. These newspaper-ad compilations place Carita & Marianne on Danny Systeemi-70 at Halkosaari in Lappajärvi and Kalliopaviljonki in Alavus in July 1970. They also resolve the apparent conflict between accounts that cite a 1969 Danny Show appearance and Holmström’s official site, which cites the 1970 touring package. (Botnia Beat)
Yle Elävä arkisto — Pop Story. Yle identifies Carita ja Marianne among the performers in the surviving 1970 television series. (Yle.fi)
Raisio Music Library / Musasto. Gives the February 10, 1954 Helsinki birth date and identifies “Joki” / “Sua muistelen säälien” as Holmström’s first solo single, followed by the summer recording of the Wiik-produced We Are What We Do. (Musasto)
Edition Tilli / Finnish National Library. Edition Tilli supplies the full birth date and identifies Izumi Tateno as an early piano teacher; the National Library authority record confirms the full name Carita Elisabeth Holmström, Helsinki birthplace, and the Carita & Marianne association. (Edition Tilli)