Die Happy
Die Happy is a German alternative rock band from Ulm. The band’s name in English extreme slang means simultaneous neck and leg fracture. Critics determine their musical style as popcore: a mixture of and pop and rock. Despite the fact that the band is from Germany, the most of the songs are in English. The band was founded in 1993 by Marta Jandová, a singer from Czech Republic and Thorsten Mewes. Thorsten founded the band, but there was no singer. In Prague he met Marta, who was previously a foreign-exchange student, and took her with him to Germany. She thought it would be a good chance to learn German.
This step changed her life completely and she became a singer of the band. At first, it was just a hobby, but over time it turned into something more. The first four tracks were recorded in the home studio of Martha’s father, which was located in Prague. In 1994, EP Better Than Nothing was released in 500 copies, with the flower on the cover, which was painted by Marta. In 1996 the album titled Dirty Flowers was released. It was available only in the Czech Republic. The band played everywhere, they recorded their songs in the studio, rehearsed from 5 to 6 times a day and after a while they received a contract from one of the largest recording companies. But the contract with Epic wasn’t signed, but the band did not despair and continued to work hard. In 1998, Die Happy became one of the first bands of the project Bandpool – the predecessor of Popakademie. In the same year, Die Happy won a competition of young rock talents in Baden (Baden Württemberg rockt). On December 10, 1999, in Munich, Die Happy signs the first official contract with BMG. After that, the dreams of the band came true. From these days they could to devote their time not only in music, but also in shooting clips, photo sessions and interviews, and of course on live performances.
The big boost in their career was provided by single Supersonic Speed, which was released in 2000. He entered the Top 50 charts of the German singles and the band received the award as Best Newcomer of the Year. Having settled by then in Sweden, in 2003 Die Happy made a real breakthrough with the album The Weight Of The Circumstances. They went to Los Angeles to record this album together with the American production company The Matrix. However, the finishing touches to the album were done in Denmark together with producer Ralf Kwick, with whom the band worked before.
In addition, Marta is known for her duets with such bands as Apocalyptica, In Extremo, Dog Eat Dog.
Also Marta played in various musicals, such as «Mona Lisa» (as Margherita Amadori, Mona Lisa) and «Der Baron von Münchhausen» (playing the role of Evelína).