Hanna Elise Isabell Maj Höstblomma Ryd (born 15 October 1984), known professionally as Elize Ryd (), is a Swedish singer, best known as one of the three vocalists and co-lyricist in the heavy metal band Amaranthe. She also gained some popularity prior to the band's inception by performing guest vocals for the symphonic power metal band Kamelot, both on tour and in the studio. She sings in the soprano range.
Early life
Hanna Elise Isabell Maj Höstblomma Ryd was born in Värnamo on 15 October 1984, the daughter of a Swedish father and a Finnish mother, both of whom were musicians. She performed in public for the first time when she was four years old. During her childhood, she was influenced by everything from Walt Disney to heavy metal. At the age of 13, she attended and won a 1998 talent show in Gothenburg as the youngest participant. The first prize was a record deal, but since she did not meet the minimum of age of 15, she was ineligible to receive the prize. She received a scholarship for the most promising singer and a spot in a musical called Brödupploppet that was played 76 times at Exercishuset in Gothenburg. She received another scholarship award in 2003, when she graduated from high school.
Career
Early career
After graduating from a three-year education at a performing arts school, Ryd started her professional singing career as a cabaret performer at the Cabaret Lorensberg in Gothenburg. She also did songs for various local bands such as Falconer. When she met Joacim "Jake E" Lundberg in a club in Gothenburg, he requested that she record vocals for a song with his band Dreamland, titled "Fade Away". Lundberg later introduced her to Olof Mörck, who proposed a collaboration with his band Dragonland, to which she agreed. It was around this time that symphonic metal band Nightwish took interest in Ryd as a replacement for their previous singer Tarja Turunen, although she was ultimately not chosen for the role. At the same time, she, Mörck, and Lundberg talked about starting their own band with her as a lead singer and composer. The band was named Avalanche, which was later renamed to Amaranthe for legal reasons.
Amaranthe
In early 2009, Amaranthe released their debut EP, Leave Everything Behind. In early 2011, they released their first two singles, "Hunger" and "Rain" before releasing their debut album Amaranthe, which reached a peak position of 35th on Swedish charts and 16th on Finnish Charts. With this album, the band released two music videos: one for the aforementioned song "Hunger" and another for the song "Amaranthine". Both were directed by Patric Ullaeus for Revolver Films. There was also a video shot for "1.000.000 Lightyears", the fourth single from their debut album.
On January 25, 2013, Amaranthe released a new single titled "The Nexus" and a music video on 13 March. Amaranthe's second album, The Nexus, was released in March 2013. Later in 2013, Amaranthe released two videos for their singles "Burn with Me" and "Invincible."
Amaranthe released a new single and video for "Drop-dead cynical" in September 2014. Their third album, Massive Addictive, was released on October 21, 2014, as well as two more videos for "Digital World" and "True" and a lyric video for "Trinity".
A special compilation Breaking Point - B-sides 2011-2015 was released on October 30, 2015.
Amaranthe released their fourth album Maximalism in October 2016, with "That Song" as the lead single.
Their fifth album Helix was released in October 2018, with "365" as the first single.
Manifest is their sixth album, which was released in October 2020 via Nuclear Blast. The first single "Viral" was released on June 26, 2020.
Kamelot
Throughout 2011 and 2012, Ryd joined Kamelot on stage as one of their primary touring vocalists, and recorded guest vocals on three tracks for Kamelot's tenth album Silverthorn, and was featured in one music video.
On September 28, 2012, whilst supporting Nightwish's North American leg of the Imaginaerum World Tour with Kamelot, Ryd and fellow Kamelot touring vocalist Alissa White-Gluz of The Agonist joined symphonic metal band Nightwish for a one-time concert in Denver when their lead vocalist Anette Olzon was hospitalized.
In September 2018, Ryd was part of the DVD recording of "I Am The Empire Live From The 013", released on August 14, 2020.