06/05/08
Text: Dawn Ferguson
What happens when a music-making mogul meets the shy girl next-door, notices her made-for-disco pop voice while singing Christmas carols, and asks her to sing on a track he wrote? A few singles later and Johan Agebjörn can only attest: his super-shy anonymous counterpart, Sally Shapiro (only a pseudonym), has now morphed into an international hit—nominated for two Plug awards back in March, including “Female Artist of the Year” and “Electronic/Dance Album of the Year”—a “Swedish disco princess” born literally over night, yet comfortably maintaining her own anonymity by day.
Of her widespread success Shapiro explains, “Well it’s very flattering and inspiring of course. And I am more strongly considering doing some live performances now than a year ago. And maybe we will make more records. But I think it will remain a hobby. I have a normal life with a normal job aside from this, and people don’t recognize me in the streets as Sally Shapiro – I feel quite normal, I don’t feel famous.”
Despite the fact that all of Shapiro’s songs (that aren’t covers) are both written and produced by Agebjörn, and that “Sally” refuses to perform live or even record solo vocals in the presence of her musical counterpart, she is still the face that takes on the spotlight. She confesses, “While Johan composes and produces my input is limited to singing and giving feedback, sometimes suggesting lyrical themes. But I do have veto power, which I frequently use. Some tracks would have sounded very different without my feedback I think.” Agebjörn elaborates, “We could have chosen a group name to draw attention to both of us, but we chose to front Sally because that’s how it was most often done in the 80s, and we wanted to stay close to that tradition to make it more authentic, since we’re so inspired by 80s disco music.”
The duo can’t help but to keep pushing on strong, just back home from a short North American DJ tour in early spring. “It’s fantastic how we have received feedback from so many countries,” Agebjörn remarks. “We have been released on labels in German and English-speaking countries so that’s where we have received most of the feedback besides Sweden. But also a bit from France, Benelux, Spain, Italy and Latin America which is great.”
Despite Shapiro’s super-shyness, Agebjörn knows there is much more to the disco princess than appearance and performance. “Sure, it can be difficult. Sometimes I need to convince her into singing on a track or answering interview questions. But in a way I also like that she is, like you say, different. If she gets a bad review she doesn’t care because she hardly even reads the reviews unless I show them to her. She logs into her MySpace, but that’s all, unless I ask her for something.”
Perhaps Shapiro is bringing more to America than just some top disco hits or sweet nostalgia for a short lived 80s movement, but also a message that speaks to the hype of things: beneath the image and the excitement of musical icons lie real people, real identities. To maintain some semblance of anonymity is to retain identity, genuineness, and even the impossible notion of normality. Either way, Shapiro admits she is much more self-confident now than in the beginning. Things change: maybe her fans across the world will be hearing more from Sally Shapiro sooner than they thought.
