# Maria Arredondo

Maria Sødal Arredondo (born 6 July 1985 in Vennesla, Norway) is a Norwegian pop singer. Her surname Arredondo comes from her Chilean stepfather.

## Career

In March 2003, Arredondo released her first album, the self-titled Maria Arredondo by Universal Music Norway. The album was a success in Norway, attaining the highest possible scores from a Norwegian newspaper, VG.
In November 2004, Arredondo released her second album, Not Going Under. This was the first album to have videos for the singles, as Arredondo did not produce any videos for her first album.
Arredondo released a Christmas album, Min Jul with some tracks produced and arranged by Jon Lord of Deep Purple). The track "On Christmas Day" was released as a single. Arredondo's three albums have combined sales of over 150,000.
Arredondo was among the contributors to the song "That Day", along with singers Marit Larsen and Marion Raven, as both members of the pop duo M2M.
On 12 November 2007, she released her fourth album For a Moment. The first single from this album, "Brief and Beautiful" became a major hit throughout the fall. "Brief and Beautiful" was written by Hanne Sørvaag and Harry Sommerdahl, and a Spanish-language adaptation of this song called "Fue para los dos" was released earlier in 2007 by Spanish singer Edurne.
Her fourth album was met with mixed reviews. On the album, "Even when you're with me" is a cover of the Spanish singer Chenoa's "Me Enamoro Del Dolor", and "If You Could Only See Me" was originally recorded by another Norwegian artist called Ina.
Arredondo entered the qualifying rounds of the Melodi Grand Prix 2010 (the Norwegian selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest) on 16 January 2010 and was voted through to the national final, with the song "The Touch", which is written by Rolf Løvland.
Today, Maria works (beside her singing career) 20% in Heggedal church, Asker.
In July 2014, Maria took the leading female role in a musical play titled "Kober Mystery". In November, the planned "Sound Of Music in Concert" was staged for two shows, also starring Maria.

## Musical style

Her musical style is a mixture of pop and dream pop very similar to artists such as M2M, Natalie Imbruglia, Michelle Branch, Jewel, and The Cranberries.

## Discography
### Studio albums

| Year | Album | Chart positions | Certification |
| Year | Album | VG-lista | Certification |
| 2003 | Maria Arredondo | 2 | Platinum |
| 2004 | Not Going Under | 7 | Platinum |
| 2005 | Min Jul (My Christmas) | 6 | Platinum |
| 2007 | For a Moment | 12 | |
| 2008 | Sound Of Musicals | 28 | |
| 2013 | Heime Nå (At Home Now) | 12 | |

### Singles

/ : The singles were only released as radio single. —: The singles did not enter the charts
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Chart Positions | Album |
| Year | Single | VG-lista | Hit40 | Album |
| 2002 | "Can Let Go" | — | 3 | Maria Arredondo |
| 2002 | "Just A Little Heartache" | 10 | 2 | Maria Arredondo |
| 2003 | "In Love with an Angel" | 1 | 1 | Maria Arredondo |
| 2003 | "Hardly Hurts at All" | 5 | 2 | Maria Arredondo |
| 2003 | "A Thousand Nights" | — | — | Maria Arredondo |
| 2003 | "Julekveldsvise" (with Winta, Sølvgut) | — | — | Nå Har Vi Vaske Golvet |
| 2004 | "Mad Summer" | 3 | 2 | Not Going Under |
| 2004 | "Burning" | — | 1 | Not Going Under |
| 2005 | "Cross Every River" | — | — | Not Going Under |
| 2005 | "Himmel På Jord" | — | 11 | Min Jul |
| 2006 | "On Christmas Day" | 4 | — | For A Moment |
| 2007 | "Brief and Beautiful" | 4 | 1 | For A Moment |
| 2007 | "Kyrie Eleison" | — | — | For A Moment |
| 2010 | "The Touch" | — | — | Melodi Grand Prix 2010 |
| 2013 | "Det Jeg Har Gitt Fra Meg" | — | — | Heime Nå |
| 2013 | "Heime Nå" | — | — | Heime Nå |
| 2014 | "Antenna" | — | — | non-album single |

### Features

| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Chart Positions | Album |
| Year | Single | VG-lista | Airplay | Album |
| 2009 | Ett sår i min själ (with Jan Johansen) | — | — | Minnen |
| 2011 | Kimer i klokker (with Torstein Sødal) | — | — | Jul i sør |