Elize Ryd

Elize Ryd (born 15 October 1984) is a Swedish singer, dancer, composer and show artist, and is most famous for being the female vocalist for the melodic death/power metal band Amaranthe. She also gained some popularity prior to the band's inception by performing guest vocals for the symphonic metal band Kamelot both on tour and in the studio. She sings in the soprano range.

Early career
Elize started out her singing career when she recorded backing vocals for power metal band Falconer's third and fourth albums in 2003 and 2005 respectively. Some years later she met Jake E in a club in Gothenburg, who requested she record vocals for a song with his band Dreamland titled "Fade Away". Jake E later introduced her to Olof Mörck, who proposed a collaboration with his band Dragonland to which she agreed, and went on to record vocals for three songs on Dragonland's fourth album Astronomy. It was around this time that symphonic metal band Nightwish took interest in Elize as a replacement for their previous singer Tarja Turunen, although she was ultimately not chosen for the role. She has stated in an interview that this was because she had a lack of experience and was unfamiliar with the industry. After graduating from a 3 year education at Gothenburg Performing Arts School however, Olof and Jake invited her to join their new band Avalanche as the lead singer and composer, 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. 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 for it, announcing that they would be releasing a new album titled The Nexus on various dates in March 2013, starting with Japan on March 13. Later in 2013, Amaranthe released two videos for their singles "Burn With Me" and "Invincible."

Kamelot
Throughout 2011 and 2012, Elize 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 the 28th of September 2012 whilst supporting Nightwish's North American leg of the Imaginaerum World Tour with Kamelot, Elize 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 vocalist Anette Olzon was hospitalized.

Recent collaborations
Since Amaranthe's explosion in popularity, Elize has featured on songs by several different artists she had not previously collaborated with. In 2011 she had three notable collaborations that were all released commercially. These consisted of guest vocals for Swedish rock band Takida's fourth album The Burning Heart and Renegade Five's September 2011 EP Life Is Already Fading. Beside fellow Amaranthe vocalists Jake E. and Andreas Solveström, Elize once again featured on a Dragonland album - this time the band's fifth album Under the Grey Banner.

In 2012, Elize performed guest vocals on the debut single "Evolution" by the musical project Dreamstate, set up by Takida guitarist Tomas Wallin.

In 2013, Elize performed vocals in the album The Land of New Hope, from a new metal opera project by Timo Tolkki called Avalon, in which she is the main character. The album was released on May 17th 2013. She was also confirmed as one of the vocalists for the second album called Angels of the Apocalypse.

In the end of 2013 Elize took part in the Raskasta Joulua project incorporating the sound of metal to Christmas carols. She sang the song "Julen är här" as a duet with Tony Kakko from Sonata Arctica. She also joined the Raskasta Joulua-tour for the final gigs. During that visit in Finland she performed on Finnish national televion. There she sang Ave Maria together with Marco Hietala, the bassist from Nightwish.

Elize also performed vocals in the new Timo Tolkki's Avalon album called Angels of the Apocalypse, along with Simone Simons, Floor Jansen, Fabio Lione, etc., which was released on 16 May 2014.

She will be featured in the new Docker's Guild album called The Heisenberg Diaries - Book A: Sounds of Future Past. She will also be featured in the new Nergard album, a final part of the "Memorial for a Wish" saga. It is scheduled for release in late 2014. The album will also feature Nils K. (Pagan's Mind) and Tony Mills (ex-TNT, ex-Shy), as well as Ben Rodgers (Tellus Requiem) and Thomas Løseth (Tempo).

Singles

 * With Amaranthe
 * "Hunger" (2011)
 * "Rain" (2011)
 * "Amarathine" (2011)
 * "1.000.000" Lightyears (2012)
 * "The Nexus" (2013)
 * "Burn With Me" (2013)
 * "Invincible (2013)
 * With Kamelot
 * "Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife)" (2012)
 * With Timo Tolkki's Avalon
 * "Enshrined in My Memory" (2013)
 * With Dreamstate
 * "Evolution" (2012)

Albums

 * With Amaranthe
 * Leave Everything Behind (EP, 2009)
 * Amaranthe (2011)
 * The Nexus (2013)
 * With Kamelot
 * Silverthorn (2012)
 * With Timo Tolkki's Avalon
 * The Land of New Hope (2013)
 * Angels of the Apocalypse (2014)
 * With Raskasta Joulua
 * Raskasta Joulua (2013)
 * With Docker's Guild
 * The Heisenberg Diaries - Book A: Sounds of Future Past (upcoming)

Music Videos

 * With Amaranthe
 * "Hunger" (2011)
 * "Amaranthine" (2011)
 * "1.000.000 Lightyears" (2012)
 * "The Nexus" (2013)
 * "Burn With Me" (2013)
 * "Invincible" (2013)
 * With Kamelot
 * "Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife)" (2012)
 * With Timo Tolkki's Avalon
 * "Enshrined in My Memory" (2013)
 * With Dreamstate
 * "Evolution" (2012)