An artistic disposition runs in the family of Swedish singer Viktoria Tolstoy. Her great-great-grandfather was the legendary Russian novelist Leo Tolstoi. No wonder young Viktoria made an impact in Stockholm jazz clubs with leading Swedish musicians like Svante Thuresson and Putte Wickman. She recorded her first album in 1994, aged 20. Two years later, with the album För Älskad, she became an overnight pop sensation in Sweden. This prepared the ground for her collaboration with Esbjörn Svensson, who produced and wrote the songs for White Russian, the first Scandinavian album released by the legendary Blue Note label. Around that time Tolstoy also worked with Nils Landgren, and in 2003 she followed him and Svensson as an exclusive ACT-artist. Since then, she has established herself as one of the leading voices in jazz today. Crystal clear, dynamic, untamed and vibrating, but also down-to-earth - her voice is probably the most brilliant of all Scandinavian singers. If Viktoria Tolstoy sings a song, it is not simple interpretation; she shapes and marks it in her own way.
