WHERE ARE THEY NOW? September

As September, she won’t cry for you, as Petra Marklund, she continues to be an inferno.

September was the stage name of Swedish singer, Petra Marklund (b.1984), and for a brief period in the mid 2000’s, she ruled the dance and singles charts around the world, before settling back to enjoying success in her home country under her real name. Having been born in September and being called the ‘September child’ by her family, she adopted this when she began recording at the age of 12. She was signed officially in 1998 and released her debut EP, “Teen Queen”, in 2000, aged 15. This was a minor success at home. Shortly afterwards, she recorded the song, “La La La (Never Give It Up)”, which became popular in Swedish nightclubs and it was only after she had finished school that Stockholm Records picked it up and released it commercially.

“La La La (Never Give It Up)” would reach No.8 on the Swedish singles chart and was the start of a top ten domination that would last for the next nine years. She repeated this success with “We Can Do It” at the end of 2003 before launching her self-titled debut album in the early months of 2004. A third successive top ten hit, “September All Over”, followed that Spring before the artist known as began work on her follow up. Her clubland success was never more apparent than with her second album, “In Orbit” and this was epitomised by the lead single, “Satellites”, which went top five at home and would also be the song the broke her internationally, topping the chart in Spain and Poland and making No.8 on the US dance chart.

Prior to the release of “In Orbit”, September released the European hit, “Looking For Love”. “In Orbit” would go on to receive Gold certifications in a number of countries throughout Europe, but not before the third and biggest single of all, “Cry For You”, arrived in late 2006. The song would make the top ten in over fifteen countries including the UK (No.5) and would top the US dance chart, whilst reaching No.74 on the singles chart Stateside, where it sold over a million copies, in 2008. By this time, September had recorded and released her third album, “Dancing Shoes”, back home and achieved two further top five hit with “Can’t Get Over” and “Until I Die”, the former providing her with a third US dance chart entry and a second UK singles chart hit, while the album itself would reach No.12 in Sweden.

September covered a 1998 rap song, “Mikrofonkåt” (Microphone Horny) and retitled it “Me And My Microphone” in 2010 as the lead single from her fourth studio album and took it to the top of the chart. The album, “Love CPR”, was her biggest success of all, going to number one and being certified double Platinum and producing two further top ten hits, “Kärlekens tunga” and “Baksmälla”, along with three more singles throughout 2011 and into 2012. It was on this high that Marklund ‘retired’ September and began a new career under her birth name. Petra launched this second phase where the last one had finished, at the top of the charts, with her ‘debut’ album, “Inferno” with the lead single, “Händerna mot himlen” (Hands To The Sky) peaking at No.2. Although her success was now confined to her home country, Petra has continued to release albums and singles from that day to this.

Her second album, “Ensam inte stark” (Alone Not Strong) reached No.11 in 2015, while a hand full of tracks were released throughout 2020 in support of her second EP, “Maneter” (Jellyfish), her career now soley focusing on native tongue written and performed songs. 2021 similarly saw her release the album “Frimärken” (Stamps).