The story of Star Queen begins on the third planet, in the Sol star system. The planet known to most intelligent life forms as the planet Earth. Here on this planet, in the city of Sofia, the capitol city of a country known as Bulgaria; Stella Tormanoff (aka the Star Queen) was born on the 8th of July in the year 1980. Stella's odyssey into the world of music began with a band called Triangle that she had with friend Vladimir Tanov during the period between 1997 and 1999. They produced an album containing 7 compositions including a disco version of Rainbow's "Can't Let You Go". The songs were co written by Stella and Vladimir, and arranged by Vladimir. Unfortunately they couldn't find a label to release this, and the project folded. Following this, Stella sang in a band called Thunderbird. Then there was the band Mystical in 2001, which sadly split up for they felt they had no future together. During this period however, the band did produce 2 high quality demos. The music scene in Bulgaria wasn't really the place where Stella could really do the kind of writing and music she aspired to, so she set her eyes abroad. She sent 5 demos of her best material out to various labels in a desperate attempt to find one to be able to help transfer her musical visions into reality. Despite not having a band, and only rough drafts for songs, she pressed forward bravely. Her answer was right around the corner... The answer came in about a month from the Lion Music label in Finland. Guitar virtuoso Lars Eric Matteson took great notice of her voice, and was mightily impressed with it. Impressed so much, that he wanted to produce her album! The beautiful thing about it, is that Stella had the freedom to write the lyrics, write the melodies, and even name the band! Another very important move from Mattsson was realizing that her visions would fit perfectly with the style of Thobjorn Englund. At this point, Thorbjorn's only band was the well respected Winterlong, but now he was being brought in to arrange Stella's music. The 3 of them kept in touch through mail, dicussing ideas for the upcoming project which was to be called Star Queen. Stella and Thorbjorn kept very close contact, and an alliance both musical and personal began to blossom. Both of had been through so much in order to make their musical dreams come true, not to mention discovering they much other things in common. They realized their answers, lie within each other. So to quote a line from an old Styx song they decided to "climb aboard the starship, we're headed for the sky" and to set the course to the heart of their dreams together. Thorbjorn went to Bulgaria to meet with her, and within a year Stella moved to Sweden to live with him. Star Queen was born... The Star Queen project (the album being titled "Faithbringer", the title track was inspired by producer Matteson, read about it HERE) that ensued, was done in a strange way because the participants in it were from different parts of Europe! Stella recorded her vocals in Vladmir's studio in Bulgaria, Thorbjorn recorded his guitars at his studio in Kalix, Sweden. Joining the project on bass, was Thorbjorn's bass player from Winterlong Erik Tornberg. The drums were performed by Tony Eriksson and were recorded at the Lion Music studio in Finland, and Greek keyboardist virtuoso Bob Katsonis recorded 8 solos for the album. Backing vocals on the album were performed by Bulgarian vocalists - Kalina Doncheva and Borislav Mengov. Finally Matteson played the basic keyboards, and mixed and mastered the album. The final touch was the album cover painted by noted artist Eric Philippe (best known for his work with Rhapsody and Gamma Ray.) The result was a very strong debut from Star Queen. Unfortunately due to the international line up used on the album, a tour for this was impossible. That being said, this wasn't intended as a studio only project and Stella and Thorbjorn really are working hard to show they can deliver the goods live. So the band's lineup has been solidified by Erik's decision to join Star Queen on rhythm guitar, and the addition of 2 excellent musicians in bassist Peter Uven and drummer Mats Holma. Both of these new musicians are extremely dedicated to their craft, and also bring a pleasent attitude to the band by being great people as well. The band are now hard at work on their sophomore effort which is to be titled "Your True Self", which promises to be even more progressive, symphonic, and gothic than the debut, with Thorbjorn adding some really heavy guitar work. To sum up Star Queen, one can say they are a very honest and sincere band. You won't find a phony note or phony word anywhere! Stella says things like "Never surrender!', 'No religion but dreams...!', 'Be your true self'... it is written in my lyrics!", you can really believe her! She has come through the hard times, and remains very real and knows how things really are. A total lack of falseness, and a total dedication to the music they create are 2 things that set Star Queen apart from the others. Just listen with your ears, and open up your mind. Good things await the ones who will receive it! -D.H. Pierce - 2003