Swingfly

Swingfly
Background information
BornNew York City, New York, US
OriginStockholm, Sweden
Genres
Occupations
  • Rapper
  • singer
Years active1991–present
Labels

Ricardo DaSilva II, better known by his stage name Swingfly, is an American–Swedish naturalised rapper and singer. He is also known by other aliases like Swing-Fly, Richie Pasta and Swing. He started lending his vocal talents to other artists' records, but has also developed also a solo career. He also appeared in Melodifestivalen 2011 with "Me and My Drum", finishing fifth. It became his most successful single, reaching the No. 2 position on the Swedish Singles Chart.[1]

Early career

Ricardo DaSilva II was born in New York. He lived in Trinidad and Tobago and Panama before relocating to Stockholm, Sweden in 1991.[2] In Stockholm, he became involved in the emerging hip hop scene and joined the Timebomb collective, together with producer Christian Falk, rapper ADL, and DJ Sleepy among others. Three singles were released, including Swingfly's "Smoke 'em Swing", a jazzy number produced by Christian Falk.[3] A series of albums was planned but the record label bailed out.

Under the name "Swing", he teamed up with Dr. Alban in 1995 and recorded the Euro-disco hit "Sweet Dreams", featuring Dr. Alban (a cover of the classic Eurythmics song), which peaked at No. 12 in Sweden.[4] This took him into the pop charts in a number of European countries, including the Netherlands, where the single peaked at No. 44.[4]

In 1996, Swingfly appeared on several tracks of ADL's "Absent Minded" project. Due to a small hit via a Hugo Boss commercial, "Absent Minded" hit the road supporting the Fugees European tour in 1996.[5] Swingfly was featured on several tracks on all three albums with soul-jazz collective Blacknuss All-Stars (later known as Blacknuss), as well as being a frequent contributor to their live shows around Europe and the UK.[6]

He achieved his biggest success through a collaboration with the electro/dub/punk trio Teddybears on their 2004 single "Hey Boy".[7] This song became one of the most played tracks on Swedish radio that summer. The song was listed for 21 weeks on the Sweden Singles Top 60 and peaked at #13.[8] Swingfly has since toured Sweden, Europe and the US with Teddybears and their spin-off project Teddybears STHLM Soundsystem.[9]

Solo career

Swingfly (2010)

Swingfly landed a record deal with the largely rock oriented label Dolores Recordings. The label had been responsible for launching the international careers of several Swedish-based artists, such as Caesars, The Soundtrack of Our Lives and I'm From Barcelona. Through Dolores, he released a few singles, and an album was planned for 2006 but was stalled. The singles he released had relative success in the Scandinavian charts.[10] A reworked version of the album was planned to be released in 2008 featuring production from RamPac, Klas Åhlund of Teddybears fame, Kleerup, Rampac and Thomas Rusiak with a rock and punk flavour and electronica influences. This was shelved after his arrest on drug charges.[11] The album God bless the IRS finally came out on 29 April 2009.[12]

Melodifestivalen 2011

He participated in Melodifestivalen 2011 with the song "Me and My Drum". The song prominently featured the vocals of Christoffer Hiding but without crediting him specifically in the competition credits. Swingfly placed second in the first semi-final, and advanced to the final, where he placed fifth overall.[13]

Despite failing to win, the song gained great popularity and was released as a single reaching #2 on Sverigetopplistan, the official Swedish Singles Chart.[14]

Melodifestivalen 2016

Swingfly participated in Melodifestivalen 2016 with the song "You Carved Your name" featuring Helena Gutarra. The song written by Joakim Åhlund and Andreas Kleerup was performed on the third semi-final held on 20 February 2016 in Norrköping, but failed to qualify to the finals.

  • Swingfly has contributed rap vocals on many artists' songs, including Dr. Alban, Taro, Blacknuss, Robyn, Freddie Cruger,[15] Absent Minded, Looptroop, Ken, Lutricia McNeal and Teddybears.
  • The track "Singing That Melody" came out in the summer of 2008. One year before its European release, Korean artist Tony An recorded a Korean language cover of the song. This has led to a confusion as to whose version is the original. "Singing That Melody" was written by Ramstrom/Magnusson/Swingfly/Beal.
  • His songs have been featured in episodes of Private Practice and One Tree Hill; telecasts from NASCAR, Fox Sports, ESPN, and NFL; and the video game FIFA Street 2.[16]
  • His songs have been used in ads for T.G.I. Friday's, Captain Morgan and Cingular Wireless, and in Tic Tac’s East European commercials.[17][18]
  • Swingfly was referenced in the lyrics for the song Robert Johnsson by Swedish indie duo Junior Brielle in the spring of 2023. The groups singer accused the rapper of having borrowed one thousand Swedish Kronor from him in 2015 in exchange for playing the then unsigned duos demos for famous record producers. According to the Junior Brielle song the rapper have not returned calls or the one thousand kronor to this day. As the song was a minor hit on Swedish radio the songs lyrics sparked a bit of debate in Swedish media, mostly propelled by the music journalist Fredrik Strage. [19]

Discography

Albums

Year Album Peak positions Album
SWE
[20]
2009 God Bless the IRS  –
No.TitleLength
1."Winner"3:28
2."Singing That Melody"3:03
3."Touch and Go"3:21
4."Hey Boy"3:43
5."Promise You"3:49
6."Let You Go"3:18
7."Time After Time"3:04
8."Ups and Downs"3:21
9."Save the Trees"3:01
10."Something's Got Me Started"2:37
11."Go to Hell"3:25
12."Mothers Day"2:47
2011 Awesomeness - An Introduction to Swingfly 12
No.TitleLength
1."Me and My Drum"3:06
2."Rag to Riches"3:47
3."Singing That Melody"3:04
4."Touch and Go"3:21
5."Save the Trees"3:00
6."Little Did I Know"3:56
7."Promise You"3:51
8."Something's Got Me Started"2:38
9."Winner"3:29
10."Let You Go"3:20

Singles

As lead artist

Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album
SWE
[20] 		NLD
[21]
"Smoke 'em Swing" 1991 — — Non-album singles
"Timebomb" — —
"Sweet Dreams"
(featuring Dr. Alban) 		1995 12 44
"Street Life"
(featuring Lutricia McNeal) 		1997 46 —
"S.W.I.N.G - Fly" 2000 — —
"Come Get It"
(featuring 8-Off Agallah & AYO) 		2002 — —
"It's Alright"
(featuring Dappa Don) 		— —
"Something's Got Me Started" 2006 22 — God Bless the IRS
"Save the Trees" — —
"Singing That Melody" 2008 12 —
"Winner" — —
"Touch and Go" 2009 45 —
"Me and My Drum"
(featuring Christoffer Hiding) 		2011 2 — Awesomeness - An Introduction to Swingfly
"Little Did I Know"
(featuring Pauline and Christoffer Hiding) 		— —
"God Damn Beautiful" 2013 — — Non-album single
"You Carved Your Name"
(featuring Helena Gutarra) 		2016 75 — TBA
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album
SWE
[20]
"Hard Copy" / "Safe Sex"
(Twin Tower Records featuring Swingfly) 		1991 — Non-album singles
"Hey Boy"
(Teddybears STHLM featuring Swingfly) 		2004 13
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

References

  1. ^ "Swingfly: Me and My Drum (Single)". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  2. ^ Dolores Recordings: DaSilva biography
  3. ^ Majestic Flow: TIMEBOMB Archived 2011-07-08 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b "Swing Feat. Dr. Alban (Single)". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  5. ^ hd.se - Hajpad och hemlig veteran (in Swedish)
  6. ^ «Planet Of Hits» // Artists // Blacknuss
  7. ^ Teddybears - Home
  8. ^ Teddybears Sthlm and Swing Fly - Hey Boy - Music Charts
  9. ^ Amplifier Magazine: TEDDYBEARS (LIVE)
  10. ^ aCharts.us: Swing Fly - Music Charts
  11. ^ Realtid: Fängelse för Sanna Bråding (in Swedish)
  12. ^ Refrängstark elektrohiphop av Swingfly (in Swedish)
  13. ^ Siim, Jarmo (2010-10-07). "First four entries for Sweden announced". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 2010-10-07.
  14. ^ [SwedishCharts.com Swingfly - "Me and My Drum" page]
  15. ^ inthemix | Features | Freddie Cruger: A better dancer than Fred Astaire?
  16. ^ HEXUS.gaming - Press Release :: Fifa Street 2's International soundtrack : Page - 1/1
  17. ^ Commercial Break / Listeria: Ten Commercials I’ll Be Glad Not to Have Rammed Down My Throat Anymore « Intensities in Ten Suburbs
  18. ^ SMFF | Swedish Music Publishers Association | December 2005
  19. ^ "Fredrik Strage: Mest lyssnat på Spotify säger inte mycket om vilken musik som överlever bruset". 12 May 2023.
  20. ^ a b c "Swingfly discography". swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  21. ^ "Swing discography". sutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 December 2013.