Lena Maria Klingvall, from Stockholm, Sweden, was 20 years old when she became known to the Swedish TV-viewers through the documentary called "Goal in Sight". In April -89 the program was presented by HRH Silvia Bernadotte, Queen of Sweden, at a convention for handicapped in Washington, DC. It was also shown to George and Barbara Bush and an excerpt was shown on "Good Morning America". At the annual "Christoval", a Dutch film festival, the documentary was elected 1st prize winner by the festival jury as well as by the audience. In Sweden it was elected best TV-show of the week.
Lena Maria was born 1968 without arms and with only one healthy leg, the other one half developed. She walks with an artificial leg. The cause of the disability is unknown.
Lena Maria learned how to swim when she was only three years old. At age 18, she entered the National Swedish Games where she won three silver medals making her a star-athlete over night and earning her a place on the national team. Many competitions followed. Lena Maria set two national records in the 25-meter and 50-meter butterfly events. The highlight of her swimming career was the Paralympic Games-88 in Seoul, South Korea.
1987-1991 Lena Maria studied at The Royal University College of Music in Stockholm with one of Sweden's most talented artists Lena Ericsson as a singing teacher. Since her examination Lena Maria has been touring as a singer in Sweden as well as abroad. She repertoire is jazz, pop, gospel as well as classic. She has made concert tours to USA, Canada, Russia, Latvia, Belarus, Norway, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. But in Japan is where she is most popular. Through the 35 concert tours with over 200 concerts, TV, radio and media Lena Maria has attract attention and about 80% of the Japanese people has in some way heard of her, especially through the performance at the opening ceremony at the Paralympic Games in Nagano -98.
Lena Maria has released CDs all over the world. The CDs has a miscellaneous repertoire and some of the songs Lena Maria has composed herself. During the years 1999 to 2003 Universal Music in Japan released five CDs called "Heartfilled", "In Your Delight" and a mini Christmas CD "Season Of Joy", "Every Little Note" and "Amazing Grace".
In addition to her singing Lena Maria is a scholarship student with Mouth and Foot Painting Artist since -90. She paints in aquarelle and acryllic and oil. Lena Maria is also engaged in different occasions to talk about her own situation and her experiences about human dignity, identity and life quality.
In October -96 Libris Media published and presented at the annual book fair in Sweden, a book about Lena Maria's life that she during the spring the same year wrote herself. The book ..Foot-Notes.. is also published in Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Germany, France, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Russia and England and USA. Lena Maria's second book called ..Happy Days.. is published in Japanese, Korean and Chinese.
Lena Maria was during spring -97 and fall -98 host for a music show in the Swedish television. During spring -05 she received an Honorary Citizenship of Taiwan.
