Margareta Svensson Riggs | |
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![]() Svensson Riggs in Los Angeles, September 2015 | |
Born | Ulla Margareta Elisabeth Svensson 22 April 1968 Varberg, Sweden |
Occupation(s) | Singer, pianist, songwriter, actress, voice teacher, vocal coach, television personality |
Years active | 1986–present |
Partner | |
Children | 1 |
Margareta Svensson Riggs (born Ulla Margareta Elisabeth Svensson; 22 April 1968) [1] is a Swedish singer, pianist, songwriter, actress, voice teacher, vocal coach and television personality. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Already as a five-year-old, Svensson performed her first public performance at a Red Cross Christmas party, and soon thereafter she went with her mother, Inga-Lill Svensson, a registered nurse, to sing for the sick and elderly at the local hospital. With an extensive after-school music program and busy performing schedule, Svensson went on to study dance at Harvard University, and acting at Calle Flygare Teaterskola, Stockholm, Sweden, acting, musical theater, and film and television at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU.
At 18, Svensson boarded Portuguese cruise ship MS Funchal as a singer-pianist and a headliner, and from there on she performed throughout Sweden and Europe. While playing Gothia Towers in Gothenburg, Frank Sinatra was performing next-door at Scandinavium. After the concert the Sinatra band came to see Svensson. Sinatra-drummer, Gregg Field, liked Svensson's original music and invited her to come to Los Angeles to record.
As a singer-pianist Margareta Svensson has opened five casino resorts in Las Vegas. National, daily, Swedish newspaper Expressen wrote "Jackpot in Las Vegas". [7] In 1999, Svensson opened Mandalay Bay alongside Bob Dylan and Luciano Pavarotti, [8] The Venetian Las Vegas where she had her own act at La Scena, The Resort at Summerlin (now known as JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort and Spa,) in the year 2000 The Aladdin (now known as Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino) and in 2005 Steve Wynn recruited her to open Wynn Las Vegas. She has held engagements at numerous other Las Vegas casinos and resorts, including MGM Grand Las Vegas, Bellagio, The Mirage, Treasure Island Hotel and Casino, Monte Carlo Resort and Casino, Bally's Las Vegas and Encore Las Vegas. [5]
Svensson has also performed and held resident engagements at among other places The Grand Hotel Stockholm, [9] [10] [11] Sweden, The Dorchester, [12] London, UK, The Beverly Hills Hotel Polo Lounge, [13] The Beverly Wilshire Hotel, and Montage Beverly Hills where she was responsible for all music, and she has traveled the world both as a headliner as well as a piano-singer, and performed for many superstars, including Sir Paul McCartney, [14] Whoopi Goldberg, Stevie Wonder, Chevy Chase, Michael Bolton, B. B. King, [15] Sir Tom Jones [16] and Kiss and world leaders like Margaret Thatcher, to name a few. [17]
She continues to write, record and perform her original music. [18] [19]
Her extensive career as a singer-pianist and performer, led to a lead on the fifth season of Svenska Hollywoodfruar broadcast on TV3 Sweden. Season 5 had the highest ratings of the 13 seasons [20] [21] and season 5 is claimed to have saved the network at the time. [22] Svenska Hollywoodfruar features Svensson both as a singer, pianist, performer, songwriter and recording artist, [23] [24] as well as a vocal coach. [25]
In 2019, Svensson Riggs was one of the 50 international expert judges on the new global talent competition series The World's Best from reality TV heavyweights Mark Burnett and Mike Darnell, on CBS. Headlining was James Corden as host, and Drew Barrymore, RuPaul and Faith Hill as American judges. "The Wall of the World" panel consisted of noteworthy names from all realms of entertainment. She is the first Swede to be featured as a judge on an American reality talent show. [6] [26]
Margareta Svensson Riggs' husband, Seth Riggs, has trained her not only as a singer, but also as a teacher to teach his technique, the patented and trademarked Speech Level Singing technique. Since 2013 on, the couple have deepened and expanded the Svensson Riggs vocal technique and together they conduct vocal workshops and master classes around the world, as well as teach private lessons where many of their clients are a Who's Who of legendary artists, such as Stevie Wonder, Michael Bolton, Brian Wilson and M.Shadows [27] [28] [29] [30] [31]
Svensson Riggs is married to American vocal coach Seth Riggs, [32] known for clients such as Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Stevie Wonder, Madonna, Ray Charles, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Natalie Cole. [33] The two met when Margareta Svensson came to Seth Riggs for singing lessons in the mid-1990s. In 2008, they became a couple and in 2012, they married and their daughter Samantha was born. [34] [35] [36]
In 2013 Svensson read about Angelina Jolie having tested positive for BRCA1, a gene mutation that drastically increases the risk of ovarian- and breast cancer, and Jolie's mother having died from ovarian cancer. Svensson's own mother, Inga-Lill Svensson, had also died from ovarian cancer, and Svensson asked to be tested for BRCA. Svensson tested positive for BRCA1 and while waiting for preventive surgery, an MRI revealed early stage breast cancer. Well and healthy, she shared her story in 2015 in hopes to pass on the gift of helping to yet others at risk. [37] [38] [39]
Stephen Alan Wynn is an American real estate developer and art collector. He was known for his involvement in the luxury casino and hotel industry, prior to being forced to step down. Early in his career he oversaw the construction and operation of several notable Las Vegas and Atlantic City hotels, including the Golden Nugget, the Golden Nugget Atlantic City, The Mirage, Treasure Island, the Bellagio, and Beau Rivage in Mississippi, and he played a pivotal role in the resurgence and expansion of the Las Vegas Strip in the 1990s. In 2000, Wynn sold his company, Mirage Resorts, to MGM Grand Inc., resulting in the formation of MGM Mirage. Wynn later took his company Wynn Resorts public in an initial public offering and was Wynn Resorts' CEO and Chairman of the Board until February 6, 2018, when he announced his resignation. He is a prominent donor to the Republican Party and was the finance chair of the Republican National Committee from January 2017 to January 2018, when he resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations.
The Sands Hotel and Casino was a historic American hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States, that operated from 1952 to 1996. Designed by architect Wayne McAllister, with a prominent 56-foot (17 m) high sign, the Sands was the seventh resort to open on the Strip. During its heyday, it hosted many famous entertainers of the day, most notably the Rat Pack and Jerry Lewis.
The Desert Inn, also known as the D.I., was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, which operated from April 24, 1950, to August 28, 2000. Designed by architect Hugh Taylor and interior design by Jac Lessman, it was the fifth resort to open on the Strip, the first four being El Rancho Vegas, The New Frontier, Flamingo, and the El Rancho. It was situated between Desert Inn Road and Sands Avenue.
Lookin’ to Get Out is a 1982 American comedy film, directed by Hal Ashby and written by Al Schwartz and Jon Voight, who also stars. The film also stars Ann-Margret and Burt Young. Voight's daughter, Angelina Jolie, then seven years old, makes her acting debut.
The Moulin Rouge Hotel was a hotel and casino in West Las Vegas, Nevada, that was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1992. Although its peak operation lasted only six months in the second half of 1955, it was the first desegregated hotel casino and was popular with many of the Black entertainers of the time, who would entertain at the other hotels and casinos and stay at the Moulin Rouge.
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Seth Riggs is an American singer, actor, and vocal coach. He has created the vocal technique "Speech Level Singing", and has worked with performers such as Prince, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, José José, Ray Charles, Olivia Newton-John, Madonna, Johnny Hallyday, Sohyang, AGNEZ MO, Bette Midler, Julio Iglesias and Barbra Streisand.
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