We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Caroline Lekström a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Caroline, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I grew up in a small village surrounded by lakes and forests in Sweden. 2 hours south of Stockholm, it was still close enough to the bigger cities and opportunities to pursue my singing dreams.

I was always a loud tomboy that had to be centre of attention…in my family, on the dressage arena with my borrowed pony Kirando, in the local news paper, in school, on the land hockey field with the boys… I always felt more comfortable in that position and have always pursued it. My parents let me! They never shushed me or asked me to tone it down. As a parent of 2 teenage boys I understand now, how beautiful it really was, for my parents to allow me to explore my identity…including my speaking voice, my opinions, my (often) crazy clothing style and of course…my singing voice.

My parents brought us up in a super normal middle class home. My dad played guitar as a teenager but never got serious about it so I think I sort of lived out a secret dream of his. Never in a pushy way, he just really encouraged me to perform solo whenever there was an opportunity.

My parents bought me a CD for Christmas when I was 12. It had 5 backing tracks and that’s how it started. The year after I applied to a local singing contest at the mall and ended in seconds place. My dad started searching for national competitions and the two of us started travelling across Sweden to compete. My mum and sisters all came to support me at some of these events but it really became a thing I did with my dad. Neither mum or dad told me what to do or what to sing. They were just there for me, driving me, making sure I was fed and rested. Hugging me when I needed support after a loss or a no at an audition and celebrating my wins.

When I was 17/18yrs old I applied for Fame Factory, a reality music show in Sweden, Dad came with me to a city a few hours away from Krokek. We left at 3.30am, queued for hours and hours, only to have the door shut in our faces and told they were at capacity and for us to return later in the day. I got in eventually but dad had to wait. He slept in the car and we were able to leave around midnight. And yes, I made it through to the next round! I would never have had these opportunities without the support of my parents.

Caroline, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Caroline Lekström and I’m a singer in Auckland, New Zealand. I think there were no question ever of what I wanted to be…it needed to be something were I was centre of attention…haha My love for singing and being on stage were always nurtured by my parents and to this day, they’re my biggest fans and supporters. My whole family is in Sweden and I usually call my parents on my way to or from gigs as it works out well with the time difference. As much as I want to say I’m an independent woman who’s confident and very able, my parents and my partners support and love mean everything to me. To this day, all I want is for them to be proud of me.

My first big performance was in Sweden in 1999. I competed as the youngest contester ever, at the age of 15, on Stars in their eyes on Swedish channel 4. Since then I’ve done shows, musicals, revues, solo performances, studio work, Stars in their eyes in New Zealand, duos, back up singing and have landed in my favourite role so far, as the female lead singer in Auckland based covers band Hands Off.

In Hands Off I have the pleasure to entertain people from all walks of life, all classes of society, at arenas or community centres and often we do these gigs back to back. We may be doing our regular gig at The Merchant bar in Albany on a Friday, followed by a gig at Spark Arena Auckland in front of the Prime Minister on Sat night and an afternoon bar gig on the Sunday. We get to travel all over the country entertaining at private parties at beautiful mansions, festivals, weddings or at big corporate gala dinners. We’re usually the band whose job it is to get people dancing and have an epic time! How awesome is that?! With our wide range of audience we have an extensive repertoire of hits from all eras, from the 60’s to the latest from Dua Lipa. Some songs, like 80’s and ABBA, seem to be loved by all ages.

The fact that I found love in the band makes my work even better! I love to work with my partner, who’s also the keyboard player in Hands off.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

To be excited about going to work is amazing! My partner Mark, who is the keyboard player in Hands Off, often talk about how grateful we are to be able to make a living from our passion. I’m able to show my kids that you don’t have to “hate your boss and think that Mondays are the worst day”. Too many times do we hear of people complaining about their jobs/colleagues/clients. I love my boss Jaime and Fridays (which are like other peoples Mondays) brings me happiness!

We do covers but we always strive to perform them better, to sing it better, to connect with the audience in a genuine fun way. You are never done learning or exceeding!

And the reward is bringing joy to people. My partner and I recently visited my family in Sweden. We put on a private show for my close friends and family at the local church. It felt so special to sing for mum and dad again, who never really get to see me perform live anymore.

I used to do gigs at retirement villages in Sweden. The audience would sometimes cry if I sang some old Swedish folk tune or get up and dance spontaneously to their favourite Swedish dance band song. How special!

And even though most of my work involves people in a party mood with various amounts of alcohol in their system, we may still make a difference to their week. I’ve had people coming up and thanking us for cheering them up as they’re going through a divorce, finally going out after their parents died or just had a rough week in the office.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My ex husband, also Swedish, and I decided to move back to Sweden to be closer to our families. I was sad to leave the band I was doing back up singing for, but excited to make a career in Stockholm! I was new to Stockholm…very different from Krokek and Norrköping.
Turns out there were, what felt like, a billions blonde, amazing singers in Sweden haha. Suddenly I wasn’t that exotic and I found it hard to compete against many, already established artists. It was back to square one, in a new community, with 2 small children, a husband who worked weekdays in Norway and a confidence that was just getting weaker and weaker.

In Sweden people are expected to work a “normal job, with normal hours, and normal pay”…. and I felt judged and side eyed for pursuing something else. I ended up doing some local shows, leading the church choir (!) and being the MC for a small Eurovision song contest tour around malls, watching the previous participants of Eurovision perform to screaming teenagers and grumpy grandmas. Not my dream to be honest…

We decided to move back to New Zealand and I was HYPED! This was my chance to show people I had previously worked with, people who may have heard my name or seen me perform with the well established band I had been part of, that I was back and I was better than when I left. I started up by contacting old friends and collegues from bands I had worked with to let them know I was back and keen to work, I bought my own PA, I did lots of research to figure out what the best set lists would be for gigs and I started doing solo gigs at restaurants and smaller bars. I was asked to fill in for the singer in an 80’s band and ended up staying for a few years. Shit scared of actually fronting a show band with the male singer, I put on my brave face and decided to ignore any doubts I had of my abilities as a singer and performer. This is also the time I found confidence in wearing whatever the hell I wanted. Being in an 80’s band gave me courage to wear more daring clothes, it was like putting on a costume. Never had I crawled across a stage or worn short dresses that showed off my body…I felt liberated as a person and as a performer.

I also started working with an old friend from my previous band and we had a duo, performing at a pub…he introduced me to Hands off, the 4 piece band he was in. I started coming to their gigs after I finished my solo gigs, they were so amazing and I just wanted to be part of the band.
They ended up asking if I wanted to join them for the bigger corporate gigs and slowly the 4 piece turned into a 5 piece.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.carolinelekstrom.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/handsoffnz
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@carolinelekstrom78/videos
• Other: Hands off youtube channel
  https://www.youtube.com/@handsoffbandHands off website
  https://www.handsoff.co.nz/

Image Credits

Emily Chalk Photography
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Nerikes Allehanda