by David Jeffries and Thom JurekWith heavenly vocals and a poignant writing style, singer/songwriter Tina Dico has topped the charts repeatedly in her native Denmark, caught the ear of Zero 7, and earned a Danish Grammy for Best Songwriter. As she was growing up, her father was a hi-fi aficionado and bought music based on the recording quality, not the genre or artistic merit. This introduced young Tina to a variety of styles, and while she gravitated toward Leonard Cohen, Donovan, and Joni Mitchell, she was well versed in opera and traditional Danish music by the time she had finished the massive collection. An old reel-to-reel tape machine and a microphone made by her father captured her teenage writing attempts, but Dico didn't take any of this seriously until she joined a band. She was 15 when it happened, and this revived interest in music eventually had her attending the Danish Royal College of Music, where extracurricular activities included joining another band and playing her songs in talent contests, one of which was broadcast on Danish television. The television appearance lead to calls from record labels, but the red tape that came with their offers pushed Dico into releasing her first album on her own. The 2003 EP Notes sold quickly through word of mouth and earned Dico the songwriting Grammy despite little radio play. Moving to England, she hooked up with downbeat act Zero 7 and appeared on their 2004 album, When It Falls, along with the accompanying tour. That same year she released the EP Far, which fleshed out the mostly acoustic songs of Notes with a full band. In early 2006 she released her first full-length album, In the Red. She followed it with 2007's Count To Ten and 2008's ^Triology, comprised of three newly recorded EPS, A Beginning, A Detour and An Open Ending.