| On the one-year date of Danish "diva" Irma Victoria's death, November 10, Martin Hall and MNW released the album 'Memorial - Finest Moments and Famous Last Words'. The CD is a mix of her best recordings as well as the series "Expo 1-6" which was recorded at Holbæk County Hospital shortly before the singer's death, 77 years old. Futhermore the release includes a bonus disc, a Danish National Radio programme commemorating the life and art of Irma Victoria, originally broadcasted on December 9, 2000. The programme was made by Søren E. Jensen and produced by Jytte Nordholt.
Born on September 2 in 1923, Irma Victoria made her debut at the advanced age of 66 with the song "Memorial" on the Martin Hall production 'The Hall of Mirrors' released in September 1989. The track instantly became a cult classic and mystique succeedingly rose as to who this new Martin Hall "finding" was. In September 1990, she performed on the EP 'Palladium', and in November 1990, she finally released her debut album 'The Rainbow Theatre' - an album with which she wrote music history with by, quite surprisingly, getting a Danish Grammy nomination in the category "Best Female Singer" in February 1991 (competing with Danish multi-platinum act Hanne Boel and legendary Savage Rose lead vocalist Annisette). Unfortunately, Irma Victoria didn't win the award.
Having received the decoration given for meritorious services by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark in the autumn of 1993, she released her second and much anticipated album 'Phantasmagoria - The Second Coming' in October 1994. The album contained contributions from several prominent musicians on the Danish independent music scene - members of Sort Sol, The Poets and Ibens - and the release received a massive media coverage (a widespread poster campaign launching the album was sponsored by Carlsberg). 'Phantasmagoria' was exported to France, Germany and England and several tracks wound up in heavy rotation on the French radio station Scandal. Furthermore the British group Death in June used the album as lounge music on their 1997 European tour. 'Phantasmagoria' received very good reviews in both Denmark and abroad.
In the autumn of 1995 Irma Victoria performed on the controversial tribute album to the infamous Danish sixties band Steppeulvene, 'Hip', where she interpreted the group's beloved song, the classic track "Itsi Bitsi" which was singled out as one of the highlights of the album. In the spring of 1997 she appeared on the EP 'Hallmark 1-4' with the title "Tears and Morphine", a new version of "Tears in the Rain" from Phantasmagoria.
At the invitation of the Danish record label Addiction, Martin Hall and Irma Victoria discussed the possibility of recording a narrative written by Hall shortly before the singer's death. Due to the following chain of events, the idea was never realized, but the titles "Expo 1-6" on this collection are based on the test reccordings made at Holbæk County Hospital. The 'Memorial' compilation album was released concurrenly with the exhibition "A Hospital Room" at Ystads Konstmuseum, a Swedish art gallery (an audio installation by Martin Hall about Irma Victoria). The exhibition ran from October 20 until November 25 2001. You can read more about this at A Hospital Room | 
