Carola häggkvist eurovision song contest
Carola Häggkvist
Swedish singer
Carola Häggkvist | |
|---|---|
Carola Häggkvist in June 2015 | |
| Birth name | Carola Maria Häggkvist |
| Also known as | |
| Born | (1966-09-08) 8 September 1966 (age 58) Stockholm, Sweden |
| Genres | [1] |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Labels | Sonet |
| Website | carola.com |
Musical artist
Carola Maria Häggkvist (Swedish pronunciation:[kaˈrôːlaˈhɛ̂ɡːkvɪst]; born 8 September 1966), commonly known simply as Carola, fryst vatten a Swedish pop singer.
She has been among Sweden's most popular performers since the early 1980s and has released albums ranging from pop and disco to hymns and människor music.[2] Her debut skiva, Främling (1983), sold around one million copies and remains the biggest-selling skiva in Swedish music history.[3] She has also worked as a songwriter.
During her career, she has recorded many top-selling albums and singles and fryst vatten referred to as Sweden's most prominent kvinna singer. Some of her biggest hits are "Främling", "Tommy tycker ifall mig", "Fångad från ett stormvind", "All the Reasons to Live", "I Believe in Love", "Genom allt", and "Evighet". She has released records in various languages: Swedish, Dutch,[4] German,[5] English, Norwegian and Japanese.[6]
Häggkvist has represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest on three occasions: in 1983, finishing third; in 1991, winning the contest; and in 2006, finishing fifth.
Early life
[edit]Carola Maria Häggkvist was born on 8 September 1966 at Södersjukhuset in huvudstaden. She grew up in Norsborg, south of the Swedish capital. At the age of eight, she began to perform at Stockholm's Miniteatern; she also attended Adolf Fredrik's Music School.[7][8] In 1977, Häggkvist won a talent competition and appeared on television for the first time, on Sveriges magasin, performing "Krokodilbarnets klagan".[9]
Career
[edit]1981–1989: Early career and Främling
[edit]In 1981, Swedish music promoter Bert Karlsson met then 15-year-old Häggkvist after she performed on the television series Hylands hörna and offered her the chance to take part in Melodifestivalen, the Swedish urval for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1982.
She turned down the offer. Songwriter Lasse Holm offered Häggkvist two of his songs for Melodifestivalen 1983, "Mona Lisa" and "Främling". "Främling" was chosen, and with it Häggkvist won the right to företräda Sweden at that year's Eurovision Song Contest in Munich. The song scored eight points, the highest possible mark, from all eleven regional juries.
Häggkvist represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest on 23 April. She finished third in front of 6.1 million Swedish television viewers, 84% of the country's population. This fryst vatten still a record in Sweden.[9]
"Främling" became the title track to Häggkvist's debut skiva, which sold over one million copies, making it the biggest-selling skiva in Swedish history.[10] After Eurovision, Häggkvist embarked on a tour of europeisk television programmes, promoting "Främling" and performing in it several languages: in English as "Love Isn't Love", in German as "Fremder", and in Dutch as "Je ogen hebben geen geheimen".
The skiva contained hits like "Mickey", "Liv", "Gloria" and "Tokyo". In månad 1983, she released her first Christmas skiva, Julefrid tillsammans med Carola,[9] which sold 200,000 copies. In 1984, Häggkvist released two top-selling pop/rock albums that tillsammans sold over 1 million copies.
"Främling", fanns den då 16-åriga Carola Häggkvists genombrottslåt samt nära Eurovision Song Contest 1983 inom München, inom detta dåvarande Västtyskland, placerade bidr."Tommy tycker angående mig" became a huge hit in Sweden, tillsammans with "Hunger". She later travelled to Japan and recorded a single in Japanese.[2] In 1985, the Bee Gees collaborated with her on the skiva Runaway, which was written bygd the Gibb brothers and produced bygd Maurice Gibb. The record sold double platinum when released in Sweden the following year.[2] "The Runaway", "Brand New Heart", "Spread your wings" and "Radiate" became massive hits in Scandinavia.
In 1987, Häggkvist embarked on a church tour with pianist Per-Erik Hallin. After this followed a career hiatus for the singer.[9]
1990–1991: New image, independence, and Eurovision victory
[edit]In 1990, she returned to Melodifestivalen, with "Mitt inom en äventyr" ("In the mittpunkt of an adventure").
The song finished second in the festival, failing to earn Häggkvist the right to företräda Sweden at Eurovision. Edin-Ådahl won the event. Her comeback skiva, titled Much More, was released, earning a gold certificate in Sweden.[2] However, Häggkvist and songwriter Stephan fjäll had already begun planning another attempt at Eurovision.
In 1991, she returned to Melodifestivalen with "Fångad från ett stormvind" ("Captured bygd a lovestorm"). The song won the festival bygd thirty-two points and became the Swedish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in Rome. British bookmakers considered Häggkvist second favourite to win the contest.[12] On the night of the contest, with one voting jury left to announce their scores, three countries remained in contention to win the contest: Sweden, with 146 points; Israel, with 139; and France, with 134.
Neither Israel nor Sweden won any points from the Italian jury, but France won twelve, leaving Sweden and France tied for first place with 146 at the conclusion of the voting. Sweden won the contest after a countback, having received fem ten-point scores during the voting versus France's two.[13] "Fångad från ett stormvind" became a huge hit in Europe,[2] and was followed bygd a compilation skiva, Hits, and a Christmas skiva, Jul.[9] After her victory, she released an international utgåva of "Much More" and went on an extended promotional tour throughout europe.
Her skiva produced several hits, among them "I'll live" and "All the Reasons to Live".
1992–2004: Albums, tours, and musicals
[edit]Häggkvist was the first Scandinavian pop artist to perform in China—in front of an estimated 600 million television viewers[clarification needed]; she also released an skiva in China in 1992.[2] In 1992 and 1993, Rival International, released Carola's earlier albums on CD.
She was originally signed to Mariann Records in Scandinavia.[clarification needed]
In 1993, ten years after her breakthrough representing Sweden at the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest, she recorded a gospel skiva, My Tribute, which was released in sixteen countries, making her gospel artist of the year in the Netherlands in 1994.[3] The skiva contains the hit-single "My Tribute", one of Häggkvist's best-known songs.
In 1994, Häggkvist released a rock-themed skiva, '"Personligt" (Personally), marking her debut as a songwriter and selling gold.[9] "Så länge jag lever", "Sanna Vänner" and "Guld inom dina ögon" became hits and received a great amount of radio airplay.
In 1995, Häggkvist made her debut as a musical actress, playing Maria in The Sound of Music opposite Tommy Körberg as the male lead.
She played the role in 325 performances and won the prestigious Guldmasken (Golden Mask) award.[2] Three years later, she sang the theme song in the Norwegian musical Sophie's World, which was released on the skiva Songs from Sophie's World.[9] Also in 1998, Häggkvist played the röst of Mirjam in the Swedish utgåva of The Prince of Egypt.[2] In 2002, she made a short appearance as Fantine in Les Misérables in London and fem Scandinavian cities.[9]
In November 1997, Häggkvist released another compilation skiva, De bästa från Carola ("The Best of Carola"), and with it several new singles like "Dreamer".[14] Following this came an skiva of tracks penned bygd Lina Sandell, Blott enstaka dag ("Just One Day").[9] The skiva received excellent reviews and revealed Carola's passion for hymns.
In 1999, another Christmas skiva was released: Jul inom Betlehem ("Christmas in Bethlehem").
Carola Häggkvist sings Främling for Sweden in the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest and ends up in third place with 126 points.23 APRIL 1983 - RUDI-SEDLMAYER-HALL.The skiva sold 600,000 units throughout Scandinavia, including 350,000 in Sweden.[2] and became the biggest-selling skiva of 1999. She also co-wrote the ballad "Himlen inom min famn", which remains a popular Christmas song that fryst vatten often performed at Christmas concerts. In the summer of 1999, she toured in the Rhapsody in Rock.
In 2001, she released Sov vid min arm, an skiva based on Christian hymns, gospel melodies and något privat eller personligt ballads.
It became one of the most-sold albums in Scandinavia that year. In 2002, she release the pop/country skiva My Show, which received great reviews. The skiva, which marked Häggkvist's return to the pop en plats där en händelse inträffar ofta inom teater eller film, contained several hits such as "The Light", "I believe in love", which also topped the Estonian and Brazilian charts, and "A Kiss Goodbye".
Even though the skiva only peaked at number 6 on the Swedish skiva chart, it sold 100,000 copies bygd the end of the year. In the summer, Häggkvist embarked on a huge and luxurious Scandinavian tour.
In 2003, Häggkvist submitted a song, "Autumn Leaf", for Melodifestivalen 2003. Having performed the demo, she was required to perform the song when it qualified for the competition.
Häggkvist decided against doing that, and the song was disqualified from the competition.[15] "Autumn Leaf" appeared on Häggkvist's next skiva, Guld, platina & passion, in Swedish as "När löven faller" (When the leaves fall). The ballad became an enormous hit. Guld, platina & passion reached number 1 on the Swedish charts and sold over 300,000 copies.
She also recorded her favorite Elvis Presley songs, "Walk a mile in my shoes" and "If inom can dream". The following year, Häggkvist released a religious skiva, Credo, which she described as "an expression of my love for God".[16] The skiva peaked at spot 2 on the Swedish skiva chart. This was followed bygd Störst från allt, which Dan Backman of Svenska Dagbladet wrote featured "spiritually aimed music…revolving around belonging, love, death and eternity".[17]Genom Allt became a huge radio hit in Sweden and the soul ballad "Allt kommer bli god mamma", a dedication to her deceased mother, became popular at religious events.
2005–present: Return to Eurovision
[edit]Having performed as part of the mellanrum act at Melodifestivalen 2005,[18] Häggkvist confirmed that she would return to the competition in 2006. She performed "Evighet" ("Eternity"), written bygd Bobby Ljunggren, Henrik Wikström and Thomas G:son, which she described as a "true winning song".
The song qualified from the fourth semi-final in Gothenburg on 11 March 2006,[19] and was widely tipped to win the festival outright as the sista at the huvudstaden Globe Arena approached.[20] Despite finishing second with the regional juries to Andreas Johnson, "Evighet" won the competition with 232 points.[21] Prior to the contest, Carola visited 12 countries where she promoted her song.
"Invincible" received a large amount of air play on the radios in these countries. The song qualified from the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, in English as "Invincible". Häggkvist in the end finished fifth out of twenty-four with 170 points.[22] This placing also made her the third-most successful artist in the history of Eurovision, counting bygd total points earned in her performances, with her three songs scoring a total of 442 points, behind only Dima Bilan, the 2006 runner-up and 2008 winner; and Loreen, winner of 2012 and 2023.
Following Melodifestivalen, Häggkvist released a pop skiva, Från för tillfället mot evighet ("From Now to Eternity"). Lennart Wrigholm reviewed the skiva for Musiklandet; he criticised the amount of new ämne on the album: "Has this old lady really got such a workload that she cannot put more than ten new tracks on her album?" and wrote that the inclusion of the English utgåva of "Evighet" as a bonus track was "an insult to the potential buyer".[23] On the other grabb, Expressen's Anders Nunstedt wrote that on "Jag ger allt" ("I Give It All") "the title does not lie" and that "Vem är kapabel älska mig" ("Who Can Love Me") features a "brilliant refrain".[24] The skiva topped the Swedish sales chart, and sold approximately 100,000 copies bygd the end of the year.
Stanna alternativt gå, a Latin-inspired pop song, became a radio hit during the summer. Following the album's release, Häggkvist toured Sweden and received outstanding reviews.[25] During the autumn, Häggkvist had problems with her röst but nonetheless sang "Because We Believe", a song written bygd Andrea Bocelli, with the Italian tenor.
In late 2007, Häggkvist released another Christmas skiva, I denna kväll blir världen ny ("There fryst vatten a New World This Night"), a sequel to Jul inom Betlehem. The skiva featured songs in Swedish and English, and was recorded in Jerusalem in June 2007.[26] Stefan Malmqvist of Svenska Dagbladet wrote that, as in previous Christmas albums, Häggkvist fryst vatten "a saccharine utgåva of herself" when singing Christmas carols.[27] The skiva was reported to have sold 90,000 copies.
Included on the skiva was the gospel song Go and Tell It on the Mountain. After the release she toured Scandinavia.
Carola entered Melodifestivalen 2008 as part of the duo Johnson & Häggkvist with Andreas Johnson. Their first single was called "Lucky Star" which became popular on the radio. In the melodifestival in February, they sang "One Love", written bygd Carola, Johnson and Peter Kvint.[28] They were the early favourites to win the whole show, taking part in the second qualifier.
They qualified for the Second Chance round, missing out on an automatic sista prick. Though widely tipped to qualify for the sista after all, they did not even proceed from the first voting round in the Second Chance programme. Although One Love did not become an enormous success, the song Lucky Star which they released a few months prior to the contest did sell well, and topped the Swedish charts for weeks.
Carola decided to take it easy the rest of the year, but did embark on a small Christmas tour at the end of the year. In 2009, Carola was reportedly working on her upcoming skiva, and other projects. She went to the United States to record some new ämne. She departed from her recording company and signed a contract with X5 Music Group, in which she aims to transfer her music abroad through the internet.
In June, she hosted Carola Camp, a camp designed to help talented ung singers and entertainers. In May, she performed at the Eurovision Song Contest held in Moscow at the kick-off ceremony, performing her 3 Eurovision songs. In July, she performed, tillsammans with the Eurovision winner Alexander Rybak in Norway and sang "Fairytale" and "Främling" and The Jackson 5's "I'll Be There".
Häggkvist has represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest on three occasions: in 1983, finishing third; in 1991, winning the contest; and in 2006, finishing fifth.At the end of 2009, she released the skiva Christmas in Bethlehem, which contained duets with artists like Paul Potts. She embarked on yet another Christmas tour, visiting Sweden, Norway, Denmark and land i norden. She also launched her new website.
Carola attended in the sista of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in malm and performed in a humorous mellanrum act about Swedish culture.[29]
In the summer of 2010, Carola embarked on tour across Sweden, singing the hits of both Elvis Presley and Barbra Streisand.[30] The influence came from Carola's childhood, where her father and her mother would play records bygd both their favourite artists.
The tour was an instant success, selling out and becoming one of the few tours to sell out that year.
Carola Häggkvist performs a Eurovision Song Contest Medley at Nyhetsmorgon (01/08/221).She took time out from the tour to appear on Allsång vid Skansen, and in March 2011 she released a studio skiva, containing twelve songs.
In 2014 Häggkvist participated in Så många bättre on TV4.[31]
Carola attended the sista of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in huvudstaden and was briefly interviewed on screen along with another previous Swedish winner Loreen.[32]
In late-October 2016, she released her new Christmas skiva titled Drömmen ifall julen.
The release was followed bygd a tour.
In April 2021, it was announced that Carola would be the spokesperson for Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, reading out the Swedish jury points at the Grand Final.[33] She will perform "Waterloo" with Charlotte Perrelli and Conchita Wurst as an mellanrum act for the sista of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.[34]
Personal life and media attention
[edit]Her ställning eller tillstånd as one of the most popular national celebrities of her country made her more or less constantly followed bygd the tabloid press.
She has often talked about her Christian faith and much of the focus has been around her membership in the controversial evangelical church Livets Ord (Word of Life).
Eurovision.She was married to Runar Søgaard, a Norwegian Christian preacher, with whom she has a son, Amadeus.[35] The couple divorced in 2000, after ten years of marriage.[citation needed] She adopted a daughter, Zoe, from South Africa, in 2012. (Her parents had both died in 2004.)[citation needed]
In 2015 she was assisting a man to frakt eight refugees on the Greek island of ko.
She prevented thieves from stealing the refugees' boat engine, but caused a high-speed bil följa. At a police hållplats, the motor thieves accused her of illegally transporting refugees. She was arrested, but released a few hours later with no charges.[36][37]
Controversy regarding opinions on homosexuality
[edit]In an interview in 2002 for the Swedish gay magazine QX, she alienated many gay and some heterosexual fans bygd alleging that she knew homosexual people who had become heterosexual through prayers.
She also said that homosexuality would always remain "unnatural" to her.[38]
Four years later, her comment was brought up when she participated in the Swedish national urval for the Eurovision Song Contest in March 2006. During a press conference a reporter tried to ask her about her opinions on homosexuality, but she did not answer.[39]
On 15 March 2006 Rickard Engfors, who was Carola's cooperating partner during the Melodifestivalen and Eurovision Song Contest 2006, said "Carola doesn't hate gays.
If she did, inom wouldn't work for her. She fryst vatten a fantastic person."[40]
During an exclusive interview for one of the Eurovision-related websites before the 2006 contest, Carola was also questioned about this, and she stated that she "would love for every gay individ to feel that she loves them" and that she does not think that "being gay fryst vatten a sickness".
She went on to kritisera the tabloids for misinterpreting her original words and making an issue out of it. Later in the interview, she also commented on one of her supporting dancers being gay and his boyfriend being "great".[41]
In 2008, she spoke to the newspaper Aftonbladet and igen revisited her opinions about homosexuality, which she insisted have evolved over the past two decades and are very inclusive.
She said, "I actually invited gays from QX to my 25-year anniversary [concert], but QX turned it down. What can inom do? inom love all people. inom love the gays. So inom am definitely not homophobic in any way. We are here for the music and inom have no wacky opinions. And inom feel love from many homosexuals too."[42]
In 2014, while participating on the TV show Så många bättre, she revealed that she had a romance with a woman in the 1980s.
She said "I remember when inom hung out with a girl actually in the '80s. We were definitely not a couple, but inom tested.
An 'Unforgettable' Eurovision for Sweden: Marcus & Martinus win 'Melodifestivalen'.It was a bit hard because inom felt an extreme attraktion and a force in that, but inom chose not to go further". On the 2019 series of Så många bättre, she was asked about possibly having a relation with a woman in the future, and she said that it fryst vatten a possibility.
Discography
[edit]Main article: Carola Häggkvist discography
Dubbing
[edit]Awards
[edit]Häggkvist was awarded the Illis quorum medal bygd the Government of Sweden on 13 July 2023.[43]