THORE EHRLING

Born: December 29th, 1912, Stockholm (Sweden)

Died: October 21st, 1994, Lidingö (Sweden)

Nationality: Swedish

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

Thore Ehrling studied at the Kungliga Musikkonservatorium in Stockholm. He played the trumpet in various music ensembles, amongst others those of Håkan von Eichwald and Charles Redland. In 1938, he founded a jazz orchestra of his own, referred to simply as Thore Ehrlings Orkester, which, two years later, was enlarged to a genuine big band. Ehrling’s ensemble was frequently asked to perform for Swedish radio (SR) and became a synonym for swing. Until the orchestra was disbanded in 1957, it performed on every edition of the Skansen open air music festival in Stockholm between 1940 and 1956 and worked on countless studio projects with many Swedish vocalists, amongst whom, most notably, Alice Babs.

Ehrling composed many soundtracks, e.g. Familjen Björck (1940), Vårat gäng (1942), and Djurgårdskvällar (1946), and songs, such as ‘Nu ska vi dansa’ (the signature tune of his orchestra), ‘En månskenspromenade’, and ‘Ole dole doff’. As a recording artists, he worked on over 1,000 studio projects between 1932 and 1972; in 1936, he was a member of the Sonora Swing Band, which accompanied jazz legend Benny Carter during a studio session in Stockholm. In 1943, Ehrling was contracted by SR to produce dance music programmes. He worked for SR for a quarter of a century, leading the Radiotjänst Dansorkester. Ehrling also worked as a radio and television presenter. 

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

In 1959 and 1960, Thore Ehrling was both musical director and presenter of the first two editions of Melodifestivalen, the Swedish Eurovision heats. In 1959, the song ‘Augustin’ won this competition in the rendition of Siw Malmkvist. It was decided upon, however, that Britta Borg would be the most suitable vocalist to perform this second-ever Swedish entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. In Cannes, Borg came ninth; Ehrling did not join her in France, though, leaving the conducting to French host MD Franck Pourcel. 

One year later, the song ‘Alla andra får varann’ won the Swedish preselection. There, it was sung by Östen Warnerbring and Inger Berggren respectively, but once again another artist was handed the ticket to the international song contest – this time the snubbed singer of the year before, Siw Malmkvist. Ehrling conducted the entry in London, which landed a tenth spot on the scoreboard.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1960 London

Country – Sweden

Song title – "Alla andra får varann"

Rendition – Siw Malmkvist 

Lyrics – Åke Gerhard

Composition – Ulf Källqvist

Studio arrangement – none / song was never recorded

Live orchestration – Gösta Theselius

Conductor – Thore Ehrling

Score – 10th place (4 votes)