Born: August 4th, 1935, Sundbyberg, Greater Stockholm (Sweden)
Nationality: Swedish
In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview
BIOGRAPHY
Originally a trumpeter, Lars "Lasse" Samuelson extensively worked as an arranger and producer in the record studio with artists from various fields of the recording business, ranging from jazz to mainstream pop, including the likes of Tommy Bergs, Lars Berghagen, Strix Q, and star trumpet player Rolf Ericson. He was the musical director of radio and TV programmes for SVT, Swedish national broadcaster. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was the musical leader of a big band. As a conductor, he led the orchestra for the Swedish entries in four editions of the Nordring Festival between 1974 and 1979.
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST
Lars Samuelson conducted no fewer than 22 (!) entries in the Swedish Eurovision preselections between 1969 and 1979, amongst which ‘Ring Ring’ by Björn, Benny, Agnetha, and Anni-Frid, a song that came third in 1973; one year later, the group were to conquer Europe under their new name: ABBA. Samuelson arranged three winning entries, ‘Judy min vän’ by Tommy Körberg in 1969; ‘Jennie Jennie’ by Lars Berghagen in 1975; and ‘Satellit’ by Ted Gärdestad in 1979 - in the last case working with guitarist Janne Schaffer, who came along to that year's contest in Sweden's delegation as an 'assistant-conductor'. For these three artists, he conducted the Eurovision orchestras in Madrid, Stockholm, and Jerusalem respectively.
Many years later, in 2000, when the Eurovision orchestra had been done away with, Samuelson had a minor involvement as he wrote the live orchestration to Roger Pontare's winning performance of 'När vindarna viskar mitt namn' in the Swedish pre-selection, conducted by Curt-Eric Holmquist. However, with an orchestra no longer being used in the international final, Pontare performed his song in the Eurovision Song Contest to the record arrangement, done by Peter Ljung.
EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR
Country – Sweden
Song title – “Judy, min vän”
Rendition – Tommy Körberg
Lyrics – Britt Lindeborg
Composition – Roger Wallis
Studio arrangement – Lars Samuelson
Live orchestration – Lars Samuelson
Conductor – Lars Samuelson
Score – 9th place (8 votes)
Country – Sweden
Song title – “Jennie, Jennie”
Rendition – Lars Berghagen
Lyrics – Lars Berghagen
Composition – Lars Berghagen
Studio arrangement – Lars Samuelson
Live orchestration – Lars Samuelson
Conductor – Lars Samuelson
Score – 8th place (72 votes)
Country – Sweden
Song title – “Satellit”
Rendition – Ted Gärdestad
Lyrics – Kenneth Gärdestad
Composition – Ted Gärdestad
Studio arrangement – Lars Samuelson / Janne Schaffer
Live orchestration – Lars Samuelson / Janne Schaffer
Conductor – Lars Samuelson
Score – 17th place (8 votes)
2000 Stockholm
Country – Sweden
Song title – "When Spirits Are Calling My Name (När vindarna viskar mitt namn)"
Rendition – Roger Pontare
Lyrics – Thomas Holmstrand / Linda Jansson / Peter Dahl
Composition – Thomas Holmstrand / Linda Jansson / Peter Dahl
Studio arrangement – Peter Ljung
Live orchestration (Swedish final) – Lars Samuelson
Conductor (Swedish final) – Curt-Eric Holmquist
Conductor (international final) – none
Score – 7th place (88 votes)
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