Saturday, 9 May 1998

ANDERS BERGLUND

The following article is an overview of the career of Swedish pianist, arranger, and conductor Anders Berglund. The main source of information is an interview with Mr Berglund, conducted by Bas Tukker and Tin Španja in Stockholm, July 2011. The article below is subdivided into two main parts; a general career overview (part 3) and a part dedicated to Anders Berglund's Eurovision involvement (part 4).

All material below: © Bas Tukker / 2011


Contents
  1. Passport
  2. Short Eurovision record
  3. Biography
  4. Eurovision Song Contest
  5. Other artists about Anders Berglund
  6. Eurovision involvement year by year
  7. Sources & links

PASSPORT

Born: July 21st, 1948, Stockholm (Sweden)
Nationality: Swedish

SHORT EUROVISION RECORD

One of the familiar faces of the Eurovision Song Contest in the 1980s and 1990s, Anders Berglund from Sweden conducted no fewer than fourteen festival entries between 1977 and 1998. He is one of only seven conductors in Eurovision history to have featured in over ten contests. Berglund was part of the Swedish team surrounding Carola who won the festival in Rome with ‘Fångad av en stormvind’ (1991). In the year after, when the international final was organized in Malmö, Berglund was appointed chief conductor of the event by Swedish Television.

BIOGRAPHY

Anders Berglund was born and raised in Stockholm, his father being a textile wholesaler. Anders was drawn to music for as long as he can remember. 

“There was a piano in our house and, as I was fascinated by that instrument, I tried to find out a way of playing it. Although, as a boy of six or seven years old, I did not know exactly what I was doing yet, my mother detected certain skills and she decided I needed lessons. I was taught by three different piano teachers for the next seven years; they helped me mastering the basics of music theory as well. When I was just eleven, I toured many European countries with the boys’ choir I was in at that time, the Stockholms Gosskör. As an adolescent, I regularly attended concerts of classical and jazz music. In 1962, the Beatles opened my eyes for pop music. I bought their single ‘Love me do’ and remained a loyal fan of theirs all through the 1960s, because, to my mind, they were musically somewhat more sophisticated than other pop acts, such as the Rolling Stones.”

“During my secondary school years, I played the piano in several bands – initially amateur bands with friends, but it wasn't long before I started working with regular groups as well, cover bands playing typical Swedish dance repertoire. For some time, I played in another group, Alfie’s, which specialized in somewhat heavier stuff, in the style of Blood Sweat & Tears and Chicago. Just like Blood Sweat & Tears, our band had a brass section, for which I wrote most arrangements. That is how I started scoring – without any formal education, because my piano teacher had not taught me any harmony. What I did, though, was studying by myself, reading useful books on the subject."

Playing the keyboards in Blue Swede's USA tour, early 1970s

"All the way through, it was obvious that I wanted to work as a musician… in truth, I never considered doing something else. So, in 1968, with my school diploma in the pocket, I submitted my application to the conservatory in Stockholm. However, at that point, the agent of Lill Lindfors asked me to join Lill on her summer tour… and the rehearsals were scheduled at exactly the same time as the admission tests at the conservatory. I had to make a choice… and I decided to join Lill! This tour effectively was my introduction to the professional music business in Sweden. People in the music business in Stockholm became familiar with my name and, as a result of that, things started rolling for me… and that is why I never entered the music academy!”

After his time with Alfie’s, Anders joined a similar band called Alarm. In 1973, he was invited to join Blue Swede (initially called Blåblus), the cover band of singer Björn Skifs which had recorded ‘Hooked On A Feeling’. Blue Swede’s version of this tune, the original of which had been released by B.J. Thomas in 1968, became a number one hit in the United States, Australia, and the Netherlands in early 1974, while there was also considerable chart success in other countries. With Anders playing the piano and synthesizers, the band made three tours in the USA (1974-75), as well as giving many concerts in the Scandinavian countries, the United Kingdom, and West Germany. In the fall of 1975, Björn Skifs and Anders both decided to leave the band. 

“Although Blue Swede only lasted for about two years”, Berglund comments, “it was an important period in my career. I was only twenty-five years old and we were the first Swedish band to make it in America… before ABBA, Roxette, Europe, and all the others. We were some sort of forerunners, paving the way for others.”

In 1975, Berglund signed a contract as a producer at the record company Metronome, where he also worked on a freelance basis as a studio musician, backup vocalist, arranger, and musical director. In the late 1970s as well as in the first half of the 1980s, he worked with most of Sweden’s top acts in the pop and jazz genre, including Siw Malmkvist, Björn Skifs, Lill Lindfors, Pugh Rogefeldt, Lill-Babs, Jan Malmsjö, Totte Wallin, Arja Saijonmaa, Magnus & Brasse, and After Dark. For Svante Thuresson, he wrote the arrangement to the Swedish version of Jim Croce’s ‘Bad Leroy Brown’, called ‘Ivar’ (1979). In the 1970s, Berglund also got the opportunity to work on various projects for Swedish radio and television. He was the conductor of a TV special with Björn Skifs and Eva Rydberg. Moreover, he composed the music to countless radio plays and children’s programmes. Between 1978 and 1982, he was the musical director of all editions of the Swedish Eurovision selection programme, Melodifestivalen.

In the Metronome Studio, Stockholm, with sound engineer Lasse Holmberg (1977)

In 1979, Berglund arranged the music to the Swedish version of Sugar, a musical which was performed at Stockholm’s Maxim Theatre with Berglund himself conducting the orchestra. This production, with Lill Lindfors and Magnus & Brasse as its main stars, ran for three consecutive seasons (1979-81). Subsequently, Berglund arranged and conducted the follow-up show, Spök, a musical composed by Bengt Palmers with a cast including Björn Skifs, Monica Dominique, and Elisabeth Andreasson (1982-83). Finally, Berglund composed a musical comedy himself, Skål; like Spök, it was performed in the Maxim Theatre for two entire seasons (1984-85). The main roles for Skål were played by Siw Malmkvist, Martin Ljung, and Nils Landgren. In the 1980s, Anders Berglund also regularly worked on various types of live shows – ranging from revue and cabaret to pop music – in Börsen and Berns, two well-known restaurants in Stockholm; for these shows, he got to work with international stars such as Diana Ross, Jennifer Holliday, and even athletics champion Carl Lewis. At the same time, he could still be found in the recording studio now and then as an arranger or session musician.

Between 1983 and 1986, Anders was the Hammond organ player of Little Mike and the Sweet Soul Music Band, which recorded two albums: ‘Get On Up’ and ‘Let’s Do It’. This funk band was hugely successful in Sweden and even had a hit success in France with ‘Let’s Do It’. In 1986, the group performed on the 40th birthday party of King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden. As Berglund explains, the original idea of Little Mike and the Sweet Soul Music Band was to do just one gig.

“Mike Watson was the bass player in my orchestra which accompanied the musical Spök at the Maxim Theatre. Sometimes, we, the musicians in the band, were a little tired to have to play the same music every night… of course Spök was a good production, but we dreamt of doing something completely different. Someone came up with the idea of forming a soul band. We all loved those old soul tunes of the 1960s and 1970s. Just for fun’s sake, we started rehearsing for – that was our plan – just one gig. Some marvellous musicians joined us… Lasse Welander, Nisse Landgren, and Claes af Geijerstam, for example. There were no fewer than four brass players as well as a fully-fledged background choir! For the night, we all wore tuxedoes – as if we were The Blues Brothers! We rehearsed like hell and we did the concert in a club in Stockholm. That gig was so well received, however, that we went on to do two albums and three years of countless concerts.”

Working as a composer for television occasionally, Anders Berglund wrote the music to several documentaries, most notably Sagan om livet / The Saga Of Life (1982), a science special about the unborn child with images by photographer Lennart Nilsson; the programme was sold to over thirty countries all over the world. As a film composer, he made his mark by (co-)writing the soundtracks of several movie pictures, including Två killar och en tjej (directed by Lasse Hallström, 1983) and 1939 (1989). He also wrote the music to several films based on the work of Astrid Lindgren, Gull-Pian (1988), the children’s film Nils Karlsson Pyssling (1990), and two animated films featuring the adventures of Pippi Longstocking in the late 1990s.

Berglund (far left) with his fellow-pianists Anders Ekdahl, Anders Eljas, Anders Henriksson, and Anders Neglin for the show 'Fem gånger Anders' (Five times Anders) at the Berwaldhallen Auditorium in Stockholm (1987)

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Anders was a familiar face for Swedish TV viewers. Apart from his appearances as a conductor in the Eurovision Song Contest and Eurovision pre-selections in Sweden, he was the musical director of many other music programmes with a live orchestra, including the sketch shows of Magnus & Brasse and several late night talk shows. In the 1980s, he represented Sweden in several editions of the Knokke Cup, a music festival held by Belgian television. In 1995, Berglund produced Mycke nöje, a series of twelve music specials with many different artists, for which he also conducted the orchestra. Between 1997 and 2005, he was one of the team captains of the music fun quiz Så ska det låta, which was immensely popular in Sweden with TV audiences reaching three million viewers. After more than 100 editions of the programme, there was a farewell concert for Så ska det låta featuring Berglund and his fellow team captain Robert Wells held in London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Since the 1980s, Anders Berglund has worked on numerous theatre projects, especially in collaboration with director Staffan Götestam, at whose request he composed the music to a number of children’s plays based on the books of Astrid Lindgren, including Ronja Rövardotter and, again, Nils Karlsson Pyssling. In 1989, Anders and the cast of Nils Karlsson Pyssling travelled to the Soviet Union for a guest performance in Moscow. Anders wrote the orchestration to the musical I hetaste laget, which was a remake of Sugar; the new show, featuring Björn Skifs, was performed at Stockholm’s Cirkus Theatre and ran for four seasons (1994-97). More recently, Berglund again composed two musicals himself, Stars (2003) and Rasmus på luffen (2009), while he was commissioned to pen new scores to the Swedish versions of The Sound Of Music (2007) and The Producers (2008). In 2009, Anders’ arrangements to The Sound Of Music were also used when the show was performed at the Fredericia Theatre, Denmark.

Towards the end of the 1980s, Anders Berglund got involved in the concerts of Rhapsody In Rock, a project involving different styles of music performed in a symphonic setting devised by Swedish pianist Robert Wells. Berglund worked with many different classical orchestras in countless concerts with Wells. Rhapsody In Rock went on tour across Scandinavia, the Baltic countries, and even Russia and China. 

“In the 1990s, it turned out to be an immensely successful concept," Berglund comments, "although the first signs had been slightly ominous. In 1989, Robert and I did Rhapsody In Rock for the first time with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra in a concert hall in Sundsvall. The public turnout was so disappointing that there were more people on stage that night than in the audience! Later, however, Robert and I got free advertisement thanks to our involvement in Så ska det låta on nationwide TV and we started drawing huge crowds in Sweden… and abroad as well.”

Conducting the SR Symphony Orchestra in a summer concert (2011)

Since, Berglund has specialised in working with symphonic orchestras for concerts of light entertainment and pop music. In 1997 and 1999, he conducted the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra respectively on a series of Frank Sinatra tribute concerts. From 2004 onwards, he has worked with the Swedish Radio Symphonic Orchestra annually or even several times a year on Svenska stjärnor, which involves well-known Swedish pop artists singing their repertoire in a symphonic setting. Moreover, in 2007, he conducted the SR Symphonic in a programme dedicated to the music of ABBA’s Benny Andersson in 2007. Other Swedish orchestras which were led by Berglund for crossover projects include the Umeå Symphonic, the Sandviken Symphonic, the Västerås Sinfonietta, the Gothenburg Symphonic, and the Stockholm Sinfonietta.

Apart from his work with classical orchestras, Berglund has built up a huge experience as a conductor for theatre and gala concerts. Since 1986, he has been involved in the Stjärnklart project, an annual concert programme for private companies in Sweden. In the 1990s, he toured with pop singer Björn Skifs as well as with jazz legend Alice Babs. In 1996, a gala in Stockholm’s Globen Arena on the occasion of the fiftieth birthday of King Carl XVI Gustav was produced and conducted by him, featuring Stevie Wonder and many others. 

Berglund also was the musical director of the concert held on the occasion of 750 years of Stockholm in the city’s Olympic Stadium (2002) and of the Tsunami Gala (2004). On top of that, he has been involved in many editions of the mega popular open-air sing-along event Allsång på Skansen and conducted the band in events such as Schlagerfestivalen på riktigt (2008) as well as the 2011 Pride Festival in Stockholm with a programme of Eurovision Song Contest music. One of the highlights of Berglund’s career was the 1999 concert with world-famous clarinettist Putte Wickman, Svante Thuresson, Johanna Grüssner, and the big band of the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra in the jazz club Birdland in New York.

Anders Berglund was a member of the board of the Swedish Association of Composers of Popular Music (SKAP) and the Swedish Association of Authors, Composers, and Publishers (STIM) throughout the 1980s and 1990s. His advice was called upon during the construction of the Gävle Concert Hall (1998), whilst he served as a board member of Konstnärsnämnden, the government-run council of cultural support, and as a juror for the Polar Music Prize for many years. Berglund himself received the stipend of the Thore Ehrling Stipend Fund in 1996. In 2008, the honour of a Royal Medal of the Eighth Grade, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Swedish music culture, was bestowed upon him from the hands of King Carl XVI Gustav.


EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

In the 1980s and 1990s, Anders Berglund was one of the familiar faces of the Eurovision Song Contest, participating as a conductor in thirteen editions of the international final between 1977 and 1998. Part of the winning team of Carola which won the contest in Rome (1991), Berglund was invited by SVT to form an orchestra to accompany the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Malmö; because, that year, he did not only conduct the Swedish effort, but the song from Yugoslavia as well, he conducted a total of fourteen Eurovision entries. On top of that, he was the musical director of thirteen editions of the Swedish Eurovision selection programme, Melodifestivalen, between 1978 and 1999.

In 1977, at twenty-eight years of age, Berglund made his first appearance in the Swedish pre-selection, which, in those years, featured different conductors. The song he arranged and conducted, ‘Beatles’ by the group Forbes, was chosen as the winner and subsequently went on to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest in Wembley’s Conference Centre, London. There, however, this quirky tribute to the Fab Four failed to impress the international jurors, picking up only two points and finishing rock bottom on the scoreboard. How did Anders get involved in arranging this song? 

“At that time, I worked as a producer for Metronome Records. Sven-Olof Bagge of the publishing department asked me to check out this new band which played in a club in Stockholm… Forbes. The group did not have a contract yet and were totally unknown. Sven-Olof was thinking of signing the band and he wanted to know what I thought about them. So I went down to the place, where they played their repertoire of typical Swedish dance music. There was one song, however, that I instantly liked. That was ‘Beatles’ – they sang it with English lyrics. When I walked up to them after the gig, they told me that was one of the songs they had written themselves. "Don’t ever perform that song again," I told them, "because I think it is a good song for Melodifestivalen!" 

"The guys liked the idea and we made a demo recording. Sven-Olof Bagge wrote Swedish words to the tune. It was picked as one of the ten participants in the Swedish final! Fortunately, nobody ever found out that Forbes had already performed their song during their gigs, which was forbidden at that time. Only compositions that were completely new were allowed in the competition.”

The Forbes sextet at Melodifestivalen 1977

“The 1977 Melodifestival was a busy night for me,” Berglund continues. “Lars Samuelson, who was the musical director of the programme, had invited me to play the keyboards in the orchestra. When it was time for Forbes to perform ‘Beatles’, however, I conducted the band, only to take my place behind the keyboards again after that. Of course I was delighted when ‘our’ song was chosen as the winner."

"Because I was the MD of the winning group, I went to London with them. A bus took us from the hotel to the concert hall for the first rehearsals. We were astonished to find out that the conductor of the Israeli delegation, who were on the same bus with us, was armed. The Israelis took security very seriously indeed and this guy turned out to have a double role: apart from conducting the entry, he also was a security officer for singer Ilanit. Even on stage during the broadcast he had his gun with him!" (Eldad Shrem, the Israeli conductor, denies having had a weapon with him in London - BT) 

"For me, the overriding memory of London is the excitement about conducting the BBC orchestra, although it was sad that we came last. In hindsight, singing about the Beatles in England might not have been a good idea. Perhaps the British did not like Swedes singing about their band. The song in itself was quite catchy and should have picked up more points. In Sweden, the tune has become an evergreen.”

In 1978 and 1979, the production team of Swedish television invited Anders Berglund, who was employed part-time at SR at that time, to be the musical director of Melodifestivalen, although, in those years, this did not mean he conducted all participating entries, as each act chose its own conductor. Still, led the orchestra for seven songs in those two years, but none of these songs won - and as a result, his involvement remained confined to the Swedish pre-selection only.

“But then, in 1980,” Berglund continues, “SVT decided they wanted just one person to conduct all entries in the Swedish pre-selection. The reasons were mostly economical, I think, because each conductor had to be paid. It seemed a little unnecessary to have different conductors in the national final – quite opposite to the Eurovision Song Contest, where each delegation had its own conductor to represent the country in what was, after all, an international event. I was the MD of the Melodifestival editions of 1980, 1981, and 1982; and, no matter who was the winning act or the song’s arranger, it was predetermined that I would be the conductor in the international contest. Each year when I was the musical director of Melodifestivalen, I wrote the scores to some of the songs, but there were many other arrangers involved as well."

Tomas Ledin and his backing group during rehearsals in The Hague

Sweden selected Tomas Ledin as its representative for the 1980 contest with a rock song called ‘Just nu!’, a daring choice for Eurovision in those days; the Swedish effort finished tenth in the festival held in The Hague, Netherlands. While ‘Just nu!’ had been performed entirely live in the Swedish final, it was decided upon to use a pre-recorded rhythm track for the Eurovision Song Contest.

“As usual with any Eurovision orchestra, the brass and strings in The Hague were very good. Tomas Ledin, however, correctly believed that bad percussion would have ruined his song and it must have been him who took the decision to play it safe and use a backing track. Usually, I tried to convince the producers and artists to work entirely live – simply because it was more fun – but, in this case, I understood Tomas’ choice, although the orchestra musicians in The Hague were pretty good and I am sure the rhythm section would have done well on our song."

"The rules concerning backing tracks in those days were clear. The instruments on the track had to be mimed on stage. Each of Tomas' four backing singers picked one instrument – the drummer on stage was actually a bass player, but all of that did not really matter. At the request of Tomas’ record company, I didn't wear a tuxedo for the broadcast that year, but a jacket with a badge ‘Just nu!’; it was part of the rock image they wanted to bring across. My most vivid memory of The Hague, however, was giving an interview to Viveca Lärn, who was a journalist writing for Aftonbladet in those days, seated under a grand piano during the reception for all delegations, because it was the least noisy place we could find!"

"This time, as in most of the following years in which I was involved as a conductor, I hadn't had a hand in the arrangement, but that didn't make a difference in terms of dedication. Going to Eurovision was fun, but I was in it to get as good a result as possible. Many of the artists were personal friends, which was an extra motivation to do the job to the best of my abilities.”

In 1981, Sweden was represented by Björn Skifs and another quite modern song, ‘Fångad i en dröm’, which was later featured in the musical Spök. For Skifs, it was his second Eurovision participation; in 1978, he had already represented Sweden in the contest held in Paris. The conductor that year had been Bengt Palmers, who also was the songwriter and arranger of ‘Fångad i en dröm’. In Dublin, Skifs finished tenth. 

Berglund (with glasses) and Björn Skifs in Dublin (Eurovision 1981)

"Going to Dublin with Skifs was good fun. Of course, I had been in Blue Swede with him, but I worked with him on many other occasions after the group had disbanded. It was nice teaming up with him for this Eurovision project. In Dublin, we had a good time. I remember we had a little party with the Swedish team in one of the hotel rooms. Björn, Bengt Palmers, and the backup vocals were there. We all had had a couple of beers and one of us came up with the idea, "Why don’t we use the sheets of the beds to dress up as Arabs?" That's the sort of thing musicians on tour tend to like doing. I must admit we had dressed up as sheiks before on tour in Sweden." 

"All covered in white sheets, we took the elevator down to the hotel lobby to have a drink at the bar. However, when the elevator doors opened downstairs, we saw the Israeli delegation was in the lobby bar. The Israelis were not known for taking half measures when it came to security. They usually had armed guards with them. We instantly realised that a group of Arabs appearing all of a sudden could have caused a little misunderstanding, especially given the political situation in the Middle East. Although we were slightly drunk, we did not want to push our luck… and we instantly pushed the button of the elevator to go back upstairs again!”

Sweden entered Eurovision 1982 with the female duo Chips (Elisabeth Andreasson & Kikki Danielsson) and a composition by Lasse Holm, ‘Dag efter dag’, which did quite well with 67 points and an eighth position on the scoreboard.

Berglund, commenting, “The song was in the style of Swedish schlager music and I cannot say that that is my favourite genre, but, in all fairness, ‘Dag efter dag’ was catchy and it worked well. The contest that year was held in England, in a provincial town called Harrogate… there was this impressive reception at a castle just outside the town in the beautiful surroundings of Yorkshire. As usual, the English did a very good job on the organisation and working with British musicians always is pure joy."

"The musical director in Harrogate, Ronnie Hazlehurst, was one of the conductors who I met in many Eurovisions. I wouldn't say we became friends, but it was certainly nice meeting up year after year. There were others, too, with whom I liked having a drink and a laugh… Allan Botschinsky and Henrik Krogsgaard from Denmark, for example; Richard Oesterreicher from Austria was a very nice guy as well.”

The duo Chips, Elisabeth Andreasson and Kikki Danielsson, rehearsing their performance of 'Dag efter dag' in Harrogate

After the 1983 Swedish entry had been conducted by Anders Ekdahl, all songs from Sweden between 1984 and the last Eurovision edition with an orchestra present, 1998, were conducted by either Curt-Eric Holmquist (when the national final was organized in Gothenburg) or Anders Berglund (in Stockholm). Holmquist’s first participation in ’84 brought Sweden victory with Herreys and ‘Diggi-loo, diggi-ley’; next year’s contest was held in Gothenburg with Holmquist himself naturally being chosen as its musical director. Hence, the next opportunity for Berglund to get involved in the Eurovision Song Contest was in 1986. To his major disappointment, though, there was no orchestra in the national final.

“They wanted to try another format, with video clips. I was so frustrated about this that I decided to compose a song myself, ‘Du forför mig’. Git Persson was the singer… it was up-tempo and quite modern. Although it made it to the final ten songs, it was not commercial enough to be a real winner.”

Berglund’s composition was beaten by ‘E’ de’ det här du kallar kärlek?’, a gimmicky song with some gospel elements penned by Lasse Holm. Holm himself performed it in a duet with Monica Törnell. This entry, perhaps helped by an extravagant stage presentation, managed to come fifth in the contest held in Bergen, Norway. Berglund had a busy week, as he had to subdivide his time between Norway and Sweden. 

“Swedish television asked me to conduct the orchestra there and I did, but there was another gig as well that week which was quite important for me; our king Carl Gustav celebrated his 40th birthday on the 30th of April, three days before the contest… and the group I was in at that time, Little Mike & The Sweet Soul Music Band, had been invited to perform at the concert in his honour. There was no question of turning the commission down. Fortunately, a solution was found which allowed me to do the gig without losing the Eurovision job. I flew with our delegation to Norway to do the first rehearsal and subsequently rushed back to Stockholm for the king’s concert. The Norwegian resident conductor Egil Monn-Iversen replaced me in the rehearsals which followed." 

"I was back in Bergen in time to do the dress rehearsal and the live broadcast. The Norwegian Radio Orchestra was very good and we played ‘E’ de’ det här du kallar kärlek?’ entirely live. Just to put on a good show, our delegation leader Sten Carlberg jumped onto the stage bare-chested with an electrical guitar in his hands, but his instrument was not plugged in and the guitar solo was played simultaneously by one of the members of the orchestra.”

Lasse Holm and Monica Törnell celebrating their victory in Melodifestivalen (1986)

Anders Berglund represented Sweden for the sixth time in the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, 1988. Tommy Körberg performed a Py Bäckman composition, ‘Stad i ljus’, with trumpet player Urban Agnas, who, just like Berglund, had been a member of the Sweet Soul Music Band, taking care of a wonderful instrumental solo played live on stage. Unfortunately, in spite of Körberg’s convincing performance, the impressive ballad was underrated by the jurors across Europe and came twelfth in a field of twenty-one competing entries. 

“When I was at a Eurovision Song Contest, I used to say to the artists that it is impossible to compete in music and that the final score does not tell you very much about the quality of a song… after all, it's not a football match, in which you simply count the number of goals scored to determine the winner. Eurovision is a perfect TV show, as it is a combination of entertainment and competition, but, essentially, awarding points to music is nonsensical! Our week in Dublin was not as comfortable as it could have been… the Swedish gutter press was after Tommy Körberg all the time, because he had an affair with an English singer who he knew from the musical Chess in London and everyone wanted to find out more about him and this girl. On top of that, Tommy, who is a gorgeous singer, fell ill and lost his voice for a couple of days. Fortunately, he recovered just in time for the Saturday broadcast.”

A memorable Swedish Eurovision entry was ‘En dag’, with which Tommy Nilsson participated in the contest in Lausanne, Switzerland (1989). An anthemic pop song written by Alexander Bard, Ola Håkansson, and Tim Norell, ‘En dag’ managed to pick up 110 points and a fourth place. While the original arrangement to the song had been written by two of the composers, Norell and Håkansson, in collaboration with Anders Hansson, it was Anders Berglund who re-worked this score to a live orchestration which was used in the Melodifestival and the international Eurovision final. Along with 'Beatles' from 1977, 'En dag' is the only song conducted by Anders which was also arranged by him. 

“It is the personal favourite among all Eurovision entries I was involved in. Tommy Nilsson is a very good singer and he had an all-star backing group with him. Jerry Williams, a big Swedish rock star with cult status, was in it. Our delegation had a great time in Switzerland, but when I think back of Lausanne, inevitably the Turkish conductor (Timur Selçuk - BT) comes to mind. I occasionally watched rehearsals of other countries and that guy’s style of conducting was so incredibly energetic! Traditionally, Turkey did very badly in the contest back then, but I liked the fact that the Turks always came up with a song which was instantly recognizable as a Turkish product. It's such a pity that songs from all different parts of Europe seem to sound so alike nowadays.”

Tommy Nilsson's all-star backing group on the Eurovision stage in Lausanne

In 1991, Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest for the third time, picking up 146 points with Stephan Berg’s up-tempo composition ‘Fångad av en stormvind’, performed by Carola (Häggkvist). Anders Berglund conducted this winning Swedish entry in Rome. 

“The festival in Rome was a special experience,” Berglund recalls. “It was staged in the Cinecittà film studios in the strangest staging I have ever seen! Obviously, Carola, being the diva that she is, was the star of the contest, with press photographers following her everywhere.”

"Working with the Italian orchestra musicians did not prove to be problematic at all… musicians have a language of their own and even those who do hardly understand any English, can be instructed by body language or universal terminology such as ‘andante’ and ‘forte’. The only tricky experience for me while working with an orchestra was with Robert Wells and Rhapsody In Rock in Russia, where people do not understand English at all and I often had to rely on one person, the concertmaster, who spoke a little English and transmitted my message to the others; not even the courses of classical conducting which I took in the 1980s could save me there! I didn't think the orchestra in Rome was that bad. In fact, the rhythm group was excellent. Only the saxophonist was kind of strange and problematic… he behaved as if he was from outer space!”

“Our rehearsals went very well, but in the concert the sound transmission for the singers on stage and the orchestra musicians fell out… for us, everything fell completely quiet – we couldn't hear anything we were doing! It only lasted for some ten seconds, but it felt like an eternity! Everyone on stage was panicking, myself included. As I was just about to stop the orchestra to start again, the sound came back and I decided to continue." 

"After coming off stage, I asked Carola and the backup vocals how they felt about the performance and they thought it was okay, although they had of course noticed what happened… but they still wanted me to check what it had been like on screen for the viewers. I ran up to the box where our commentator was and asked him to contact Stockholm. There, however, nobody had noticed a thing, so we decided to leave it there. Otherwise, we would certainly have submitted a protest, demanding the right to perform the song again. Listening back to the performance, the only thing you can actually hear is the orchestra’s bass guitarist playing some wrong notes."

"The voting was a tense affair, in which we finished with the same number of points as the French girl, but we were declared winners on account of a higher number of 12s and 10s awarded to us. We had been in a party mood anyway, because in advance of the dress rehearsal we had witnessed the Swedish ice hockey team winning the gold medal in the World Championships that afternoon; we were anxiously following the match on TV in our hotel. When we came down to the studio for the contest, we were really in the mood to go for gold ourselves as well! The celebrations after we won? I do not remember a thing!”

Tense moments for Carola and the Swedish delegation as the votes are coming in (Eurovision 1991)

Now that Sweden had won the contest, it was up to Malmö, the city where the national final in 1991 had been held, to stage the Eurovision Song Contest. Berglund, who feels the show is one of the highlights of his career, has detailed memories of the preparations leading up to the show.

“The producer there, Kåge Gimtell, was a guy who was extremely dedicated to the festival and he was the key factor in bringing about the magnificent production which the 1992 contest turned out to be. I was very happy when Kåge asked me to be the musical director of the show. After all, I had done Eurovision so many times now as a guest in other countries and I was really keen to show the rest of Europe the high standard of Swedish musicians. The most important thing for me to do now was contracting a group of able musicians for the orchestra. The strings and horns were from the Malmö Symphonic and the rhythm section was a mix of guys from Stockholm and Malmö."

"In the months leading up to the festival, I went down to Malmö several times for meetings with Kåge and the rest of the production team, discussing, among many other things, what kind of music to use for the introduction film and the interval act. For the intro, we decided to make an animation of a flight from Rome over Europe to Malmö, to which I composed the music. I was adamant that we did all this entirely live with the orchestra on the spot – no pre-recorded tracks were used at all!”

“Another thing I was watching closely was the sound technique. I had long discussions with the chief sound engineer. What concerned me most was the sound of the strings in the orchestra. It wouldn't have been the first time when TV viewers could hardly hear the violins because of the leakage from other instruments, especially from the rhythm group." 

"In the end, we decided to hire Semmy Stahlhammer, who is the concertmaster of the Swedish National Opera – a brilliant musician, but an able violin-technician as well. His solution was to replace the little button on the violins to which the strings are attached for a microphone. The musicians were apprehensive that Semmy would harm their instrument, but the fact that he was a violinist himself made it easier for them to put their trust in him. He loosened the strings of all instruments one by one and installed those little microphones. The result was just wonderful, with no leakage from the other instruments whatsoever. It would have taken too much time and money to do all this for an ordinary gig, but the production team agreed; after all, this was the Eurovision Song Contest!”

At work during the orchestral rehearsals in Malmö

“Before the host conductors from all participating countries came in, I naturally went through all scores and rehearsed those with the orchestra. There were no problems… except for the French song (France’s song was a mix of zouk and reggae, ‘Monté la riviè’, by Kali from Martinique in the French Caribbean). It was impossible to play from that score. There was no specification as to the different instruments – it was an insolvable riddle! It was very obvious that the arranger had never written a string arrangement before in his life. I saw no other option but to completely rewrite the arrangement for the French entry! As the arranger for France (Magdi Vasco Noverraz, also from Martinique - BT) was touring in Japan as a pianist at that time, he had to miss the first rehearsal, but he was flown in a couple of days later. When he came off the stairs to rehearse with the orchestra for the first time, you could literally see him becoming really nervous. It was obvious that he had expected a small combo and certainly not a fifty-piece-orchestra!”

“This guy never conducted an orchestra before in his life. I had to give him a quick conducting course, because he was not even able to count in the band correctly! Apparently, he didn't notice I had worked on the arrangement... well, he would have noticed if I had not rewritten it! In an aside, I had already instructed the musicians in the orchestra not to look at him. We decided to have the drummer of the band cross his sticks to count in the orchestra instead. It was somewhat surprised that France came up with such a conductor! Admittedly, he was a very pleasant chap, but the reason he was there was simply that he was a friend of the singer!"

"Neither he nor his backing musicians really took notice of the score, however, because they were having the time of their life in Sweden! They spent most of the week having fun with the beautiful hostesses who were supposed to look after them. These Rastafarian guys took them to all parties in Malmö! It was obvious that they were not really in it for the competition… they just wanted to have a good time, smoking some joints and enjoying the hospitality!”

Berglund continuing on the subject of his conducting colleagues in the Eurovision Song Contest, “At all those festivals I have been over the years, I was quite surprised by some of the conductors… I mean, there have been quite a lot who had no conducting skills whatsoever. Technically, they did not know what to do – and the gestures they made often puzzled the orchestra musicians. I was amazed how some of them got the invitation to conduct a Eurovision entry anyway!"

Rehearsing the Yugoslavian entry in Malmö

"Although in his case, we are talking about a schooled conductor, Paul Abela from Malta nearly made a capital mistake while counting in my orchestra in the 1992 contest. When he counted in the band, the musicians misread his gestures and started too early. It could have gone terribly wrong, but fortunately Paul and the orchestra picked themselves up and Malta, who had a fantastic singer, managed to do very well. (Malta’s contestant Mary Spiteri and her song ‘Little child’ finished third)

Anders Berglund himself conducted two entries: of course the Swedish song, ‘I morgon är en annan dag’, a ballad composed by Niklas Strömstedt and performed by Christer Björkman; and also the last-ever effort from Yugoslavia, ‘Ljubim te pesmama’. In the Yugoslavian pre-selection held in Belgrade, this most interesting entry (arranged by the man who had conducted the Yugoslavian entry the year before, Slobodan Marković) was conducted by Zvonimir Skerl, but for reasons which can only be guessed, he didn't accompany singer Extra Nena to Malmö. As was usual in the Eurovision Song Contest when a delegation did not bring a conductor of its own, the musical director of the festival took over. 

“The score of that song from Yugoslavia contained an accordion part," Berglund comments, "but as there was no accordionist in the orchestra, I decided to play it myself. Otherwise, that part would have had to be played with keyboards, which would have been a missed opportunity! I asked the singer and the delegation if they gave me permission and they actually really liked the idea. As for the Swedish entry, I did not pay that much attention to it, since there were so many other things to look after that week! To be honest, I did not believe in the song from the start… it was a rather good ballad, but really too mellow and too slow to succeed. On top of that, Mr Björkman is not much of a singer from my point of view! Therefore it did not come as a surprise to me when Sweden finished near the bottom.”

“Some time after the 1992 contest, I was telephoned by several musicians who had been in the orchestra, telling me that they had received a huge sum of money. They did not understand where it came from! They were unaware that all of them received a fee for each country in which the programme had been broadcast – so, all in all, more than twenty fees!”

Malmö 1992 - Carola Häggkvist (in white) flanked by competitors from five nations - the duo Heart 2 Heart (Iceland), Dafna Dekel (Israel), Mary Spiteri (Malta), Marion Welter (Luxembourg), and Evridiki (Cyprus)

In total, Anders Berglund was present at four editions of the Eurovision Song Contest which were held in Dublin. After his involvement in 1981 and 1988, he also conducted the Swedish entries in the festivals of 1994 and 1995, the both of which were held in the Point Theatre. In 1994, Sweden was represented by Marie Bergman and Roger Pontare with the ballad ‘Stjärnorna’, which came thirteenth, whereas the country’s 1995 effort ‘Se på mej’, performed by Jan Johansen, managed to pick up 100 points exactly and finished third. Berglund does not necessarily think back of the festival editions in Dublin as the easiest he was involved in.

“The RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the band of the Irish broadcaster, did not have the best rhythm group in the world. Employed musicians – after all, they were employees of Irish radio – sometimes lacked the motivation to give it their all. It was not even about playing the wrong notes, but about adding a little extra; when working on pop music, it is extremely important that the orchestra’s rhythm players put in all their effort and enthusiasm to get a result which is not just correct, but excellent. I usually work with freelancers, who are dependent on getting as much gigs as possible for their income and therefore are eager to perform as good as they possibly can!”

“As for the Irish organisation, I have no complaints whatsoever. I would like to stress that. We were escorted from our hotel to the theatre with a coach accompanied by police and we did not have to stop at traffic lights… that is what I call a VIP treatment!” (Finland's conductor Olli Ahvenlahti was on that same bus and also recalled the story in the interview we did with him - BT)

"In 1994, the Swedish beer company representing Guinness took our whole delegation on a day’s trip, starting at the Guinness factory, where we were allowed to taste different beers. After that, they brought us to a fantastic restaurant in the wonderful mountainous countryside just outside of Dublin… an old country house. We were served traditional Irish dishes and, of course, more beer. I have never had so much beer in my life as that day. The whole delegation, including the singers, left the building utterly drunk.”

The year after, 1995, Norway won the festival with a piece of Celtic music, ‘Nocturne’, by Rolf Løvland’s group Secret Garden. As it was nearly entirely instrumental, there was a discussion amongst some of the other participants if such a piece should be allowed to take part in the contest. 

When asked about his thoughts, Berglund comments, “I was certainly not among those who was against such an entry. It was a nice piece of music, whilst it also marked a turning point for the contest as a whole. Their approach of bringing in folk music was followed by many ethnically inspired entries from several countries in subsequent years. As Sweden had been the pre-contest favourite, the Swedish yellow press, thoroughly disappointed by the result, tried to create a row about the Norwegian group. People from other parts of Europe sometimes seem to think that Swedes and Norwegians really cannot stand each other, but the opposite is true; in fact, at the Eurovision Song Contest, our delegations always were very close and we usually organised a combined party. On behalf of Norway’s tourist board, there were these two guys called Trond & Trond, who brought along masses of delicious Norwegian seafood and liquor, which we thoroughly enjoyed. No, there was no question of us disliking each other. We may have been the pre-contest favourites, but I didn't think ‘Se på mej’ was strong enough to be a winner anyway. It was a good song, but that was about it."

A moment of relaxation at the Norwegian press party, Eurovision 1994, Dublin – Norway's conductor Pete Knutsen (far left) joining in a jam session with Anders Berglund (accordion), Norway’s arranger Rolf Løvland (guitar), and (in the foreground) NRK manager Trond Myhre (piano)

After Secret Garden’s victory, the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest was organized in the huge Oslo Spektrum. Sweden came third for the second year in a row with the group One More Time and their stylish song ‘Den vilda’. For Berglund, however, 1996 first and foremost was the year of the imminent ‘conductors’ strike’.

“During the first dress rehearsal, we noticed there was no conductor’s shot which had been customary in the festival since it began. We were a bit worried. With a couple of other conductors (Noel Kelehan, Paul Abela, and Olli Ahvenlahti - BT) I went to the producer to enquire what was going on. He then more or less asked us if it was a problem to leave the traditional presentation of the conductors out. Of course we said that it was a problem! Subsequently, we organized a secret meeting of the conductors of all delegations, in which we decided to submit a formal protest to the Norwegian organisation. Especially Olli Ahvenlahti from Finland, who is a good friend of mine, was very passionate about this. In the end, the production team backed down and the traditional presentation of the conductor before each song went on as usual."

In 1998, Berglund was the musical director for the Swedish entry in the last contest with an orchestra present, in Birmingham. Sweden came tenth with ‘Kärleken är’, composed by Håkan Almqvist and Bobby Ljunggren, who had also been responsible for ‘Se på mej’ three years before. The performer was a young singer from Ängelholm in Scania, Jill Johnson. 

“Jill and I had already worked together prior to the contest," Berglund adds. "She was one of the singers who toured with Robert Wells and Rhapsody In Rock. We became friends and, some of years after the contest, Jill performed at my wedding… she did a couple of songs, amongst which one I had composed especially for my wife. Later, she turned to country music… she is a wonderful singer indeed!”

Although the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem was the first not to have an orchestra to accompany all participants, Swedish TV organised a national final with a live band conducted by Anders Berglund. The selection was won by Charlotte Nilsson and ‘Tusen och en natt’. In Jerusalem, she went on to win the international final as well with the song’s English version, ‘Take Me To Your Heaven’. Berglund wasn't told until after Melodifestivalen that there was no point in coming along to Jerusalem. 

One More Time performing 'Den vilda' at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo

“When I found out there was to be no orchestra in Israel, I was mad! It was then that I suggested to go there as one of the commentators for Swedish TV instead. Our producer agreed and this meant I went to the contest for the first time as a journalist! Painfully enough, the first press bulletin I read was from Israeli television, which stated that, unfortunately, there would be no orchestra, but that they were extremely happy to have all lighting equipment imported from Germany by boat. It was all a matter of priority! Apparently, they put all their money in state-of-the-art light effects. Then, when they found out they did not have any budget left, they claimed the stage was too small to have an orchestra. It was strange that the Israelis were so proud of the fact that the lighting was shipped from Germany. I mean, it is nice Israel and Germany made up, but for me this press statement made it clear what direction the contest was going!”

“As Sweden won in Jerusalem, the contest came to Stockholm in 2000. The production team here, however, was headed by Svante Stockselius. Stockselius was one of the people who wanted to get rid of the orchestra. This meant there was not much of an opportunity to bring up the issue. Stockselius’ mind had been made up anyway. I tried to push SVT to reconsider the decision, but it was no use. I really was devastated not to be involved in that event."

"After all these years, I am still convinced that the contest would be better off with live music. When I was preparing the 2011 Pride Festival in Stockholm, an open-air event with many Eurovision stars from past and present singing their song, I found that all artists wanted to be accompanied by my orchestra, even those who had participated after 1998. I must give credit to the production teams for Melodifestivalen and the Eurovision Song Contest who have time and again succeeded in organizing a wonderful TV event, but they don't understand what the magic of real music is. There should at least be the option of using live music, but they even forbid that! We will simply have to wait for an influential person in the organisation of the Eurovision Song Contest who is interested in turning this TV show into a music competition again.”

In 2000, Anders Berglund played a minor role in Livet är en schlager, a TV comedy film by Susanne Bier and Jonas Gardell about the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2000 and 2001, he was a juror for the Estonian pre-selection and helped the Baltic state selecting songs which finished in fourth (2000) and first (2001) place respectively. Looking back, would he say the Eurovision Song Contest is an important part of his CV? 

“The funny thing is that the contest did not take that much time; usually, just two weeks: one week on the Melodifestival and then another week doing the international contest in a foreign country. Although the job was easy, I became a household name in Swedish showbiz largely thanks to my appearances in the festival. The event has always generated such huge publicity in Sweden! People in the street still remind me of my involvement in the contest occasionally. So I would say that the Eurovision Song Contest was certainly important for me as a musician, although what was more important was that I absolutely loved every minute spent working on the event.”

In a concert with Jill Johnsson - Berwaldhallen, Stockholm (2015)

OTHER ARTISTS ABOUT ANDERS BERGLUND

Curt-Eric Holmquist conducted in six editions of the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden between 1984 and 1997. “In 1984, when I was the musical director of Melodifestivalen in Sweden for the first time, I phoned Anders for advice. He had all the experience and I felt it would be silly to try to invent the wheel all by myself. There were no hard feelings on Anders’ part that I did the job he had done several times before – on the contrary, he was very friendly and he gave me some reliable advice. We have had a nice working relationship since.” (2011)

Arild Stav was the Norwegian conductor in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, when Berglund represented Sweden for the sixth time as a musical director. “My first encounter with Anders must have been in 1982 or 1983, when I was the saxophonist in the accompanying band of Anita Skorgan and Jahn Teigen. We did a TV gig in Stockholm and Anders conducted the orchestra there. He is a very friendly guy… being more flexible than most other arrangers and conductors, he was the perfect man to do a gig such as the Eurovision Song Contest; he makes things happen in a very proper and good way for the artists.” (2011)

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

Country – Sweden
Song title – "Beatles"
Rendition – Forbes (Peter Björk / Claes Bure / Roger Capello / Peter Forbes / Anders Hector / Chino Mariano)
Lyrics – Sven-Olof Bagge
Composition – Claes Bure
Studio arrangement – Anders Berglund / Claes Bure / Peter Björk
Live orchestration – Anders Berglund
Conductor - Anders Berglund
Score – 18th place (2 votes)


Country – Sweden
Song title – "Just nu!"
Rendition – Tomas Ledin
Lyrics – Tomas Ledin
Composition – Tomas Ledin
Studio arrangement – Tomas Ledin / Rutger Gunnarsson
Live orchestration – Rutger Gunnarsson
Conductor – Anders Berglund
Score – 10th place (47 votes)


Country – Sweden
Song title – "Fångad i en dröm"
Rendition – Björn Skifs
Lyrics – Bengt Palmers / Björn Skifs
Composition – Bengt Palmers / Björn Skifs
Studio arrangement – Bengt Palmers
Live orchestration – Bengt Palmers
Conductor – Anders Berglund
Score – 10th place (50 votes)


Country – Sweden
Song title – "Dag efter dag"
Rendition – Chips (Elisabeth Andreasson & Kikki Danielsson)
Lyrics – Monica Forsberg
Composition – Lasse Holm 
Studio arrangement – Rutger Gunnarsson / Lasse Holm / 
Torgny Söderberg
Live orchestration – Anders Engberg
Conductor – Anders Berglund
Score – 8th place (67 votes)


Country – Sweden
Song title – "E’ de’ det här du kallar kärlek?"
Rendition – Lasse Holm & Monica Törnell
Lyrics – Lasse Holm
Composition – Lasse Holm
Studio arrangement – Lennart Sjöholm
Live orchestration – Lennart Sjöholm
Conductor – Anders Berglund
Score – 5th place (78 votes)


Country – Sweden
Song title – "Stad i ljus"
Rendition – Tommy Körberg 
Lyrics – Py Bäckman
Composition – Py Bäckman
Studio arrangement – Stefan Nilsson / Mats Wester
Live orchestration – Stefan Nilsson / Mats Wester
Conductor – Anders Berglund
Score – 12th place (52 votes)


Country – Sweden
Song title – "En dag"
Rendition – Tommy Nilsson
Lyrics – Alexander Bard / Ola Håkansson / Tim Norell
Composition – Ola Håkansson / Tim Norell
Studio arrangement – Ola Håkansson / Anders Hansson / 
  Tim Norell
Live orchestration – Anders Berglund
Conductor – Anders Berglund
Score – 4th place (110 votes)


Country – Sweden
Song title – "Fångad av en stormvind"
Rendition – Carola Häggkvist
Lyrics – Stephan Berg
Composition – Stephan Berg
Studio arrangement – Stephan Berg 
Live orchestration – Lennart Sjöholm
Conductor – Anders Berglund
Score – 1st place (146 votes)


Country – Sweden
Song title – "I morgon är en annan dag"
Rendition – Christer Björkman
Lyrics – Niklas Strömstedt
Composition – Niklas Strömstedt
Studio arrangement – Ulf Janson / Niklas Strömstedt
Live orchestration – Ulf Janson
Conductor – Anders Berglund (MD)
Score – 22nd place (9 votes)


Country – Yugoslavia 
Song title – "Ljubim te pesmama"
Rendition – Extra Nena 
Lyrics – Gale Janković
Composition – Radivoje Radivojević
Studio arrangement – Slobodan Marković 
(Veliki Revijski Orkestar conducted by Zvonimir Skerl)
Live orchestration – Slobodan Marković
(orchestra in Yugoslavian national final conducted by Zvonimir Skerl)
Conductor – Anders Berglund (MD)
Score – 13th place (44 votes)


Country – Sweden
Song title – "Stjärnorna"
Rendition – Marie Bergman & Roger Pontare 
Lyrics – Mikael Littvold
Composition – Peter Bertilsson
Studio arrangement – Peter Bertilsson / Mikael Littvold / 
Esbjörn Svensson
Live orchestration – Esbjörn Svensson
Conductor – Anders Berglund
Score – 13th place (48 votes)


Country – Sweden
Song title – "Se på mej"
Rendition – Jan Johansen
Lyrics – Ingela “Pling” Forsman
Composition – Håkan Almqvist / Bobby Ljunggren
Studio arrangement – Håkan Almqvist / Bobby Ljunggren
Live orchestration – Lennart Sjöholm
Conductor – Anders Berglund
Score – 3rd place (100 votes)


Country – Sweden
Song title – "Den vilda"
Rendition – One More Time 
(Nanne Grönvall / Peter Grönvall / Maria Rådsten)
Lyrics – Nanne Grönvall
Composition – Peter Grönvall
Studio arrangement – Ulf Söderberg 
Live orchestration – Hans Gardemar
Conductor – Anders Berglund
Score audio semi-final – 1st place (227 votes)
Score final – 3rd place (100 votes)


Country – Sweden
Song title – "Kärleken är"
Rendition – Jill Johnson
Lyrics – Ingela “Pling” Forsman
Composition – Håkan Almqvist / Bobby Ljunggren
Studio arrangement – Håkan Almqvist / Bobby Ljunggren 
Live orchestration – Lennart Sjöholm
Conductor – Anders Berglund
Score – 10th place (53 votes)


1999 Jerusalem
Country – Sweden
Song title – "Take Me To Your Heaven (Tusen och en natt)"
Rendition – Charlotte Nilsson
Swedish lyrics – Gert Lengstrand
English lyrics – Marcos Ubeda
Composition – Lars "Dille" Diedricson
Studio arrangement – Mikael Wendt
Live orchestration (Swedish final) – Mikael Wendt
Conductor (Swedish final) – Anders Berglund
Conductor (international final) – none
Score – 1st place (163 votes)



SOURCES & LINKS
  • Bas Tukker and Tin Španja interviewed Anders Berglund in Stockholm, July 2011
  • The best source of information about the Melodifestival and probably the best book ever published about the Eurovision Song Contest: Leif Thorsson, “Melodifestivalen genom tiderna. Århundradets svenska uttagningar och internationella finaler”, Stockholm (ed. Premium) 1999 (first edition)
  • Thanks to Curt-Eric Holmquist and Arild Stav for their additional comments
  • Photos courtesy of Anders Berglund, Rui dos Reis, Kato Hansen, and Ferry van der Zant
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