Paula Julie Abdul is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographer for the Laker Girls, where she was discovered by the Jacksons. After choreographing music videos for Janet Jackson, Abdul became a choreographer at the height of the music video era and soon thereafter she was signed to Virgin Records. Her debut studio album Forever Your Girl (1988) became one of the most successful debut albums at that time, selling seven million copies in the United States and setting a record for the most number-one singles from a debut album on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: "Straight Up", "Forever Your Girl", "Cold Hearted", and "Opposites Attract". Her second album Spellbound (1991) scored her two more chart-toppers – "Rush Rush" and "The Promise of a New Day". With six number-one singles on Hot 100, Abdul tied Diana Ross for the third-most chart-toppers among female solo artists at the time.
Tummel is a Swedish/Danish klezmer band formed in 1997. Tummel plays music that combines traditional klezmer sounds with influences from jazz and the folk music of Sweden and the former Yugoslavia.
Agnes Emilia Carlsson, known mononymously as Agnes, is a Swedish singer. She rose to fame as the winner of Idol 2005, the second season of the Swedish Idol series. She was then signed to Sony Music, through which she released her self-titled debut album, Agnes, and follow-up, Stronger, both of which topped the Swedish Top 60 Albums Chart. In early 2008, it was announced that Agnes had parted ways with her record label, and was now signed to small independent label Roxy Recordings. Released on 28 October 2008, her third album, Dance Love Pop, reached number five in Sweden, 70 in Austria, 38 in France, 45 in Switzerland and 13 in the United Kingdom. With 200,000 albums sold worldwide this is her most successful album, 50,000 albums were sold in France, 40,000 in Sweden. Its first two singles, "On and On" and "Release Me" became international hits, reaching the top-ten in charts worldwide. "Release Me" topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs and peaked at three in the United Kingdom, selling over 900,000 copies worldwide.
Daniel Breitholtz is a Swedish former A&R-manager at Sony BMG. Together with voice coach Kishti Tomita, manager and talent scout Peter Swartling and producer, musician and disc jockey Claes "Clabbe" af Geijerstam, he was part of the Idol 2004, Idol 2005, Idol 2006 and Idol 2007 jury.
Idol is a Swedish reality-competition talent show broadcast on TV4. It first appeared in August 2004, and became one of the most popular shows on Swedish television. Part of the Idols franchise, it originated from the reality program Pop Idol created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller, which was first aired in 2001 in the United Kingdom.
Daniel Gabriel Alessandro Saucedo Grzechowski, known professionally as Danny Saucedo or simply Danny, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. He rose to fame as one of the finalists in Idol 2006, the Swedish version of Idol, where he reached the top six.
The fourth season of Swedish Idol premiered on September 3, 2007, and continued until its grand finale on 7 December, when 28-year-old Marie Picasso was crowned winner. It was the first season to feature an all-female finale, and is to date the only season to crown a winner who had previously fallen into the 'bottom three' during the finals, with Picasso landing there twice. It was the first season to hold its grand finale at the Globen Arena in Stockholm, and to date holds the record for the largest live audience at an Idol final anywhere in the world, with a crowd of 16,000 people. The finale also featured a live performance by Kelly Clarkson. It was the final season to feature judges Daniel Breitholtz, Peter Swartling and Kishti Tomita, who all bowed out for various personal reasons. Season 4 of Idol is also credited with discovering the unique talent of runner-up Amanda Jenssen, who went on to achieve enormous commercial and critical success in Sweden, and steady international notoriety.
"Hero" is a 2008 pop song performed by the Swedish singer Charlotte Perrelli, written by Fredrik Kempe and Bobby Ljunggren. It was entered into the Melodifestivalen 2008, winning at the Globen arena on 15 March 2008. Due to this, it represented Sweden at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, Serbia.
Alice Cecilia Linh Svensson is a Vietnamese-born Swedish singer. At the age of ten months, Svensson was adopted from her home country Vietnam, and moved to Sweden with her family, and she has since lived in Hedesunda. She finished as runner-up in Idol 2008 and later took part in Melodifestivalen 2017 with the song "Running with Lions".
Party of the Swedes was a Neo-Nazi political party in Sweden. The party described itself as nationalist and sought to limit Swedish citizenship only to individuals who belong to the "Western genetic and cultural legacy". From 2013 to 2015 the party leader was Stefan Jacobsson. The party dissolved on 10 May 2015 due to lack of members.
Idol 2009 was the sixth season of the Swedish idol series and was broadcast by TV 4. The jury, identical to the previous year, consisted of Anders Bagge, Laila Bagge and Andreas Carlsson. Peter Jihde, the show's host, was also a continuation of the previous year's cast. The audition cities visited during the spring of 2009 were Gothenburg, Gävle, Malmö, Stockholm and Umeå, respectively. Around 11,000 people applied for Idol 2009, establishing a new Swedish record.
Calle Kristiansson is a Swedish singer, who came first runner-up in Idol 2009 after the winner Erik Grönwall.
Eric Khaled Saade, is a Swedish singer and songwriter.
Christopher Edward Medina is an American-Norwegian singer born in Chicago, Illinois. In late 2010 he auditioned for American Idol making it to the top 40 before being eliminated. He is most famous for his hit "What Are Words", which reached number 1 in Sweden and Norway; it also charted in Denmark and made it to number 83 on Billboard Hot 100.
Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui, known professionally as Loreen, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Representing Sweden, she has won the Eurovision Song Contest twice – in 2012 and 2023 – with the songs "Euphoria" and "Tattoo". She is the second performer and the first and only woman to have won the competition twice to date.
Amanda Linnea Fondell is a Swedish singer and winner of the eighth series of Swedish Idol, which she won on 9 December 2011 with 52% of the votes.
Ellen Linnea Petrea Henriksson is a Swedish singer and songwriter who participated in Idol 2010 in which she placed fourth. As of April 2018, she is also the lead singer of the jazz band Prylf. In 2012, Henriksson released her first music album, which she co-wrote and co-produced with singer Orup. During mid-2013, Henriksson toured Sweden with the band Gyllene Tider.
Negar Nikki Amini, is an Iranian-born Swedish marketer at Universal Music Groups office in London. Since 2016, she has served as a judge on the Swedish version of Idol broadcast on TV4 - 2016 alongside Fredrik Kempe and Quincy Jones III, and since 2017 alongside Kishti Tomita, Alexander Kronlund and Anders Bagge. She confirmed after 2020's final show that she will not appear in the next season of the show. Having begun her career as a marketer for the record label Warner Music, Amini has worked with musicians including Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Avicii and Justin Bieber. She participated in Let's Dance 2018 broadcast on TV4.
Anna Cornelia Jakobsdotter Samuelsson, known professionally as Cornelia Jakobs, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song "Hold Me Closer", placing fourth.
