Siw Malmkvist

Last updated

Siw Malmkvist
Siw Malmkvist 2011-04-26 001.jpg
Malmkvist in 2011
Background information
Birth nameSiw Gunnel Margareta Malmkvist
Born (1936-12-31) 31 December 1936 (age 87)
Landskrona, Sweden
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • actress
Years active1957–present
Musical career
Genres Schlager
Instrument(s)Vocals

Siw Gunnel Margareta Malmkvist (born 31 December 1936) is a Swedish schlager singer and actress [1] [2] popular in Scandinavia and West Germany. [3] She had a number one hit in West Germany in 1964 with "Liebeskummer lohnt sich nicht" ("Lovesickness Is Not Worthwhile"), and on 18 July 1964 she became the first Swede to have a hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, when "Sole Sole Sole", a duet with Italian singer Umberto Marcato, entered the chart, peaking at No. 58.

Contents

Early life

Malmkvist was born in Landskrona, Skåne County, the youngest child of Sigrid and Albert Malmkvist. She had eight siblings, and her early childhood was marked by World War II; although Sweden was a neutral country, the risk of invasion was felt acutely in Landskrona, located only 22 km from the Danish capital on the other side of Öresund. Albert Malmkvist was called up as a soldier. [4]

Career

In 1955, the 18-year-old Malmkvist won a talent show, which resulted in her being hired as a singer by Arne Domnérus. Her first recording, Tweedle Dee, was released in the same year. She was signed by the record company Metronome in 1958, being touted as the new Alice Babs, and in 1959 she became a TV host, in the entertainment Stora Famnen created by Lennart Hyland. [4]

Having had some 40 hits on Swedish radio chart Svensktoppen and 20 on the German singles chart, she has altogether recorded about 600 songs (and has made recordings in ten different languages: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Dutch, German, English, French, Italian and Spanish) throughout the past five decades, which makes her one of the most productive and successful Swedish female singers. Her biggest success in Sweden is "Tunna Skivor", the Swedish version of Connie Francis' "Everybody's Somebody's Fool". It was #1 for two months (15/8-15/10) according to the Swedish music paper Show Business "Best selling records chart".

As an actor, Malmkvist has performed in stage plays, musicals and in films. She played Pippi Longstocking in the popular children musical production of Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking in 1980, appeared in the musical version of Some Like It Hot (see Sugar ) and she played the part of Luisa in the original Swedish – and European – production of Maury Yeston's musical Nine in 1983.

In 2002, she appeared as the Mother in Hasse Alfredson's stage play Lille Ronny at Maximteatern. Together with actor Thorsten Flinck, she recorded a popular Swedish cover of Nick Cave/Kylie Minogue's 1995 hit "Where the Wild Roses Grow".

In 2008 and 2009, she played the part of Fräulein Schneider in the musical Cabaret at the Stockholm City Theatre, directed by Colin Nutley.

Siw Malmkvist and Lee Hazlewood in 1968 Lee Hazlewood and Siw Malmkvist in 1968.jpg
Siw Malmkvist and Lee Hazlewood in 1968

Malmkvist has been a contestant in the Swedish Melodifestivalen, which is the qualifying contest for the Eurovision Song Contest, as well as at the European event, several times. She represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 in London with "Alla andra får varann". In the following year Malmkvist sang "April, april" together with Gunnar Wiklund at that year's Melodifestivalen; the song won, and was performed by Barbro "Lill-Babs" Svensson as the Swedish representative at the international Contest, held in Cannes.

At the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 in Madrid, Malmkvist sang the West German entry "Primaballerina", which finished in the 9th place. She performed the song "C'est la vie" together with Towa Carson and Ann-Louise Hanson, at Melodifestivalen 2004. [5]

She was married to Lasse Mårtenson who represented Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 1964. [6]

Malmkvist was supposed to be a celebrity dancer in Let's Dance 2020 on TV4, but because of the coronavirus restrictions she could not participate. [7]

In 2023, Malmkvist was a guest celebrity judge in the episode MARATHON Talent Hunt of the Swedish language reality television series Drag Race Sverige broadcast on SVT1 and SVT Play.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pernilla Wahlgren</span> Swedish singer and actress

Pernilla Nina Elisabet Wahlgren is a Swedish singer and actress. She has sung in Melodifestivalen several times; her 1985 entry titled "Piccadilly Circus" became popular and successful. She has acted in several plays and films, playing roles including Esmeralda in the Academy Award-winning Fanny and Alexander. She has twice received the Guldmasken award for her work in theater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">In the Club (song)</span> 2011 single by Danny Saucedo

"In the Club" is an English language song by Swedish singer Danny Saucedo. The song is written by Figge Boström, Peter Boström and Saucedo himself. Saucedo participated in Melodifestivalen 2011, singing the song, in a bid to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlotte Perrelli</span> Musical artist

Anna Jenny Charlotte Perrelli, known simply until 2003 as Charlotte Nilsson and later as Charlotte Perrelli, is a Swedish singer and television host. Under her maiden name, she won the 1999 Melodifestivalen and subsequently that year's Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Un jour, un enfant</span> 1969 single by Frida Boccara

"Un jour, un enfant" is one of four winning songs in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, this one being sung in French by Frida Boccara representing France. The other three winners were Salomé representing Spain with "Vivo cantando", Lulu representing the United Kingdom with "Boom Bang-a-Bang" and Lenny Kuhr representing the Netherlands with "De troubadour".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primaballerina</span>

"Primaballerina" is a 1969 song performed in German by Swedish singer Siw Malmkvist and written by Hans Blum. It was the German entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969. Malmkvist was the second of three female Scandinavian schlager artists to represent Germany in the contest in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the first being Norwegian Wenche Myhre in 1968 with "Ein Hoch der Liebe" and the third Danish Gitte Hænning with "Junger Tag" in 1973. Malmkvist had previously also represented her native Sweden in the 1960 contest with "Alla andra får varann".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Towa Carson</span> Swedish singer

Birgit Rose-Marie Anlert, known professionally as Towa Carson, is a Swedish schlager singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bra vibrationer (song)</span>

"Bra vibrationer", written by Ingela Forsman and composed by Lasse Holm, was the Swedish entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1985, performed by Kikki Danielsson.

Melodifestivalen is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almost every year since 1959.

Sweden was in their second Eurovision Song Contest represented by Brita Borg with the song "Augustin". The winning song was elected in the Swedish national final: Melodifestivalen 1959. Eight semi-finals were held on the radio. During the semi-finals, Sveriges Radio decided that the winning song would represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 1959. The singer for Cannes had already been selected.

Sweden chose its entry for Eurovision Song Contest 1960 by the national final, Melodifestivalen 1960. The winning song, "Alla andra får varann" was performed once by Östen Warnerbring and once by Ingrid Berggren. However Sveriges Radio decided that Siw Malmkvist would represent Sweden, as she had been denied that the previous year.

Sweden chose their entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 through Melodifestivalen 1961. The song "April, april", performed once with Siw Malmkvist, once with Gunnar Wiklund, won. However, none of them was considered acceptable for singing in ESC, so Lill-Babs was chosen as representative instead. In the contest, once more held in Cannes, she finished in 14th place.

Sweden chose their entrant for Eurovision Song Contest 1969 through Melodifestivalen 1969. A tie occurred between two songs, but after additional voting, the song "Judy, min vän" with Tommy Körberg was selected. It was written by Roger Wallis and Britt Lindeborg. The other song, "Hej clown" was written by Lasse Berghagen and later ABBA member Benny Andersson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lasse Mårtenson</span> Musical artist

Lars Anders Fredrik "Lasse" Mårtenson was a Finnish singer, composer, actor, and theater conductor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Östen Warnerbring</span> Musical artist

Östen Warnerbring, also known as Östen med Rösten, was a Swedish singer, musician, composer, and lyrics writer who mastered several musical genres. He started as a jazz musician but over the years, he became known as a singer of other popular music, such as schlager music, and of Swedish poetry put into music by himself. In the 1970s, he became one of the first Swedish artists to use his native accent, of the province of Scania (Skåne) in the south of Sweden, also while singing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brita Borg</span>

Brita Kerstin Gunvor Borg was a Swedish singer, actress, and variety show artist. Her variety show career spanned from 1943 into the 1970s, while her singing career trailed away at the end of the 1960s. However, she was still an active actress in the 1980s. Borg represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 in Cannes.

Germany competed at the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, held in Madrid, Spain. ARD, the German broadcaster, used a national final to select their entry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gitte Hænning</span> Danish actress

Gitte Hænning is a Danish singer and film actress, who rose to fame as a child star in the 1950s.

"Sjörövar-Fabbe" is a Swedish shanty-style children's song originally written by Georg Riedel and Astrid Lindgren for the film Pippi in the South Seas in 1970. The lyrics are about Pippi Longstocking's great grandfather Fabian "Fabbe" Longstocking who was a feared pirate captain on all seven seas. The last line of the chorus "Tjoa hadelittan lej" is a nonsense phrase. The song was originally performed by Pippi Longstocking actress Inger Nilsson who published it in 1975 as B-side of the single "Här kommer Pippi Långstrump". In 2001, it was covered as a crossover version with the melody of Dio's "Holy Diver" by the Swedish metal band Black Ingvars. Other Swedish versions are by Plura Jonsson in 1999, by Siw and Tove Malmkvist in 2003 and by Johanna Grüssner and Mika Pohjola who performed a jazz version of this song in 2006. A Norwegian version with lyrics by Marit Trulsrud is by Anita Hegerland and Frank Cook from 1970. There is also a German version called "Seeräuber-Opa Fabian" with lyrics by Helmut Harun. It was first performed by actress Eva Mattes in 1970 and covered in 2012 by German singer Lena Meyer-Landrut for the compilation album Giraffenaffen.

This is a list of Swedish television-relatedevents from 1959.

This is a list of Swedish television related events from 1961.

References

  1. ↑ Ericson, Uno "Myggan" (1992). "Malmkvist, Siw". Myggans nöjeslexikon. Vol. 11. pp. 30–31.
  2. ↑ "Siw Malmkvist". discogs. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  3. ↑ Siw Malmqvist biographical entry in Nationalencyklopedin
  4. 1 2 Gänger, Hasse (11 February 2016). "Siw Malmkvist – fattigtösen från Landskrona som blev internationell schlagerdrottning". Land . Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  5. ↑ "Om Diggiloo | Diggiloo® 2024". Diggiloo (in Swedish). Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  6. ↑ Ahm, Leif (22 March 1964). "Små søde tralala". Politiken (in Danish). p. 8. OCLC   224543818.
  7. ↑ "Siw Malmkvist stoppas från "Let's dance"". Aftonbladet. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
Preceded by Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
1960 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
1969 		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.