Carola Häggkvist

This article is about Swedish singer Carola. For the Finnish singer, see Carola Standertskjöld .

Carola, 2009

Carola Maria Häggkvist (born September 8, 1966 in Hägersten near Stockholm ), known by the stage name Carola, is a Swedish pop singer and songwriter who is one of the most successful singers in her home country with nine number one albums. It is also very popular in Norway . She became known internationally through three participations in the Eurovision Song Contest . With Fångad av en stormvind she won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1991 .

Career

Carola started singing as a child. She took singing lessons and successfully participated in many youth competitions. Subsequently, she was given numerous television appearances. At the time of her big breakthrough in 1983, she attended the Stockholm Music High School "Adolf Fredriks musikklasser". She first became known in Sweden in 1983 with the Schlager Främling , with which she was third in the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest . The English version Love Isn't Love reached number 68 in the singles charts in Germany, while the Dutch version Je ogen hebben geen secret reached number four in the Netherlands. With around one million units sold, the Främling album is still the best-selling album in Sweden. In 1986 she released the English language album Runaway , which was produced by Maurice Gibb .

In 1990 she was second in the Swedish preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest with the title Mitt i ett aventyr . With Fångad av en stormvind she won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1991 a year later. The English version Captured by a Lovestorm was a big hit in Sweden and a small success in the Benelux countries and Austria. Another success brought her a role in the musical The Sound of Music in 1995 , in which she appeared together with Tommy Körberg . In 1999 she released the Christmas album J ul i Betlehem , which became the best-selling album of the year in Sweden. Since then, other successful Christmas albums have been released and the accompanying tours are very successful every year. In 2003, on her 20th stage anniversary, Carola released the album Guld, platina och passion: Det bästa med Carola , which reached number one on the Swedish album charts.

In 2006 she represented Sweden again at the Eurovision Song Contest with her song Invincible . In the national Swedish qualification, she first won one of the preliminary rounds in Gothenburg with the Swedish version of the song, Evighet, and thus moved into the final on March 18 in Stockholm. She was traded as a favorite in advance and received over 437,000 telephone votes, around 70,000 more than the runner-up. So she was able to win the final in front of the BWO group and Andreas Johnson , although the latter got the most points from the jury. On May 18, she came fourth in the semi-finals in Athens (214 points) and qualified for the final round. She finished there on May 20th (170 points). With places three, one and five, she is one of the most successful participants in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest.

In the run-up to the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, Carola made a name for herself through negative comments about homosexuals . Carola, who is considered a devout Christian , attacked the influence of the "homolobby" at the song contest and said in other conversations that homosexuality is "curable". She told a Swedish newspaper, among other things, " If someone prays sincerely enough, he can be redeemed from his homosexuality" . Since the Eurovision Song Contest is very popular among homosexuals, the indignation among the fans about Carola's statement was even greater. She has been referred to as " Donna Summer of the Eurovision Song Contest" . Carola itself always tried in press conferences during the Song Contest, to rebut the allegations and argued that she had that statement as not taken. The anger among fans of the Eurovision Song Contest, however, remained untamed.

Also in May 2006 her album Från nu till evighet was released in Scandinavia , which was able to place in the charts in Finland, Norway and Sweden. In Sweden the CD reached platinum status just two days after its release. In July 2006 Carola embarked on a major tour through Sweden and recorded a duet with Andrea Bocelli called Because We Believe . In August 2006 she was voted the best singer in Sweden by the viewers of the popular television show Folktoppen .

In February and March 2008 Carola again took part in the Swedish Melodifestivalen , with the aim of representing Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade. She sang the title One Love in a duo with Andreas Johnson . Although a direct qualification of the title for the Swedish final was expected, he could not prevail in one of the preliminary rounds against the competition.

In 2011 she released a tribute album to Elvis Presley and Barbra Streisand with Elvis, Barbra & jag .

Two years later, in the finale of the Melodifestival 2013 , she presented a new, modernized dance-pop version by Främling for the 30th anniversary of the title.

In the fall of 2014, Carola took part in the fifth season of Så mycket bättre .

Carola is not to be confused with her Finnish namesake Carola , who was also a famous singer in the 1960s and 1970s and who died in 1997.

Private

During Bible studies in Norway , she met the preacher Runar Søgaard in 1987, whom she later married. The marriage, which did not last long, produced a son.

Participation in the Eurovision Song Contest and preliminary decisions

year		title	country	language	space Preliminary decision	space ESC	German Charts	Swedish Charts	Norwegian Charts
1983	Carola	Främling	Sweden	Swedish	1	3	68 a	5	1
1990	Carola	Mitt i ett aventyr	Sweden	Swedish	2	-	-	5	-
1991	Carola	Fångad av en stormvind	Sweden	Swedish	1	1	-	3	6th
2006	Carola	Evighet / Invincible	Sweden	Swedish (preliminary decision) English (ESC final)	1	5	-	1	8th
2008	Johnson & Haggkvist c	One love	Sweden	English	Andra chansen b	-	-	11	-

^{a The English version,} Love Isn't Love , reached the German charts . This version also reached number seven in Belgium.

^{b One Love had reached third place in the second semifinals and therefore had to "Andra chansen" in the second chance round . There it came to a duel with the duo Nordman, which won this one.}

^{c Both at the Melodifestivalen 2008 and on the single release, Andreas Johnson and Carola Häggkvist were only named by their last name.}

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		SE	NO
1983	Främling	SE1 (12 weeks) SE	NO2 (28 weeks) NO
	Julefrid with Carola	-	NO12 (3 weeks) NO	EP
1984	Footbridge for footbridge	SE1 (6 weeks) SE	NO2 (13 weeks) NO
	På egna ben	SE5 (3 weeks) SE	NO10 (8 weeks) NO
1986	Runaway	SE2 (6 weeks) SE	NO9 (4 weeks) NO
1990	Much more	SE16 gold (5 weeks)SE	-
1991	Hits	SE20th gold (4 weeks)SE	-
	Jul	SE15th platinum (5 weeks)SE	-
1993	My tribute	SE21st gold (9 weeks)SE	-
1994	Personligt	SE14th gold (11 weeks)SE	-
1995	Sound Of Music	SE15th gold (9 weeks)SE	-	with Tommy Körberg
1996	Hits Vol. 2	SE50 (2 weeks) SE	-
1997	Det bästa av Carola	SE40 (4 weeks) SE	-
1998	Blott en dag	SE24 (9 weeks) SE	NO32 (6 weeks) NO
1999	Jul i Bethlehem	SE1 × 2 Double platinum (49 weeks)SE	NO6 (8 weeks) NO
2001	So på min arm - sånger för stora och små	SE1 gold (22 weeks)SE	NO18 (4 weeks) NO
	My show	SE6 (15 weeks) SE	-
2003	Guld Platina & Passion - Det Bästa	SE1 × 4 Quadruple platinum (66 weeks)SE	NO5 (7 weeks) NO
2004	Creed	SE2 gold (16 weeks)SE	-
2005	Disturb from common	SE1 gold (24 weeks)SE	NO16 (4 weeks) NO
	Guld platina & passion - det mesta	SE44 (2 weeks) SE	-
2006	Från nu till evighet	SE1 platinum (16 weeks)SE	NO25 (2 weeks) NO
2007	I denna natt blir världen ny	SE1 platinum (10 weeks)SE	NO12 (7 weeks) NO
2008	Främling 25 år	SE2 gold (7 weeks)SE	-
	25 År Som Artist / Aftonbladet	SE- × 2 Double platinum SE	-
2009	Christmas in Bethlehem	SE4th platinum (8 weeks)SE	NO36 (3 weeks) NO
2011	Elvis, Barbra & Jag	SE1 (9 weeks) SE	-
2013	Drömmen om Julen	SE6th gold (14 weeks)SE	-

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		SE	NO
1983	Främling Främling	SE5 (4 weeks) SE	NO1 (9 weeks) NO
	Hunger Främling	SE3 (6 weeks) SE	NO7 (4 weeks) NO
1984	Julefried with Carola Julefried with Carola	SE8 (1 week) SE	-
	Tommy Loves Me With Love	SE10 (5 weeks) SE	NO9 (1 week) NO
	Carola så in the north	SE16 (1 week) SE	-
1985	Don't Tell Me What To Do	SE19 (1 week) SE	-
1986	The Runaway Runaway	SE3 (6 weeks) SE	-
1990	Mitt i ett aventyr	SE5 (4 weeks) SE	-
	The Girl Who Had Everything Much More	SE15 (4 weeks) SE	-
1991	Fångad av en stormvind	SE3 gold (6 weeks)SE	NO6 (1 week) NO
	Jul, Jul strålande Jul Jul	SE29 (11 weeks) SE	-	Chart entry in SE only in 2013
1993	Mixade minnen	SE16 (3 weeks) SE	-
1994	Det kommer dagar personligt	SE29 (2 weeks) SE	-
2002	I Believe In Love My Show	SE13 (15 weeks) SE	-
2006	Evighet Från nu till evighet	SE1 gold (24 weeks)SE	NO8 (3 weeks) NO
	Invincible Från nu till evighet	SE29 (4 weeks) SE	-
2007	I denna natt blir världen ny	SE41 (4 weeks) SE	-
2008	Lucky Star	SE13 (6 weeks) SE	-	Johnson & Häggkvist
	One love	SE11 (8 weeks) SE	-	Johnson & Häggkvist
2010	Det är bara vi	SE20 (3 weeks) SE	-
2011	Nu tändas tusen juleljus	SE29 (18 weeks) SE	-
2014	Tell Me This Night Is Over	SE36 (3 weeks) SE	-
	Sjung hallelujah (oh prisa gud)	SE48 (1 week) SE	-
2016	Vår dröm om julen	SE75 (2 weeks) SE	-
2017	När det lider mot jul (Det strålar en stjärna)	SE57 (2 weeks) SE	-
	Vintersång	SE68 (2 weeks) SE	-

swell

1. ^ Carola - Je ogen hebben geen secreten - hitparade.ch. Retrieved May 19, 2020 . 
2. ^ People - Nordstjernan. Retrieved May 19, 2020 . 
3. ↑ SWEDISH NATIONAL FINAL 2006. Accessed May 19, 2020 . 
4. ↑ http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/article359958.ab
5. ↑ Carola: "Jag älskar de homosexuella" - Nyheter - RFSL . November 26, 2012. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014.
6. ↑ EUROVISION SONG CONTEST NATIONAL FINALS HOMEPAGE. Retrieved May 19, 2020 . 
7. ^ Carola - hitparade.ch. Retrieved May 19, 2020 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: SE NO
9. ↑ Awards for music sales: SE

Web links

Commons : Carola Häggkvist  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• official homepage
• Carola Häggkvist at Discogs (English)
• Sweden: Carola at eurovision.de