Harpo

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Harpo 2012 at Studio Oldie 95

Harpo (born April 5, 1950 in Bandhagen, today in the Stockholm district of Vantör ; actually Jan Svensson ) is a Swedish pop singer. His stage name is a homage to his role model, the American comedian Harpo Marx .

Career

Harpo 2009

Harpo became famous in 1975 with his song Moviestar , the song became the summer hit of the year in Germany in 1976 . At that time, the singer was not, as can be read occasionally, under contract with the ABBA production company , but ABBA singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad sang the backing vocals on the English and Swedish versions of Moviestar .

Moviestar was in the charts in Germany for 30 weeks, of which 17 weeks were among the five best-selling singles. Harpo had successor hits with Motorcycle Mama and Horoscope until 1978 . He wrote all the songs himself.

He has been married since the 1970s and lives on a farm in Sweden where he breeds racehorses. In 1977 Harpo was jailed for four weeks for refusing to do military service. In 1980 he had a serious accident with a horse breaking away during trotting training , which inflicted severe facial injuries. In doing so, he largely lost his right eye. He then underwent several cosmetic operations . Since the late 1990s, Harpo has also been performing his old hits on German television and at oldie festivals.

Harpo appears barefoot and with dark sunglasses. Another trademark is a walking stick with a bicycle bell.

The singer is committed to animal welfare.

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Moviestar
  DE 32 02/15/1976 (16 weeks)
  SE 2 02/02/1976 (21 weeks)
  NO 4th 04/08/1976 (26 weeks)
Smile
  DE 20th January 15, 1977 (10 weeks)
  SE 4th 11/02/1976 (9 weeks)
Harpo hits
  SE 28 06/03/1977 (3 weeks)
The Hollywood Tapes
  SE 19th 01/13/1978 (5 weeks)
Singles
Sayonara
  NO 8th 03/14/1974 (2 weeks)
Moviestar
  DE 1 29.09.1975 (31 weeks)
  AT 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 03/15/1976 (12 weeks)
  CH 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 01/30/1976 (15 weeks)
  UK 24 04/17/1976 (6 weeks)
  SE 1 11/27/1975 (48 weeks)
  NO 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 02/19/1976 (31 weeks)
Motorcycle mom
  DE 9 02/02/1976 (18 weeks)
  SE 8th 08/10/1976 (5 weeks)
Horoscope
  DE 3 07/19/1976 (26 weeks)
  AT 17th December 15, 1976 (8 weeks)
  SE 5 11/02/1976 (7 weeks)
Rock 'n' roll clown
  DE 12 December 20, 1976 (12 weeks)
  AT 21st 03/15/1977 (4 weeks)
In the Zum-Zum-Zummeright
  DE 13 07/11/1977 (19 weeks)

Albums

  • 1974: Leo the Leopard
  • 1975: Harpo & Bananaband
  • 1975: Moviestar
  • 1976: Harpo Smile
  • 1977: The Hollywood Tapes
  • 1978: Jan Banan (och hans flygande matta)
  • 1979: Råck änd råll rätt å slätt
  • 1981: The Fool of Yesterday ...
  • 1984: Let's Get Romantic
  • 1988: London
  • 1990: Harpo Show - Hemliga låden
  • 1992: Harpo (with songs in Swedish)
  • 2005: Jan Harpo Svensson 05

Compilations

  • 1973: EMI: s Stjärnserie Vol. 2 - Låtar från Listorna (with Lalla Hansson, Björn Skifs & Blåblus, Landslaget, New Strangers and Malta )
  • 1977: 20 Harpo Hits (Club Edition)
  • 1980: 20 basta
  • 1991: Portrait of Harpo
  • 1993: Moviestar Greatest Hits
  • 1995: Samlade hits
  • 1996: Movie Star
  • 1997: Harpo Hits (1973-1997)
  • 1999: Premium Gold Collection
  • 1999: The Very Best Of
  • 2001: The Collection
  • 2003: classic

Singles

  • 1973: Honolulu
  • 1973: Sayonora
  • 1974: My Teenage Queen
  • 1974: Baby Boomerang
  • 1974: Teddy Love
  • 1975: Moviestar
  • 1975: Motorcycle Mama
  • 1976: Horoscope
  • 1976: Rock 'n' Roll clown
  • 1976: Smile
  • 1976: Beautiful Christmas
  • 1977: In the Zum-Zum-Zummeright
  • 1977: Som Ett ZomZom-Zommarbi (only in Sweden)
  • 1977: Television
  • 1977: Dandy
  • 1977: San Francisco Nights
  • 1977: DJ
  • 1978: With a Girl Like You
  • 1978: Ode to Johnny Rotten (as Zeppo & the Zepp-Zepps)
  • 1978: Bianca
  • 1979: Ballads om Stålmannen
  • 1980: She Loves It Too!
  • 1981: Yes I Do
  • 1981: Rain and Thunder
  • 1983: Light a Candle
  • 1984: Party Girl
  • 1985: Summer of 85
  • 1986: On the Other Side of the Atlantic / På andra sidan Atlanten
  • 1987: Movie Star / Motorcycle Mama
  • 1987: Living Legends / Levande Legender
  • 1987: Teargas
  • 1988: London
  • 1990: Moviestar '90
  • 1991: Down at the Club
  • 1992: Lycka (& Ted Gärdestad )
  • 1994: Sounds Like Love
  • 1997: Moviestar (promo, for the Nissan advertising campaign )
  • 1997: Christmas
  • 1999: Sayonora (1999 Remix)
  • 2000: Honolulu
  • 2001: Love Is Just a Game
  • 2005: 05 (as Jan Harpo Svensson)
  • 2005: DumDumDum (as Jan Harpo Svensson)
  • 2005: Här Är Ängarnar (as Jan Harpo Svensson)
  • 2007: Superworld
  • 2007: picnic
  • 2008: That's All Right (Harpo sings Holly)
  • 2008: Elvis Presley Boulevard (radio only)
  • 2012: London 2012 (download only)
  • 2015: Vägra vara
  • 2015: Julefrid
  • 2019: TheNewYorkBallad
  • 2019: Twinkle Little Star (feat. Miryu)
  • 2020: Love is Great and Butterflies are Angels
  • 2020: Cheaters Comes in All Shapes and Forms

Web links

Commons : Harpo  - collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ Animal Welfare
  2. ↑ Chart discography albums DE, NO
  3. ↑ Chart discography Sweden
  4. ↑ Chart discography Singles DE, AT, CH, UK, NO
personal data
SURNAME Harpo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Svensson, Jan Harpo Torsten
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish pop singer
DATE OF BIRTH April 5, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Bandhagen, Stockholm