Leila K.

Leila K. (born September 6, 1971 in Gothenburg ; actually Leila El Khalifi ) is a Swedish pop singer of Moroccan descent who was particularly successful in the 1990s. Their musical spectrum ranges from rap about Reggae - Dance through to rock music .

biography

Leila El Khalifi was born in Sweden as the daughter of a Moroccan train driver . She was stubborn at school and was therefore sent to a Moroccan school by her father after seven years. After a year, however, she returned to Sweden, ran away from home and then stayed mostly in bars and discos.

At the age of 17 she took part in a rap competition in Stockholm , where she came second. Shortly afterwards she was signed by the music producer duo Rob'n'Raz and in late 1989 she had her first success with the single Got to Get . Other singles in 1990 were Rok the Nation and Just Tell Me .

In the spring of 1990 her first album Rob'n'Raz was released Featuring Leila K. During her first tour, however, she broke off contact with Rob'n'Raz and started a solo career; she released songs such as Time and Magic Ball , which are featured on the Greatest Tracks album . Dr. Alban recorded the song Hello Africa with her .

In the spring of 1993, Denniz PoP produced the solo debut album by Leila K. entitled Carousel . The included song Open Sesame became their most successful solo single. The song is a mixture of reggae and dance floor music; it reached the top ten of the music hit parade in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The song was covered by Daisy Dee and the techno band El Loco , among others . With the second single from the album, a cover version of Ça plane pour moi , originally by Plastic Bertrand , Leila K. had another commercial success. In 1993 she was named Best Selling Female Artist in Europe .

In autumn 1995 the pre-single Electric followed from the second solo album, which reached the top 10 in Sweden and Finland. The album Manic Panic and other singles were only released in Northern Europe. When music producer Denniz PoP died of complications from cancer in 1998, Leila K's career also ended.

In Sweden Leila K. is known for scandals; for example, she went on tour drunk. Her lifestyle resulted in her becoming homeless. A Swedish record company and friends of Leila K. released a limited edition best-of album from her, the proceeds of which should help Leila K financially. However, the operation did not bring enough money and Leila K. later had to go to prison. In 1999 a kind of biographical film about Leila K. with the title Fuck you was released. Fuck you very much. In 2001 she was interviewed by Fredrik Strage, who described her as confused and without any control over her life. It was not until June 2007 that it reappeared in public at the publication event for the book Bögjävlar . After that, there was little information about Leila K. In the Swedish rainbow press, photos-based reports appeared that the singer continued to live on the streets.

In 2011 she recorded the track Legendary ("I'm the legendary scary K.") with the Swedish project House of Wallenberg by Petter Wallenberg , which became a club hit in Scandinavia. Wallenberg wrote the books Bögjävlar (2007) and Historien om Leila K (2013), which a.o. a. deal with the life of Leila K.

On July 18, 2015 Leila K. performed as a guest at the Tammerfest in Tampere (Finland) with her songs Electric and Open Sesame . She was also a guest at the Denniz Pop Awards 2015. Whether she has recovered and her lifestyle has normalized is the subject of lively controversy in the rainbow press in Scandinavia. In 2016 Leila K. was inducted into the Swedish Music Hall of Fame.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	SE
1990	Rob'n'Raz Feat. Leila K.	-	AT27 (2 weeks) AT	CH30 (2 weeks) CH	-	-	SE14 (4 weeks) SE	First release: April 1990 Rob'n'Raz feat. Leila K.
1993	Carousel	DE30 (11 weeks) DE	AT10 (6 weeks) AT	CH32 (2 weeks) CH	-	-	SE30 (2 weeks) SE	First published: May 1993
1996	Manic Panic	-	-	-	-	-	SE17 (11 weeks) SE	First published: May 1996
2003	Greatest tracks	-	-	-	-	-	SE40 (4 weeks) SE	First published: April 2003 compilation

Compilations

• 2010: The Mega Years Collection (12 mp3 files)
• 2010: The Mega Years (Remixed) Collection (11 mp3 files)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	SE
1989	Got to Get Rob'n'Raz Feat. Leila K.	DE3 (19 weeks) DE	AT3 (15 weeks) AT	CH3 (15 weeks) CH	UK8 (14 weeks) UK	US48 (11 weeks) US	SE10 (3 weeks) SE	First release: September 1989 Rob'n'Raz feat. Leila K.
1990	Rok the Nation Rob'n'Raz Feat. Leila K.	DE21 (15 weeks) DE	-	CH13 (10 weeks) CH	UK41 (3 weeks) UK	-	SE3 (6 weeks) SE	First release: January 1990 Rob'n'Raz feat. Leila K.
	Hello Afrika Hello Afrika (The Album)	DE2 (24 weeks) DE	AT1 platinum (16 weeks)AT	CH3 (15 weeks) CH	-	-	SE7th gold (8 weeks)SE	First publication: July 1990 Dr. Alban feat. Leila K.
1991	Magic Ball Magic Ball	-	-	-	-	-	SE30 (3 weeks) SE	First published: August 1991
1992	Open Sesame Carousel	DE5 (32 weeks) DE	AT5 (15 weeks) AT	CH4 (17 weeks) CH	UK23 (4 weeks) UK	-	SE21 (3 weeks) SE	First published: November 1992
1993	Ça plane pour moi carousel	DE13 (19 weeks) DE	AT8 (13 weeks) AT	CH17 (14 weeks) CH	UK69 (1 week) UK	-	SE25 (4 weeks) SE	First published: April 1993
	Slow motion carousel	DE37 (5 weeks) DE	AT26 (2 weeks) AT	-	-	-	SE27 (1 week) SE	First published: August 1993
1995	Electric manic panic	DE61 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	SE8 (14 weeks) SE	First published: October 1995
1996	C'mon Now Manic Panic	-	-	-	-	-	SE21 (12 weeks) SE	First published: March 1996
	Rude Boy Manic Panic	-	-	-	-	-	SE29 (12 weeks) SE	First release: July 1996 feat. Papa Dee

More singles

• 1990: Just Tell Me (Rob'n'Raz feat.Leila K.)
• 1991: Time
• 1993: Check the Dan
• 1993: slow motion
• 1993: Close Your Eyes
• 1996: Blacklisted
• 1997: Party Police
• 1999: Open Sesame '99
• 1999: Burning Up (Elephant and Castle feat.Leila K. / Original by Madonna , 1982)
• 2011: Open Sesame (Remixe) (FM Audio feat.Leila K)

swell

1. ^ Av Magnus Hellberg: Leila K: "Jag snattar min mat". In: Expressen . February 23, 2003, archived from the original on June 1, 2009 ; Retrieved October 18, 2016 (Swedish). 
2. ↑ Peter Güldenpfennig: #FlashbackFriday: De tragische val van Leila K. In: Partyscene. February 5, 2016, accessed March 30, 2016 (Dutch). 
3. ↑ Fredrik Strage: Ett efterlängat livsteck från Leila K. (No longer available online.) In: Bloggar - DN.se. May 27, 2011, archived from the original on March 30, 2016 ; Retrieved March 30, 2016 (Swedish). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Nalle Österman: Leila K & Rob'n'Raz - Electric / Open Sesame - 7/18/2015 Tammerfest, Tampere, Finland. July 20, 2015, accessed March 30, 2016 . 
5. ↑ Vidéo-clip Berns Leila K - Denniz Pop Awards - Berns 2015. In: musicMe. Retrieved March 30, 2016 (Swedish). 
6. ↑ Swedish Music Hall of Fame ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Singles albums UK Sweden
8. ↑ Awards: AT SE

Web links

• Biography at KDJ Eurodance Ltd. (English)
• Leila K. at Allmusic (English)
• Leila K. at Discogs (English)
• Discography on rateyourmusic.com
• Leila K. on swedishcharts.com
• Charts and data on chartsurfer.de