Ulf Lundell

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Ulf Lundell (2005)

Ulf Gerhard Lundell ( pronunciation : [ ˌɵlːf lɵnˈdɛlː ], born November 20, 1949 in Stockholm ) is a Swedish writer, rock singer, songwriter, painter and poet.

Since his debut album Vargmåne in 1975, Lundell has been one of Sweden's most popular musicians and, since his debut novel Jack (1976), one of the most successful Swedish-speaking writers of his generation. To date he has published 18 novels, some of which have also been translated into other languages ​​(but not into German), as well as four volumes of poetry. He is even more productive as a musician with 31 studio and 5 live albums to date. To date, Lundell has sold at least 1.6 million books and 2.5 million records. His rock ballad Öppna landskap , which describes the beauty of the Swedish landscape in summer, is referred to by many Swedes as the unofficial national anthem. He reached a high point of his career in the 1980s, where he was invited three times (1982, 1983 and 1985 and again in 2007) as sommarvärd ("summer host ") on the popular summer program on Sveriges radio . But between 1996 and 2013 ten of his albums and one single ( S: t Monica ) reached number 1 in the Swedish charts.

biography

Lundell comes from a working-class family and grew up in the Stockholm district of Södermalm and from 1958 in the suburb of Saltsjö-Boo . He got his first guitar when he was ten. After leaving school in 1967 without a degree, he worked in various professions and also wrote songs and poems, which he offered, almost always without success, to record companies and publishers. In 1970 and 1972 texts by Lundell by Ulf Neidemar and Pugh Rogefeldt were released on records; In 1972 the first volume of poetry was self-published, while individual poems were printed in anthologies. Even with his appearances as a musician and with demo tapes , Lundell had no success for years until EMI released the debut album Vargmåne on Harvest Records in 1975 . The LP, which included a cover version of John Mayall's Walking on Sunset ( Jag går på promenaden ) and the later successes of Stockholms City and Sextisju Sextisju , only became a bestseller the following year, after Lundell's debut novel Jack gave him a breakthrough in all of Scandinavia bestowed. The autobiographical book met the lifestyle of its generation and is the most successful first novel in Swedish publishing history to date, with a total circulation of 350,000 copies to date. In 1977 it was filmed by Jan Halldoff .

Between 1977 and 1989, Lundell released a studio album and / or a novel almost every year. The second novel Sömnen from 1977 about an unsuccessful rock musician was also a success, as was the film adaptation by Lennart Svensson from 1984 . The fourth album Nådens År , on which he sang the song Snön faller och vi med den with Agnetha Fältskog , was released in 1978 and was awarded a gold record . That year he married Barbro Zackrisson, with whom he had three children, including journalist Sanna Lundell , and moved to Åre in northern Sweden. In 1982 the album Kär Och Galen was released , which was his greatest success with four platinum awards . This includes the song Öppna landskap (which was later also successful in cover versions) .

The following years were marked by divorce from the first wife and alcohol problems. The gloomy mood is reflected in the double album Den vassa eggen from 1985, the third No. 1 album of his career. After a failed tour, Lundell went into rehab in 1987 and turned to the Christian faith. He settled in 1988 in the Evangeliska Frikyrkan belonging Ebeneserkyrkan baptized and showed his new faith stance on the 1988 released album Evangeline and published 1989 autobiography En varg söker sin flock ( "A wolf looking for his flock"). The 1989 marriage with Fredrika Stjärne only lasted until 1991. Since 1989 Lundell has also worked as a painter; in Simrishamn he runs his own gallery called Rockhead Art .

Ulf Lundell (2012)

With the solo album Måne över Haväng from 1992, which reached No. 2 in the charts, a very productive period began again, especially as a musician. In 1994, Lundell founded Rockhead Studios AB, his own production company. The lyrics from this period are strongly socially critical, the songs increasingly melodious, with the exception of the double album På andra sidan drömmarna , on which he worked with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and which stayed in the charts for 22 weeks after it entered No. 1 was. With Friheten he published another novel in 1999 after a seven-year break. The album I Ett Vinterland in 2000, his second best-selling album, marked a return to the melodic rock of the early 1990s. The follow-up albums were also No. 1 successes in Sweden. Lundell was married to Sofia Möller between 2014 and 2017. He announced several times that he no longer wanted to tour; the last one took place in 2018. In 2019 he published a novel and an album.

Musical and literary characterization

Lundell has stated several times that Bob Dylan , Bruce Springsteen and the Dutch-Swedish songwriter Cornelis Vreeswijk are his greatest musical role models. Later he also oriented himself towards Neil Young and Crazy Horse . Literary influences come from Allen Ginsberg and Ernest Hemingway , among others .

The novel Jack has as a clear role model Jack Kerouacs Unterwegs and is mainly about the rebellion of the protagonist Jack Råstedt against the limited life of the average Swede in the aftermath of the political turmoil at the end of the 1960s, as well as the hero's difficult self-discovery.

His books, written in lively bubbling prose, often revolve around the topics of freedom and inappropriateness and a society that is perceived as commercialized and stupid. One of Lundell's recurring themes is the loss of and the search for a father, another is the inter-sex relationship and the love of femininity, but also the fear of being overly dependent on women and being suffocated. Likewise, his books often deal with excessive drinking , music, and literature. In all of this, the focus is mostly on an artist figure - be it a writer, a musician, a painter or a filmmaker - and his conflict with life and society.

In a survey of Swedish libraries carried out at the end of 1997 on the best Swedish books of the last century, four works by Lundell made it into the top 100: 16. Jack , 48. Saknaden , 78. Vinter i paradiset , 92. Kyssen .

Awards

Works

Books

Novels
  • 1976: Jack
  • 1977: Sömnen
  • 1979: Vinter i paradiset
  • 1981: Kyssen
  • 1983: Hjärtats ljus
  • 1987: Tårpilen
  • 1992: Sacnades
  • 1999: Friheten
  • 2003: Frukost på en främmande planet
  • 2004: Mer än hennes mun
  • 2005: Warming
  • 2008: Vädermannen
  • 2011: Allt är i rörelse
  • 2014: Visenterna
  • 2018: Vardagar
  • 2019: Vardagar 2
  • 2019: Vardagar 3
Autobiography
  • 1989: En varg söker sin flock
Lyric prose
  • 2010: En öppen vinter
Volumes of poetry
  • 1972: Modus Vivendi, Molngrabb! (New edition 2006)
  • 1979: Fruset guld
  • 1981: Det är långt mellan lycka och leda
  • 1984: Tid for kärlek
theatre
  • 2009: 6 pjäser

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
SE SE
1975 Vargmåne SE38 (7 weeks)
SE
1976 Foolish SE12 (9 weeks)
SE
1978 Nådens år SE4 (10 weeks)
SE
1979 Ripp rapp SE3 (12 weeks)
SE
1980 Longer inåt lands SE2 (8 weeks)
SE
1982 Kär och galen SE1 (14 weeks)
SE
1984 Sweethearts SE1 (6 weeks)
SE
12 singers SE12 (4 weeks)
SE
1985 The vassa harrows SE1 (9 weeks)
SE
1987 Det goda livet SE5 (5 weeks)
SE
1988 Evangeline SE5 (8 weeks)
SE
1989 Utanfor murarna SE7th
gold
gold

(5 weeks)SE
1993 Måne över Haväng SE2
gold
gold

(10 weeks)SE
1994 Xavante SE2
gold
gold

(12 weeks)SE
1996 På andra sidan drömmarna SE1
gold
gold

(22 weeks)SE
1997 Man utan kvinnor SE4th
gold
gold

(8 weeks)SE
1998 Slugger SE1
gold
gold

(6 weeks)SE
1999 Fanzine SE6 (6 weeks)
SE
2000 I ett vinterland SE1
platinum
platinum

(22 weeks)SE
2002 Club zebra SE1
gold
gold

(12 weeks)SE
2003 En eld ikväll SE1
gold
gold

(8 weeks)SE
2004 Ok baby ok SE1
gold
gold

(12 weeks)SE
2005 Högtryck SE1 (15 weeks)
SE
Lazarus SE2 (7 weeks)
SE
2008 Omaha SE1
gold
gold

(17 weeks)SE
2012 Rent förbannat SE1
gold
gold

(20 weeks)SE
2013 Drink SE1
gold
gold

(9 weeks)SE
2018 Skisser SE2 (3 weeks)
SE
2019 Tranorna kommer SE3 (5 weeks)
SE
Omaha: shout SE18 (1 week)
SE
Unmixed version of the album of the same name from 2008

More studio albums

  • 2010: En öppen vinter

Live albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
SE SE
1977 Natten had varit mild och öm SE10 (9 weeks)
SE
1993 Maria kom tillbaka SE3 (7 weeks)
SE
1996 Bosnia SE4 (10 weeks)
SE
2011 Roskilde Orange Stage 1999 SE4 (5 weeks)
SE
Unplugged solo SE3 (9 weeks)
SE

Compilations

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
SE SE
1991 Livslinjen 1975-91 SE22 (5 weeks)
SE
1992 Preskriberade romanser 1978–1988 SE4 (8 weeks)
SE
1995 Öppna landskap 75-95 SE3
gold
gold

(52 weeks)SE
Slutna around 75-95 SE13 (11 weeks)
SE
2006 När jag kysser havet - Det bästa 1: 75–84 SE16 (18 weeks)
SE
Danielas hus - Det bästa 2: 84-94 SE23 (6 weeks)
SE
Venus & Jupiter - Det bästa 3: 95-05 SE20 (6 weeks)
SE
2007 Under volcanoes, 1972-2007 SE18 (1 week)
SE
2012 Original album series SE44 (1 week)
SE
2015 40! SE3 (6 weeks)
SE
2019 Hemåt genome rift valley 1975-2015 SE12 (2 weeks)
SE

More compilations

  • 1981: Innan jag anfölls av indianerna
  • 1995: rebel
  • 1999: Når jeg kysser havet

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
SE SE
1979 (Oh la la) Jag vill ha dig
Ripp rapp 		SE15 (2 weeks)
SE
1982 Snart kommer änglarna att landa
Preskriberade romanser 1978-1981 		SE10 (5 weeks)
SE
1987 För din skull
 SE5 (3 weeks)
SE
1989 Skjut mej med din lyckopil
Utanför murarna 		SE17 (1 week)
SE
1991 Pojkarna long ago fram
 SE15 (4 weeks)
SE
1993 Måne över haväng
Måne över haväng 		SE21 (2 weeks)
SE
1995 Lejon på Gotland
 SE30 (7 weeks)
SE
Jag hade en älskling en gång
 SE29 (6 weeks)
SE
1996 Folket bygger lands
På andra sidan drömmarna 		SE10 (12 weeks)
SE
Oops!
På andra sidan drömmarna 		SE10 (7 weeks)
SE
1997 Av himlen sänd
 SE6 (5 weeks)
SE
1998 Trouble and a fire
slugger 		SE7 (3 weeks)
SE
Vartan du reser
slugger 		SE34 (2 weeks)
SE
2000 Om sommaren
 SE3 (8 weeks)
SE
2001 Tillsammans vi två
 SE3
gold
gold

(15 weeks)SE
2002 S: t Monica
Club Zebra 		SE1
gold
gold

(10 weeks)SE
Gå ut also var glad
Club Zebra 		SE3 (7 weeks)
SE
Fyra hjul som rullar
Club Zebra 		SE38 (6 weeks)
SE
2005 Vitt regn
Högtryck 		SE2 (9 weeks)
SE
Manniska med
meniska Högtryck 		SE17 (9 weeks)
SE
2008 Hitza hitz
Omaha 		SE17 (4 weeks)
SE
2009 Lilla kärleken / Hemåt igen
Omaha 		SE20 (3 weeks)
SE
2020 Öppna landskap
 SE89 (1 week)
SE

Video albums

  • 2006: Live på Tyrol
  • 2009: Club Zebra

literature

  • Jens Peterson: Full fart genom evigheten. En bok om Ulf Lundell. Wahlström & Widstrand 1983.
  • Måns Ivarsson : Vill you have din frihet så for you ta den. Ordupplaget 2007 (biography about Ulf Lundell).
  • Håkan Lahger : Den vassa eggen - Ulf Lundell's Kreativa kaos. Norstedts 2008.
  • Christer Olsson: 30 år with Ulf Lundell. Intervjuer och artiklar 1977-2007. Anderson Pocket 2009.
  • Andreas Ekström: Jag kräver att ni läser vaket och långsamt. Atlas, 2009 (interviews with Ulf Lundell)

Web links

Commons : Ulf Lundell  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Leif Wilehag: Från ett hoppfullt sjuttiotal on the Alba.nu website, accessed on May 22, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b c d Chart sources: SE
  3. ↑ Awards for music sales: SE
personal data
SURNAME Lundell, Ulf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lundell, Ulf Gerhard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish writer, rock singer, songwriter, painter and poet
DATE OF BIRTH November 20, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Stockholm