Carola Häggkvist
CarolaCarola Häggkvist (born in Stockholm, Sweden on September 8, 1966) is a Swedish singer and entertainer. She has represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest on three occasions: she finished third in 1983, first in 1991 and fifth in 2006.
Career
She appeared on television for the first time after winning a talent show in 1977. A couple of years later promoter Bert Karlsson discovered her and she was offered the chance to take part in Melodifestivalen 1982, the national preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest, but she turned down the offer. In 1983, she recorded the album Stand by with Carola Häggkvist with the Swedish metal band Standby. Later in 1983, she decided to participate in Melodifestivalen with Främling, winning the contest with full points from all juries. This was her big breakthrough.
A few months later she represented Sweden in Eurovision in Munich where 6.1 million Swedish television viewers, or 84% of the population, followed the competition - a record that still has not been broken. She performed the song once again at the 50th anniversary Eurovision concert in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Her debut Främling sold one million copies, a Swedish sales record that is yet to be broken. Främling was also recorded in English, German and Dutch, having finished third in the Eurovision Song Contest. During 1983 and 1984 Carola released three albums with Mariann, the record company of Bert Karlsson, and they all sold very well.In 1985 Carola started to collaborate with the Bee Gees. She recorded an album, Runaway, with songs written mainly by Maurice and Robin Gibb and produced by Maurice. The record sold double platinum when released in Sweden the following year. After this album Carola left the pop scene for a while, embarking on a church tour together with Per-Erik Hallin, subsequently releasing the live album Carola & Per-Erik Hallin i Rättviks kyrka.
In Melodifestivalen 1990, Carola made a surprising comeback with Mitt i ett äventyr, finishing in second place. She released a new album, Much more. The following year she went for revenge, winning Melodifestivalen with Fångad av en stormvind. In the Eurovision Song Contest 1991 in Rome she tied on points with Amina from France. The rules at this time stated that if two or more entries ended up in a tie, they were to be separated by counting which of the entries had been awarded the highest number of twelves, but since both countries had been awarded the same number oftwelves, the entries were separated by counting the number of tens awarded. The counting went in Sweden’s favour, and an ecstatic Carola, cheered on by her team, did a short victory dance on the table before coming on stage a
second time. Later that year she recorded a Christmas album in Swedish – Jul.
Carola was the first Scandinavian pop artist to go to China where she also released an album in 1992. After her tenth anniversary as an artist in 1993, she changed her focus and recorded a gospel album, My tribute, which was released in Scandinavia and 12 other countries. This album made her Gospel Artist of the Year in the Netherlands in 1994. She continued to release albums during the year. Her album Personligt indicated a course change towards a rock sound and was the first album with songs written by Carola herself.
In 1995, Carola made her debut as a musical actress with the role of Maria in The Sound of Music, playing against Tommy Körberg. Three years later, she sang the theme song in the Norwegian musical Sophie’s World which was released on the album Songs from Sophie’s World. In 2002 she returned to the stage, making a short appearance as Fantine in Les Misérables in London.
In 1998 she left the pop mainstream again, recording an album with psalms written by Lina Sandell, "Blott en dag",and then an album with children’s songs "Sov på min arm" in 2001. Later in 2001 she returned to pop with the album My show.
In 2003, Carola celebrated her 20th anniversary as a recording artist. She has released a compilation, Guld, platina & passion – det bästa med Carola and a boxed set of four CDs: (Guld, platina & passion – det mesta med Carola) and topped the Swedish charts with her song När löven faller, which was originally written for Melodifestivalen 2003 but got disqualified.
In 2003, Carola released a Christmas album on two CDs called "Jul I Betlehem- Jubileumsutgåvan". Her Christmas album was followed by religious album titled "Credo" 2004 and a pop-religious album titled "Störst av allt" 2005.
In total, Carola has released 15 original albums and is one of the best known artists in Sweden.
In November 2005, Carola confirmed that she would participate in Melodifestivalen again, after a fifteen year absence. In the Gothenburg semi-final, held on March 11 2006, she performed "Evighet", written by Thomas G:son, Bobby Ljunggren and Henrik Wikström. Her performance involved wind machines, dancers with flags and fireworks. In the final, Carola came second in the jury votes and placed first in the public televote, so overall she won the
final of Melodifestivalen 2006 and became the representant for Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens.
She performed a reprise of her song half in English (using the title "Invincible") and half in Swedish. Prior to the competition, she was the favourite singer in Ireland’s Paddy Power betting at 11-4.
In May 2006, Carola came in 5th in the Eurovision Song Contest with her song "Invincible". She was just a few points from 4th place, which Romania claimed, and only 8 points ahead of Lithuania in 6th. In an interesting twist to Sweden’s 2004 representant, Lena Philipsson (also born 1966), she not only ended up at the same place, but also received exactly the same number of points in the final (170).
In August 2006, she was voted the "Sweden’s Best Female Artist" by the viewers of the popular Swedish TV show Folktoppen.
Carola’s faith
She has been a member of the evangelical prosperity-gospel congregation Livets Ord. She was married to Runar Søgaard, a Norwegian Christian preacher, with whom she has a son, Amadeus, which means "Loves God". After she divorced him, she flaunted her single status by wearing a top saying LEDIG – "Available" in Swedish – on national television.
Private life and media attention
Her status as one of the most popular national celebrities of her country made her more or less constantly followed by the tabloid press. She has often talked about her Christian faith. Some people however have critized her for objecting to giving homosexuals more rights in Sweden, though she denies she said this.
Views on homosexuality
In an interview in 2002 for the Swedish gay magazine QX, she alienated many homosexual and some heterosexual fans by
alleging that she knows homosexual persons who have become heterosexual through prayers. She also said that homosexuality would always remain "unnatural" to her. [1]Four years later, her comment caught up with her when she participated in the Swedish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest in March 2006. During a press conference a journalist tried to ask her if she still had the same opinion. According to the Swedish newspaper Expressen, Carola didn’t answer the question because her advisors told her to keep quiet because answering questions about her stance on homosexuality could cost her the trip to Athens and could also cause a lot of embarrassment and negative media attention. [2]Rickard Engfors, who is homosexual and Carola’s co-operating partner during the Melodifestivalen and Eurovision Song Contest 2006, said the following in the Swedish newspaper Expressen on March 15, 2006: Carola doesn’t hate gays. If she did I wouldn’t work for her. She is a fabulous person. [3]During an exclusive interview for one of the Eurovision-related websites before the 2006 contest, Carola was also questioned about that, and she stated that she "would love for every gay person to feel that she loves them" and that she does not think that "being gay is a sickness". She went on to criticize the tabloids for interpreting her original words the wrong way and making an issue out of that. Later in the interview, she also commented on one of her supporting dancers being gay and his boyfriend being "great" in her own words. [4]
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