Monica Zetterlund
Encyclopedia
Eva Monica Zetterlund was a Swedish
singer and actress.
work. She began by learning the classic jazz songs from radio and records, initially not knowing the language and what they sang about in English. She went for the melody, rhythm and feeling.
Hit songs include "Sakta vi gå genom stan" (Swedish cover of "Walking My Baby Back Home"; in Swedish a tribute to Stockholm
town), "Visa från Utanmyra", "Sista jäntan", "Trubbel", "Gröna små äpplen" ("Little Green Apples
"), "Monicas vals" ("Waltz for Debby
"), "Stick iväg, Jack!" ("Hit the Road Jack
"), "Att angöra en brygga", "Var blev ni av", "Måne över Stureplan" (cover on Sting's "Moon Over Bourbon Street") and "Under vinrankan!", among many, many others. She also interpreted the works of many Swedish national singer-songwriters such as Evert Taube
, Olle Adolphson
and Povel Ramel
, and all through her life interpreted the works of international and American jazz musicians/song writers. She worked with some of the greatest international jazz names including Louis Armstrong
, Bill Evans
, Stan Getz
, Steve Kuhn
and Quincy Jones
, and in the Scandinavia
n jazz world with people like Georg Riedel, Egil Johansen
, Arne Domnérus
, Svend Asmussen
and Jan Johansson.
In 1964 she recorded the critically acclaimed jazz album Waltz for Debby
with Bill Evans
, a record she herself described as "the best I've done" and was most proud of. Her long career also included the song "En gång i Stockholm
" ("Winter City"); a jazz ballad with which she represented Sweden in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest
. She finished last, however, (mainly because the song genre was not suitable for the competition) and scored the infamous null points, but still managed to remain successful in Sweden. Her collaboration with the comic duo Hasseåtage
(in the 1960s and 70s) eventually led to a stage career in revues and films. Memorable are her parts in films Att angöra en brygga, Äppelkriget and Jan Troell's Utvandrarna (aka The Emigrants; with Liv Ullman and Max von Sydow
in the leads) for which Zetterlund received a Guldbagge award for Best Supporting Actress. She appeared in more than 20 films and television series throughout her life.
, and as a result was forced to retire from performing in 1999. She made her last lengthy official tour in 1997, and gave one of her last concerts at Sweden's Hultsfred Festival
(which usually is a festival for pop
and rock bands; but she participated anyway - and the young rock audience loved her). In the last years of her life she used a wheelchair because of her scoliosis. On May 12, 2005, she died following an accidental fire in her apartment
in Stockholm
.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
singer and actress.
Biography
Zetterlund was a singer particularly noted for her jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
work. She began by learning the classic jazz songs from radio and records, initially not knowing the language and what they sang about in English. She went for the melody, rhythm and feeling.
Hit songs include "Sakta vi gå genom stan" (Swedish cover of "Walking My Baby Back Home"; in Swedish a tribute to Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
town), "Visa från Utanmyra", "Sista jäntan", "Trubbel", "Gröna små äpplen" ("Little Green Apples
Little Green Apples
"Little Green Apples" is a song written by Bobby Russell which was most successful as a 1968 hit single by O. C. Smith.According to Buzz Cason, who partnered Bobby Russell in the Nashville-based Rising Sons music publishing firm, Russell wrote both the songs "Honey" and "Little Green Apples" as "an...
"), "Monicas vals" ("Waltz for Debby
Waltz for Debby (song)
"Waltz for Debby" is a jazz standard composed by Bill Evans. A piano trio jazz waltz, it was first recorded on Evans's 1956 album New Jazz Conceptions and, perhaps more famously, on his 1961 live album Waltz for Debby. It has been recorded by many artists, both as an instrumental and as a vocal piece...
"), "Stick iväg, Jack!" ("Hit the Road Jack
Hit the Road Jack
"Hit the Road Jack" is a song written by rhythm and bluesman Percy Mayfield and first recorded in 1960 as an a capella demo sent to Art Rupe, available on the Memory Pain CD vol. 2, Specialty Records SPCD-7027-2. It became famous after it was recorded by singer-pianist Ray Charles. It hit number...
"), "Att angöra en brygga", "Var blev ni av", "Måne över Stureplan" (cover on Sting's "Moon Over Bourbon Street") and "Under vinrankan!", among many, many others. She also interpreted the works of many Swedish national singer-songwriters such as Evert Taube
Evert Taube
Evert Axel Taube was a Swedish author, artist, composer and singer. He is best known for his folk songs, and is widely regarded as one of Sweden's most respected musicians.-Biography:...
, Olle Adolphson
Olle Adolphson
Olle Adolphson was a Swedish writer, singer and songwriter. He released a range of books , LPs and CDs .Dubbel Trubbel, a homage to Olle Adolphson, performed by various Swedish artists, such as Håkan...
and Povel Ramel
Povel Ramel
Baron Povel Karl Henric Ramel was a Swedish entertainer. Ramel was a singer, pianist, vaudeville artist, author and a novelty song composer. His style was characterized by imaginative wit, both verbal and musical...
, and all through her life interpreted the works of international and American jazz musicians/song writers. She worked with some of the greatest international jazz names including Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
, Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
, Steve Kuhn
Steve Kuhn
Steve Kuhn is an American jazz pianist, composer and trio leader.-Biography:He began studying piano at the age of five and studied under Boston piano teacher Margaret Chaloff, mother of jazz baritone saxophonist Serge Chaloff, who taught him the "Russian style" of piano playing. At an early age he...
and Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, and in the Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n jazz world with people like Georg Riedel, Egil Johansen
Egil Johansen (musician)
Egil Johansen was a Norwegian-Swedish jazz drummer, teacher, composer, and arranger.-Life:...
, Arne Domnérus
Arne Domnérus
Sven Arne Domnérus was a Swedish jazz alto saxophonist and clarinetist, popularly nicknamed Dompan....
, Svend Asmussen
Svend Asmussen
Svend Asmussen is a jazz violinist from Denmark, known as "The Fiddling Viking". Asmussen grew up in a musical family, starting violin lessons at age 7. At age 16 he first heard recordings by jazz violin great Joe Venuti and began to emulate his style...
and Jan Johansson.
In 1964 she recorded the critically acclaimed jazz album Waltz for Debby
Waltz for Debby (1964 album)
Waltz for Debby is a 1964 album by jazz musician Bill Evans and Swedish singer Monica Zetterlund.It was reissued by Verve Records in 2006.-Reception:...
with Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
, a record she herself described as "the best I've done" and was most proud of. Her long career also included the song "En gång i Stockholm
En gång i Stockholm
"En gång i Stockholm" was the Swedish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963, performed in Swedish by one of Scandinavia's leading jazz singers, Monica Zetterlund ....
" ("Winter City"); a jazz ballad with which she represented Sweden in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1963
The Eurovision Song Contest 1963 was the 8th Eurovision Song Contest. France had won the contest in 1962 but were incapable of hosting in 1963, as was their right, due to financial shortcomings. As was the case in 1960 - and as would become a tradition when smaller broadcasters could not afford to...
. She finished last, however, (mainly because the song genre was not suitable for the competition) and scored the infamous null points, but still managed to remain successful in Sweden. Her collaboration with the comic duo Hasseåtage
Hasseåtage
Hasseåtage is the commonly used name for the popular Swedish comedy-duo featuring Hans "Hasse" Alfredson and Tage Danielsson. The term was created by the Swedish press in the 1960s, and was never used by the duo themselves...
(in the 1960s and 70s) eventually led to a stage career in revues and films. Memorable are her parts in films Att angöra en brygga, Äppelkriget and Jan Troell's Utvandrarna (aka The Emigrants; with Liv Ullman and Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...
in the leads) for which Zetterlund received a Guldbagge award for Best Supporting Actress. She appeared in more than 20 films and television series throughout her life.
Health & death
She suffered from severe scoliosisScoliosis
Scoliosis is a medical condition in which a person's spine is curved from side to side. Although it is a complex three-dimensional deformity, on an X-ray, viewed from the rear, the spine of an individual with scoliosis may look more like an "S" or a "C" than a straight line...
, and as a result was forced to retire from performing in 1999. She made her last lengthy official tour in 1997, and gave one of her last concerts at Sweden's Hultsfred Festival
Hultsfred Festival
The Hultsfred Festival is an annual music festival held in Hultsfred, Sweden. It takes place at the lake Hulingen during three days in the June or July, from Thursday to Saturday. Since the first festival in 1986, its attendance has increased from 7,500 visitors to approximately 32,000 people in...
(which usually is a festival for pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and rock bands; but she participated anyway - and the young rock audience loved her). In the last years of her life she used a wheelchair because of her scoliosis. On May 12, 2005, she died following an accidental fire in her apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
Albums
- Swedish Sensation (1958)
- Ahh! Monica (1962)
- Make Mine Swedish style (1964)
- Waltz for DebbyWaltz for Debby (1964 album)Waltz for Debby is a 1964 album by jazz musician Bill Evans and Swedish singer Monica Zetterlund.It was reissued by Verve Records in 2006.-Reception:...
(1964) (with Bill EvansBill EvansWilliam John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
) - Ohh! Monica (1965)
- Monica Zetterlund. (1967)
- Monica – Monica (1971)
- Chicken Feathers (1972) (with Steve KuhnSteve KuhnSteve Kuhn is an American jazz pianist, composer and trio leader.-Biography:He began studying piano at the age of five and studied under Boston piano teacher Margaret Chaloff, mother of jazz baritone saxophonist Serge Chaloff, who taught him the "Russian style" of piano playing. At an early age he...
) - Den sista jäntan (1973)
- Hej, man! (1975)
- It Only Happens Every TimeIt Only Happens Every TimeIt Only Happens Every Time is a 1977 big band jazz album recorded by the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra with singer Monica Zetterlund in Helsinki and Stockholm and released by EMI in Europe and by Inner City Records in the US.-Track listing:...
(1977) (with the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra) - Monica Zetterlund - Ur Svenska Ords Arkiv (1982)
- Holiday for Monica (1983)
- Monica Zetterlund sjunger Olle Adolphson (1983)
- For Lester And Billie (1983) (a tribute to Lester Young and Billie Holiday)
- Monica Z (1989)
- Varsamt (1991)
- Nu är det skönt att leva (1992)
- Topaz (1993)
- Ett lingonris som satts i cocktailglas (1995) (6 CD Collection Box)
- The Lost Tapes @ Bell Sound Studios NYC (1960/1996) (the lost American recordings from 1960)
- Det finns dagar (1997)
- Bill Remembered (2000) (tribute album to Bill EvansBill EvansWilliam John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
) - Z - Det bästa med Monica Zetterlund (2005) (best of-album)
Notable songs
- "Va' e' de' där" ("Dat DereDat Dere"Dat Dere" is a jazz song with music by Bobby Timmons and lyrics by Oscar Brown, Jr.- Creation :Timmons composed the music in succession with the songs "Dis Here" and "Which Were?". It was first recorded in 1960 by Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers on the album "The Big Beat" while Timmons was the...
" with Swedish lyrics by Beppe WolgersBeppe WolgersJohn Bertil "Beppe" Wolgers was a Swedish author, poet, translator, lyricist, actor, entertainer and artist.Wolgers was born in Stockholm...
.) - "En gång i StockholmEn gång i Stockholm"En gång i Stockholm" was the Swedish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963, performed in Swedish by one of Scandinavia's leading jazz singers, Monica Zetterlund ....
" - "Sakta vi gå genom stan" ("Walkin' My Baby Back HomeWalkin' My Baby Back HomeWalkin' My Baby Back Home may refer to:* "Walkin' My Baby Back Home" , a popular 1931 song recorded by Nat King Cole among others* Walkin' My Baby Back Home, a 2003 album, including the song of the same name, recorded by Johnnie Ray...
" with Swedish lyrics by Beppe Wolgers.)
Selected filmography
- Swedish Portraits (1964) (Svenska bilder)
- Docking the BoatDocking the BoatDocking the Boat is a Swedish dark comedy film from 1965 directed by Tage Danielsson. The film stars Gösta Ekman, Monica Zetterlund, Hans Alfredson, Lars Ekborg and Birgitta Andersson have acquired a mild cult following in Sweden for their acting in this film...
(1965) (Att angöra en brygga) - Night GamesNight Games"Night Games is a 1983 single written by Blake Mevis and Norro Wilson and recorded by Charley Pride. Originally recorded by Ray Stevens in 1981, "Night Games" was Charley Pride's twenty-ninth and final number one country hit...
(1966) (Nattlek) - The Apple WarThe Apple WarThe Apple War is a 1971 Swedish comedy-drama film directed by Tage Danielsson, starring Gösta Ekman, Hans Alfredsson, Tage Danielsson, Monica Zetterlund and Max von Sydow. The political theme of the film is the battle between nature on the one hand and commercialisation and industrialisation on...
(1971) (Äppelkriget) - The Emigrants (1971) (Utvandrarna)
- The New LandThe New LandNybyggarna is a 1972 Swedish film written by Bengt Forslund and directed by Jan Troell. It stars Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann and Eddie Axberg....
(1972) (Nybyggarna) - Stubby (1974) (FimpenFimpenFimpen is a 1974 Swedish family film written and directed by Bo Widerberg and starring Johan Bergman.-Plot:...
) - Guttersnipes (1974) (Rännstensungar)
- Sweden for the Swedes (1980) (Sverige åt svenskarna)
- The Children from Blue Lake Mountain (1980) (Barnen från Blåsjöfjället)
Websites
- Official site - Monica Zetterlund Society & Memory Fund (in Swedish)
- Monica Zetterlund - Swedish fansite (in Swedish)
Articles
- News report of her death (in Swedish)
- NY Times Obituary