Lena Andersson (singer)

Lena Andersson
Lena Andersson with "Slims bluesgäng" in 1987 on board SS Blidösund
Background information
Born	(1955-04-11) April 11, 1955 (age 62) Fritsla, Sweden
Genres	gospel schlager pop
Occupation(s)	singer
Years active	1970-
Labels	Polar
Associated acts	ABBA

Lena Marianne Andersson (born 11 April 1955, Fritsla, Västergötland) is a Swedish singer, scoring several hits in the early 1970s. Andersson was signed at 17-years-old as a Polar recording artist in 1971. Benny & Björn of ABBA wrote a song for her which placed third in the 1972 Swedish Eurovision selection contest. Andersson also recorded as a backing singer for ABBA.

Andersson was born in April 1955. At age seven, she moved with her parents Halmstad and was enrolled in first grade for the spring semester. She was given a guitar at the age of 12 and discovered a love of folk music, adopting a vocal style similar to that of Joan Baez and Judy Collins. Lena collaborated with her best friend Pia, a lyricist, and in December 1970, she sent seven songs with guitar accompaniment to the Janne Forsell school as part of an admissions application and after some of her music made its way to radio, she came to the attention of manager Stig Anderson. In January of that year Lena went to Stockholm, accompanied by her father, to train and she did a live recording on the program Midnight Hour where she met Stig Anderson in person, leading to an offer to produce an LP. The LP was recorded by Lena at age 15 during winter break in 1971, accompanied by, amongst others, guitarist Janne Schaffer and pianist Jan Boquist.

Following some success with her LP, Andersson made her television debut at age 15 in April 1971 in Hylands Corner with Är det konstigt att man längtar bort nån gång (I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again), a song written by Buffy Sainte-Marie with Swedish lyrics by Stig Anderson. This song hit number one on Sweden's "Top Hits" chart almost immediately and led to Andersson being launched quickly to some fame in Sweden. She conducted a public park tour in the same year with 79 engagements around Sweden. Her early 1970s success continued when she took an active part in the Swedish Song Festival contest in 1972 with the song Säg det med en sång (Say it with a song), for which she took third place. In 1972, she released an LP in Japan including two songs in Japanese and in the same years she attended (together with Björn and Benny of ABBA fame) the "Tokyo Music Festival", performing "Better To Have Loved" and receiving first prize. For a period thereafter, she featured as a background singer for ABBA, including performances in 1977's ABBA: The Movie. The same year she also participated in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "The Best There Is" (written by Kenneth and Ted Gärdestad), finishing in eighth place.