Anna-Lena Löfgren (1 May 1944 – 21 May 2010) was a Swedish singer from

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. During the years 1962 and 1995, more than 40 of her songs made it onto

Svensktoppen ''Svensktoppen'' () is a weekly record chart airing at Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982-1985. The last years before the January 2003 cha ...

, the record chart of

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio AB (, "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is d ...

. Löfgren became one of the most best known schlager singers in Sweden during the 1960s. She made her first public appearance on the radio show ''

Barnens brevlåda ''Barnens brevlåda'' (''"The Children's Letterbox"'') was a Swedish children's radio programme, led by Sven Jerring. It aired totally 1 785 times, between 11 September 1925 and 1972, making it the longest-lasting Swedish radio programme of that t ...

'' in the 1950s. A few years later Löfgren was discovered by the Swedish rock singer Rock-Olga at the nightspot Nalen in Stockholm. Her breakthrough came soon after in 1962 with the song "Regniga natt", which was certified gold (sold more than 100,000 copies) and topped that year's Svensktoppen. The success continued with her following singles, including "Se mig i ögonen älskling", "Måndag måndag", "Kärlek på lasarett", and "Det finns ingenting att hämta". The biggest hit of her career was the song " Lyckliga gatan" ("Happy Street"), which was released in 1967 and was certified gold in Sweden and platinum and diamond in Norway. It used the melody of the famous Italian song "

Il ragazzo della via Gluck "Il ragazzo della via Gluck" ("The boy from Gluck Street") is an Italian pop song by Adriano Celentano, covered by artists from many other countries. Composition The music of the song is by Adriano Celentano and the lyrics by Luciano Beretta a ...

" ("The Boy from Gluck Street") by

Adriano Celentano Adriano Celentano (; born 6 January 1938) is an Italian musician, singer, composer, actor, and filmmaker. He is dubbed "''il Molleggiato''" (the springy one) because of his dancing. Celentano's many albums frequently enjoyed both commercial and ...

, but with Swedish lyrics. According to ''

Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ''Da ...

'', "in her lifetime she was able to perform the song thousands of times from various scenes." Löfgren also recorded a German version of the song, called "Immer am Sonntag". During the 1960s, she also scored successes in the

German-speaking German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a ...

world. She was successful in West Germany, releasing more than 22 songs for the West German market, including her arguably most popular, 'Abschiednehmen Ist So Schwer", which was a cover of

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

's "

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" is a song recorded by Neil Sedaka, co-written by Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. Sedaka recorded this song twice, in 1962 and 1975, in two significantly different arrangements, and it is considered to be his signature ...

". Löfgren participated in

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

(with "Säg varför") and in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

(with "Jag vill tro"). In the 1980s she moved to

Rånäs Rånäs is a locality situated in Norrtälje Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of ...

outside of Stockholm, where she resided until her death. Her address was "Lyckliga gatan" (Happy Street), like her famous song. Her last song to chart on

was "Välkommen till Pireus" in 1995. She stopped touring in 2005. Her second husband was pianist Arne William Benny Löf, father of murder victim Erika Lööf.

References

Further reading