Bobbysocks is a Norwegian pop duo consisting of Norwegian Hanne Krogh and Swedish-Norwegian Elisabeth Andreassen. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with the song " La det swinge" ("Let it swing"). Elisabeth went by the surname Andreasson until 1994.

History

1980s

The duo was formed in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

. Both Krogh and Andreassen were frequent Eurovision contestants. Krogh has appeared three times, all for Norway - in 1971 as a soloist, with Bobbysocks in 1985 and as part of Just 4 Fun in 1991. Andreassen sang for Sweden as one half of Chips in 1982 and after winning with Bobbysocks, teamed up with Jan Werner Danielsen in 1994 and sang solo in 1996. According to John Kennedy O'Connor's ''The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History'' Andreassen is one of only five lead artists to sing in the contest on four occasions and is also one of only four artists to finish both first and second in Eurovision (

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

). The duo's debut single was "I Don't Wanna Break My Heart" (

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

), released in a pink colored vinyl. The concept behind Bobbysocks! was to bring up to date songs from the 1950s with a swing mood, adding them a "modern" 1980s sound. That idea was fully applied on their first LP '' Bobbysocks!'', which was a mixture of covers and brand new songs. The scheduled next single was going to be "Radio", but the plans were changed when the duo won the Eurovision Song Contest. "Let It Swing" topped the Norwegian singles chart, as well as it did in Belgium. It was a Top 10 in Sweden and Ireland, and a Top 20 in The Netherlands and Austria. It entered the UK Singles Chart on 25 May 1985, and rose to a high of Nº 44; it remained in the charts for four weeks. It was also pressed in countries such as Germany, Japan and Australia. In 1985, due to their ESC victory, Bobbysocks! were awarded the Peer Gynt Prize, which is awarded by the

Stortinget The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years base ...

, Norway's parliament. Another ESC consequence was the re-release of the '' Bobbysocks!'' LP with "Let It Swing" on it, reaching the gold status. Their next album, ''

Waiting for the Morning ''Waiting for the Morning'' is a 1986 pop album by Norwegian pop duo Bobbysocks. One week before the release date the album had sold over 60,000 copies to record stores in Norway. Because of this, Elisabeth Andreasson and Hanne Krogh were awarded ...

'', was released in April 1986, preceded by the single of the same name, both becoming a success in Norway, peaking at number 1 on the Norwegian singles and album charts. ''

Walkin' on Air ''Walkin' on Air'' is a 1987 album from Norwegian pop duo Bobbysocks. Within four days, the album sold 50,000 copies, and was certified gold in Norway. It was to be the duo's final album. The songs chosen as lead singles were "If I Fall" in Norw ...

'', was recorded in Los Angeles in 1987 and produced by Bill Maxwell. It went gold in only four days, becoming their third and final LP. Just before the release of "If I Fall", the album's lead single in Norway, the duo wanted to do something "decently crazy" as they revealed at the time, so they did a cover of "Swing it, magister'n", a song from 1940 originally sung by the Swedish singer and actress Alice Babs, releasing it as single in the summer of 1987. In 1988, Bobbysocks disbanded, after four successful years.

21st century

Krogh and Andreassen still appeared from time to time together on stage in Norway. They appeared at '' Congratulations'', the 50th anniversary Eurovision concert in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October 2005. In May 2010, Bobbysocks did a short comeback to celebrate their 25th anniversary since their ESC victory in 1985, launching a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

called ''Let It Swing - The Best Of Bobbysocks!'', which included two newly recorded songs and peaking at number 13 on the Norwegian albums chart.

Discography

Albums

*1984: '' Bobbysocks!'' (re-released in 1985 with "Let It Swing") *1986: ''

'' (re-edited in 1994) *1987: ''

Compilation albums

*2010: ''Let it Swing - The Best of Bobbysocks!''

Singles

*1984: "I Don't Wanna Break My Heart" *1984: "Radio" (re-released in 1985) *1985: "Let It Swing" / "La Det Swinge" *1986: "Waiting for the Morning" *1986: "Johnny And The Dancing Girls" (promo single) *1987: "Swing It, Magister'n" *1987: "If I Fall" *1987: "Don't Leave Me Here Without You" *2010: "Boogie Woogie Mama" (feat.

Vidar Busk Vidar Busk (born 19 May 1970 in Langesund, Norway) is a Norwegian guitarist, vocalist, composer and record producer within genres blues and soul. Store Norske Leksikon (in Norwegian) (in Norwegian) Career Busk grew up in Langesund, but went t ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bobbysocks Norwegian pop music groups Norwegian musical duos Norwegian girl groups Melodi Grand Prix contestants Melodi Grand Prix winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Norway Eurovision Song Contest winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1985 Musical groups established in 1983 1983 establishments in Norway Musical groups disestablished in 1988 1988 disestablishments in Norway Musical groups from Norway with local place of origin missing Pop music duos Female musical duos