Frans Jeppsson Wall (born 19 December 1998), also known mononymously as Frans, is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

singer-songwriter. He won

Melodifestivalen 2016 Melodifestivalen 2016 was the 56th edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen, which selected Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The competition was organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and took place over the s ...

and represented host nation

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 SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organised by the European Broadcasting ...

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 ...

with the song "

If I Were Sorry "If I Were Sorry" is a song by Swedish singer Frans Jeppsson Wall. The song was released in Sweden as a digital download on 28 February 2016, and was written by Frans along with Fredrik Andersson, Michael Saxell and Oscar Fogelström. It took p ...

", finishing in fifth place.

Life and career

2006–2015: Early career

Frans was born in

Ystad Ystad (; older da, Ysted) is a town and the seat of Ystad Municipality, in Scania County, Sweden. Ystad had 18,350 inhabitants in 2010. The settlement dates from the 11th century and has become a busy ferryport, local administrative centre, and ...

. Frans's father Mark was born in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

to a Nigerian mother and a British father. At the age of eight, Mark moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Frans' mother is Swedish. He was thus raised speaking both English and Swedish. During most of his life, Frans has been a part-time resident in London and he also studied music there for an entire year when he was 15 at The Norwood School. He has a younger brother named Casper and a twin sister, named Filippa. He is best known for his football anthems with the band

Elias Elias is the Greek equivalent of Elijah ( he, אֵלִיָּהוּ‎ ''ʾĒlīyyāhū''; Syriac: ܐܠܝܐ ''Eliyā''; Arabic: الیاس Ilyās/Elyās), a prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 9th century BC, mentioned in several holy ...

, including the 2006 hit " Who's da Man", dedicated to Swedish footballer

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (, ; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Ibrahimović is renowned for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, powerful long-range sho ...

. The song, credited to Elias and featuring vocals by Frans, stayed at the top of

Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish R ...

, the official Swedish Singles Chart, for 13 weeks. For Christmas 2006, he scored a minor hit with his song " Kul med Jul" (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: Fun with Christmas), which peaked at number 24 on the

Swedish singles chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish R ...

. Another sports-related chart entering by Frans was the 2008 song " Fotbollsfest", a song launched in support of the

Sweden national football team The Sweden national football team ( sv, svenska fotbollslandslaget) represents Sweden in men's international football and it is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body of football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is F ...

. The song peaked at number one on the Swedish singles chart, which it did in its second week of charting.

2016–present: Melodifestivalen and Eurovision

After years of absence from music, Frans returned with his participation in

in a bid to represent Sweden at the

with the song "

", which he co-wrote with Oscar Fogelström,

Michael Saxell Michael Saxell (born 1 October 1956) is a singer-songwriter, composer, lyricist, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He was born in Helsingborg, Sweden but has spent many years on the Canadian west coast. He composed music for the Colin Nutley m ...

and Fredrik Andersson. He performed it in

Gävle Gävle () is a city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 77,586 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the 13th most populated city in Sweden. It is the oldest city in the historical Norrland (Swede ...

during the fourth and last semi-final leg of the competition on 27 February 2016, going on to secure a place in the final on 12 March 2016 in

, Sweden. Immediately after his performance, the single was released. It became very popular and went straight to number one of Sverigetopplistan during the first week following its release. It also charted on the

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

Viral charts in Switzerland, Taiwan, Iceland, Uruguay, the United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, France, Denmark, Turkey and Germany. He won the Melodifestivalen final on 12 March 2016 with 156 points, and went on to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, also held in Stockholm. At the age of 17, Frans became the second youngest ever Melodifestivalen winner after

Carola Häggkvist Carola Maria Häggkvist (; born 8 September 1966), commonly known simply as Carola, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She has been among Sweden's most popular performers since the early 1980s and has released albums ranging from pop and disco ...

, who was 16 when she won 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 ...

. In the Eurovision final, "If I Were Sorry" placed fifth overall.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

Notes

Sources

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeppsson Wall, Frans 1998 births Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2016 Living people Melodifestivalen winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Sweden English-language singers from Sweden Swedish people of British descent Swedish people of Nigerian descent Swedish pop singers Swedish songwriters Swedish twins People from Ystad Municipality 21st-century Swedish singers 21st-century Swedish male singers