The Hootenanny Singers were a popular

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

group from

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 ...

, founded in 1961. The group included

Björn Ulvaeus Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, producer, a member of the musical group ABBA, and co-composer of the musicals '' Chess'', '' Kristina från Duvemåla'', and ''Mamma Mia!'' He co-produced the films ...

, who later became a member of

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

. Other band members were Johan Karlberg (b. Karl Johan Hilding Karlberg, 14 April 1943,

Vimmerby Vimmerby () is a city and the seat of Vimmerby Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 10,934 inhabitants in 2010. Overview Stångån is a small river running through the city. Vimmerby had its charter as early as the fourteenth century. The ...

d. 16 August 1992,

Västervik Västervik is a city and the seat of Västervik Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden, with 36,747 inhabitants in 2021. Västervik is one of three coastal towns with a notable population size in the province of Småland. Climate Västervik h ...

, Sweden), Tonny Rooth (b. Sven Villy Tonny Rooth, 30 November 1943, Västervik, Sweden) and Hansi Schwarz (b. Hans Carl Schwarz, 16 March 1942,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

d. 10 January 2013, Lund, Sweden). The group was named "The Northern Lights" for a US-released LP in 1966.

Early debut

In 1964, they debuted on the Swedish TV programme ''Hylands Hörna'' with locally well-known Swedish poet

Dan Andersson Dan Andersson (6 April 1888 in Ludvika – 16 September 1920 in Stockholm)Dan Andersson
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's "Jag väntar vid min mila" (translated as "I'm Waiting at the Charcoal Kiln"). The band had an early hit in the song ''Gabrielle'', based on the Russian song "

May There Always Be Sunshine "May There Always Be Sunshine" (russian: "Пусть всегда будет солнце!" or ) is a popular Soviet children's song created in 1962. The music was composed by Arkady Ostrovsky and the lyrics written by Lev Oshanin. Korney Chukovsk ...

" by

Arkady Ostrovsky Arkady (Avraam) Il'ich Ostrovsky (also spelled Ostrovskij, Ostrovskyj russian: Аркадий (Авраам) Ильич Островский) (February 25 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._February_12.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_d ...

. Due to a lack of international copyright agreements, songs from the Soviet Union were then considered to be in the public domain.

Stig Anderson Stig Erik Leopold Anderson (25 January 1931 – 12 September 1997), better known as Stikkan Anderson, was a Swedish music manager, lyricist and music publisher. He was the co-founder of Polar Music, and is best known for managing the Sw ...

and Bengt Bernhag, co-founders of the band's production company

Polar Music Polar Music is a Swedish record company founded in 1963 by Stig Anderson and his friend Bengt Bernhag. Background The first act that Polar Music signed was the Hootenanny Singers featuring Björn Ulvaeus. Polar eventually gained prosperity pr ...

, claimed credits for the song's arrangement and Swedish lyrics. Russian media sources would later describe this as plagiarism or theft. After reaching number five on the Swedish charts, the band translated and recorded versions of ''Gabrielle'' in German, Finnish, Italian, Dutch, and English.

Later career and end of the group

They were famous for the amount of touring of the Swedish outdoor concert venues and had numerous hit singles on the

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 ...

chart. Their biggest hit was "Omkring tiggarn från Luossa", which broke the record by spending 52 weeks on Svensktoppen between 26 November 1972 and 18 November 1973. Johan Karlberg dropped out of the band in the late 1960s to take over his father's business. Karlberg died in 1992. Hansi Schwarz was also the leader of the

folk ballad festival for many years. Schwarz died in 2013. To date, Tonny Rooth and Björn Ulvaeus are the two surviving members of the original line-up of the band. Some of the tracks on the 1969 album ''På tre man hand'' were released as solo singles by Björn Ulvaeus.

Discography

Albums

*1964: ''Hootenanny Singers'' *1964: ''Hootenanny Singers'' (2nd Album) *1965: ''Hootenanny Singers Sjunger Evert Taube'' *1965: ''International'' *1966: ''Many Faces/Många Ansikten'' *1967: ''Civila'' *1968: ''5 År'' *1968: ''Bellman på vårt sätt'' *1969: ''Det bästa med Hootenanny Singers & Björn Ulvaeus'' *1969: ''På Tre Man Hand'' *1970: ''Skillingtryck'' *1971: ''Våra Vackraste Visor'' *1972: ''Våra Vackraste Visor Vol. 2'' *1973: ''Dan Andersson på vårt sätt'' *1974: ''Evert Taube på vårt sätt'' *1979: ''Nya vindar'' *1982: ''För kärleks skull''

Compilation albums

*1967: ''Bästa'' *1974: ''Favoriter'' *1991: ''Bästa'' *1995: ''Svenska favoriter'' *2002: ''Musik vi minns''

EPs

* 1964: "Jag väntar vid min mila/Ann-Margret/Ingen enda höst/Ave Maria No Morro" * 1964: "En Mor/Körsbar Utan Kärnor/Gabrielle/I Lunden Gröna" * 1964: "Lincolnvisan/Hem Igen/Godnattsaga/This Is Your Land" * 1965: "Britta/Solola/Eh Hattespeleman/Telegrafisten Anton Hanssons Vals" * 1965: "Björkens Visa/En Festlig Dag/Vildandens Klagan/Finns Det Liv Så Finns Det Hopp" * 1966: "Vid Roines Strand/Marianne/En Man Och En Kvinna/Vid en biväg till en byväg bor den blonda Beatrice" * 1967: "Blomman/En sång en gång för längese'n/Det Ar Skönt Att Vara Hemma Igen/Tänk Dej De' Att Du Och Jag Var Me'" * 1967: "Mårten Gås/Början Till Slutet/Marie Christina/Adjö Farval"

Singles

* 1964: "Jag väntar vid min mila" (I'm Waiting at the Charcoal Kiln) / "Ann-Margret" * 1964: "Darlin'" / "Bonnie Ship the Diamond" * 1965: "Den Gyllene Fregatt" / "Där skall jag bo" * 1965: "Britta" / "Den Sköna Helen" * 1965: "Solola" / "Björkens Visa" * 1965: "Den sköna Helen" / "Björkens visa" * 1966: "No Time" / "Time To Move Along" * 1966: "Marianne" / "Vid en biväg till en byväg bor den blonda Beatrice" * 1966: "Baby, Those Are The Rules" / "Through Darkness Lights" * 1967: "En sång en gång för längese'n" (Swedish version of

Green, Green Grass of Home "Green, Green Grass of Home", written by Claude "Curly" Putman Jr., and first recorded by singer Johnny Darrell in 1965, is a country song made popular by Porter Wagoner the same year, when it reached No. 4 on the Country chart. It was also r ...

) / "Det Är Skönt Att Vara Hemma Igen" * 1967: "Blomman" / "En man och en kvinna' * 1967: "En gång är ingen gång" / "Du eller ingen" * 1967: "Mrs O'Grady" / "The Fugitive" * 1967: "Början till slutet" / "Adjö farväl" * 1968: "Så länge du älskar är du ung" / "Vilken lycka att hålla dej i hand" * 1968: "Mårten Gås" / "Du Ska Bara Tro På Hälften" * 1968: "Måltidssång" / "Till Fader Berg Rörande Fiolen" * 1968: "Elenore" / "Fåfängans Marknad" * 1969: "Den som lever får se" / "Så länge jag lever" * 1969: "Om jag kunde skriva en visa" / "

Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...

" * 1969: "Vinden Sjunger Samma Sång" / "Hem Till De Mina" * 1970: "Ring Ring, Här är Svensktoppsjuryn" / "Lev som du lär" * 1970: "I fjol så gick jag med herrarna i hagen" / "Älvsborgsvisan" * 1970: "Rose Marie" / "Elin och herremännen" * 1970: "En visa vill jag sjunga som handlar om min lilla vän" / "Spelmansvisa" * 1971: "Aldrig Mer" / "Lilla vackra Anna" * 1971: "Hjärtats Saga" / "Jungman Jansson" * 1971: "Tess Lördan" / "Rosen Och Fjärilen" * 1972: "Tiden" / "Ida & Frida & Anne-Marie" * 1972: "Där björkarna susa" (Where the Birches Sough) / "Calle Schewens Vals" * 1973: "Om aftonen" / "Till min syster" * 1974: "Brittisk ballad" / "Ingrid Dardels polska" * 1975: "Sjösala vals" / "Vals i Valparaiso" * 1975: "Linnea" / "Fritiof Anderssons paradmarsch"

References

{{Authority control Swedish folk music groups