Sanna Viktoria Nielsen (born 27 November 1984) 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 and television presenter. On her seventh attempt, she won Melodifestivalen in 2014 with the song " Undo" and so represented Sweden in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, finishing in 3rd place overall. Sanna was one of the

Eurovision Song Contest 2015 The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Vienna, Austria, following the country's victory at the with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. Organised by the European Broa ...

commentators for Sweden and hosted

Melodifestivalen 2015 Melodifestivalen 2015 was the Swedish music competition that selected Sweden's 55th entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. Måns Zelmerlöw won with the song " Heroes". The hosts for the show were Sanna Nielsen (winner of Melodifestivalen 20 ...

along with comedian

Robin Paulsson Robin Paulsson (born 28 December 1983) is a Swedish stand-up comedian, screenwriter and television presenter. Career Paulsson made his debut as a stand-up comedian in 2001, and as a television presenter in 2006 with his own talk show ''Robins' ...

. She was announced as the new presenter for the sing-along show ''

Allsång på Skansen ''Allsång på Skansen'' (''Sing-along at Skansen'') is a Swedish show held at Skansen, Stockholm, every summer on Tuesdays between 8pm and 9pm. The audience is encouraged to sing along with musical guest stars to well-known Swedish and interna ...

'' for the summer of 2016. She hosted ''Eurovision The Party'' at the

Tele2 Arena The Stockholmsarenan, known as the Tele2 Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov, just south of Stockholm City Centre, Sweden. It is used mostly for concerts and football m ...

for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.

Career

Nielsen was born and grew up in the town of Edenryd in Bromölla Municipality, Skåne. Her paternal grandfather was a

Dane Dane or Danes may refer to: People Pertaining to Denmark * Dane, somebody from Denmark * Danes, an ethnic group native to Denmark * Danes (Germanic tribe) Other people * Dane (name), a surname and a given name (and a list of people with the nam ...

from

Århus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

. Nielsen's career started at several talent searches, the first being in 1992 in Olofström. In 1994 she participated in a talent search in Kallinge and won with the song "

Can You Feel the Love Tonight "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is a song from Disney's 1994 animated film ''The Lion King'' composed by English musician Elton John with lyrics by Tim Rice. At the 67th Academy Awards in March 1995 it won the Academy Award for Best Original So ...

". Nielsen performed with the danceband Mats Elmes between 1995 and 1996 at the age of eleven. At the same time she reached the number one spot 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 with the song " Till en fågel". Nielsen became the youngest person to reach number one at the chart. In September 1996, Nielsen's debut album "Silvertoner" was released. A reviewer of the album for ''

Göteborgs-Posten ''Göteborgs-Posten'' (lit. "The Gothenburg Post"), abbreviated GP, is a major Swedish language daily newspaper published in Gothenburg, Sweden. History and profile ''Göteborgs-Posten'' was first published in 1813, but ceased publication in 1 ...

'' compared Nielsen to

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 ...

and

Sissel Kyrkjebø Sissel Kyrkjebø (; born 24 June 1969), also simply known as Sissel, is a Norwegian soprano. Sissel is considered one of the world's top crossover sopranos. Her musical style ranges from pop recordings and folk songs, to classical vocals and op ...

. During the following years Nielsen released the album ''Min önskejul'' in 1997 and the single "Time to Say Goodbye" in 1999. During her high school years, she studied the Estetichal programme and music at Helenehoms Gymnastin in Malmö. In December 2001, Nielsen participated in a Christmas tour along with

Christer Sjögren Hans Christer Sjögren (born 6 April 1950) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the dansband Vikingarna. Early life Hans Christer Sjögren was born in Hagfors, Sweden, on 6 April 1950, as the ...

, Sten Nilsson and

Charlotte Perrelli Anna Jenny Charlotte Perrelli (; ; born 7 October 1974) is a Swedes, Swedish singer and television host. She was the winner of the Melodifestivalen 1999, 1999 Melodifestivalen and subsequently Eurovision Song Contest 1999, that year's Eurovision ...

. In 2002 she toured with

Roger Pontare Fred Roger Pontare (born Roger Johansson; 17 October 1951) is a Swedish musician. He lives in Bjuråker in Hudiksvalls kommun. Pontare was born in Arjeplog Municipality, and is of Sami descent. He has represented Sweden twice in the Eurovisi ...

and in December the same year she participated in a Christmas concert with Kalle Moraeus and Tito Beltran in both 2003 and 2004. In February 2006, her second solo music album ''Nära mej, nära dej'' was released with lyrics and music by

Fredrik Kempe Fredrik Kempe (born 29 April 1972) is a Swedish songwriter and opera and pop singer, who was born in Vårgårda. He has participated in Swedish versions of the musicals ''Les Misérables'' and ''Chess''. In 2002, Kempe had a hit with ''Vincerò' ...

and Marcos Ubeda. In July–August 2007 she was on a new music tour called ''Sommar, Sommar, Sommar'' along with

Shirley Clamp Shirley Natasja Clamp (born 17 February 1973) is a British-Swedish pop singer.Shirley Clamp
posh24.se, accessed on May 7, 2010 ...

and

Sonja Aldén Sonja Annika Maria Aldén (born 20 December 1977) is a Swedish singer mostly famous for her 2006, 2007, 2012 and 2020 Melodifestivalen entries, and for working together with Shirley Clamp and Sanna Nielsen, as well as her songwriting for other a ...

. In April 2008 the album ''Stronger'' was released, an album completely in

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

, the first time Nielsen had such an album. The same year the album ''Our Christmas'' was released, containing Christmas songs along with

Shirley Clamp Shirley Natasja Clamp (born 17 February 1973) is a British-Swedish pop singer.Shirley Clamp
posh24.se, accessed on May 7, 2010 ...

and

. In 2011, she released the album '' I'm In Love''. In December 2013 Nielsen released her seventh studio album called '' Min jul'', which contains

Christmas songs Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject m ...

Participation in Melodifestivalen

Nielsen has participated seven times 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 ...

, Sweden's annual music competition and national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

. She made her debut in 2001 performing "

I går, i dag "I går, i dag" is a song written by Bert Månson, and performed by Sanna Nielsen at Melodifestivalen 2001, where it ended up third. In 2001, the song was also released as a single, peaking at #32 at the Swedish singles chat. The song also chart ...

", which finished third. She returned to the contest again in 2003 with "

Hela världen för mig Hela världen för mig is a 2003 single by Sanna Nielsen and written by Thomas G:son. Release "Hela världen för mig" peaked at #35 in the Swedish singles chart and continued to appear for 35 weeks. It was the fourth most successful song of 20 ...

" finishing fifth. After a one-year break, Nielsen returned again in

Melodifestivalen 2005 Melodifestivalen 2005 was the selection for the 45th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the 44th time that this system of picking a song had been used. Five heats had taken place to select the ten songs for the final, ...

with " Du och jag mot världen", this time as a duet with

, which finished eighth.

2007

On 3 March 2007, Nielsen participated in

again with "

Vågar du, vågar jag "Vågar du, vågar jag" ( en, "If you dare, I dare too") is a song written by Bobby Ljunggren, Fredrik Kempe and Henrik Wikström, and performed by Sanna Nielsen at Melodifestivalen 2007. The song participated at the semifinals in the town of Gäv ...

". During the Second Chance round, the song qualified for the final at the

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 ...

Globe Arena Avicii Arena, originally known as Stockholm Globe Arena and previously as Ericsson Globe, but commonly referred to in Swedish simply as Globen (; "the Globe"), is an indoor arena located in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov district of Stock ...

on 10 March 2007, where the song ended up in seventh place after the final of

Melodifestivalen 2007 Melodifestivalen 2007 was the selection for the 47th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the 46th time that this system of picking a song has been used. Five heats took place to select the ten songs for the final, in J ...

2008

Nielsen participated in

Melodifestivalen 2008 Melodifestivalen 2008 was the 47th Melodifestivalen, and the selection process for the 48th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. A new rule—''Lex Agnes''—went into effect in 2008 calling for each submitted entry to inclu ...

, performing " Empty Room", written and composed by

Bobby Ljunggren Bobby Ljunggren (born 1961) is a Swedish songwriter. He has entered the Eurovision Song Contest as a composer six times, five times for his native Sweden (1995, 1998, 2006, 2008 and 2010), and once for Lithuania, in 2005. He is a veteran of ...

and

Aleena Gibson Aleena Gibson (''Anna-Lena Högdahl''), is a Swedish songwriter living in Stockholm. Her credits include Jason Derulo, Mr. Big, Nick Carter, S Club 7, Chenoa, Tata Young, Rouge Jill Johnson, Girls' Generation, and Austin Mahone.

. She reached the final from the

Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås is the se ...

semifinal on 16 February 2008. Although the song won the public televote in the final inside the Stockholm Globe Arena on 15 March, beating

's second-placed song "

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ...

" by more than 50,000 votes, it was denied the chance to represent Sweden at the

after losing out to Perrelli in the overall points-based scoring system once the jury vote was factored into the results, thus finishing only second in the final official standings. During 2008, "Empty Room" won the

OGAE Second Chance Contest 2008 The OGAE Second Chance Contest is a visual event which was founded in 1987 and is organised by branches of OGAE, the international fan club of the Eurovision Song Contest. Four nations competed in the first contest which took place in 1987. Th ...

with a 91 points lead to runner-up Coral from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Return in 2011

Nielsen participated in the Melodifestivalen 2011, with the song " I'm in Love". She came first at the second semi-final which took place in Gothenburg on 12 February 2011. One month later, she finished fourth at the finale.

Melodifestivalen win and Eurovision 2014

Nielsen decided to return to

the contest "The Contest" is the 51st episode of the NBC sitcom '' Seinfeld''. The eleventh episode of the fourth season, it aired on November 18, 1992. In the episode, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer hold a contest to determine who can go for the longes ...

in 2014, this time with the song " Undo". She competed in the second semifinal held on 8 February, in which she qualified for the final, held at the Friends Arena,

on 8 March. She won the final and represented Sweden at the

in the first semifinal on 6 May. Nielsen made it to the final. In the final Nielsen placed third place with 218 points. That also placed Nielsen as the second highest scoring singer for Sweden at the Eurovision after Loreen in 2012. Undo became Nielsens first song to reach the UK Top 40 singles charts at place 40

After Eurovision 2014

On 29 September 2014, Nielsen was announced as the host for

along with comedian

. On 10 April 2015, it was announced that Nielsen and

Edward af Sillén Edward af Sillén (born 1982 in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil) is a Swedish screenwriter and director for stage, film and TV. He has translated and directed many highly successful theatre shows including ''Twelfth Night'' by William Shakespea ...

would commentate the SVT broadcast of the

. In August 2015 it was announced by SVT that Nielsen would become the new presenter for the all-sing show ''

'' at

Skansen Skansen (; "the Sconce") is the oldest open-air museum and zoo in Sweden located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It was opened on 11 October 1891 by Artur Hazelius (1833–1901) to show the way of life in the different parts ...

in Stockholm in the summer of 2016. Nielsen returned to Eurovision when she hosted the "Eurovision The Party" event that was held at the

on the night of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 final. Sanna returned to Eurovision travelling to Lisbon in May 2018 as a commentator for the national Swedish broadcaster,

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...

(SVT).

Personal life

Sanna Nielsen got engaged in 2006 in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, the couple lived in

Lidingö Lidingö, also known in its definite form ''Lidingön'' and as ''Lidingölandet'', is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2010, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 31,561. It is ...

outside of Stockholm before splitting up in 2008. She is currently living in Årsta south of Stockholm with her boyfriend Joakim Ramsell.

Discography

Awards

*2002 – Ulla Billquist-stipendiet, 25,000 kronor *2002 – Birgit Nilssons stipendium *2003 – Skåning of the Year *2008 – Song of the Year for " Empty Room" at the 2009

Gaygalan Awards Established by Swedish magazine QX in 1999, the Gaygalan Awards are an annual event created to hand out prizes for LGBT achievements. In 2004, the gala was broadcast for the first time on Sveriges Television when it was held at Hamburger Börs w ...

*2008 – Lidingöbo of the Year *2018-2019 – female presenter of the year

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Sanna 1984 births Living people People from Bromölla Municipality Dansband singers Swedish child singers Swedish pop singers English-language singers from Sweden Swedish-language singers Melodifestivalen contestants Svensktoppen Schlager musicians Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2014 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Sweden Swedish people of Danish descent Melodifestivalen winners Swedish television hosts 21st-century Swedish singers 21st-century Swedish women singers Swedish women television presenters