Carola Christina Standertskjöld-Liemola (23 March 1941 – 12 November 1997), professionally known as Carola, was a Finnish

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and pop singer. Her style was partially inspired by American singers of the 1950s. Simultaneously, it was in the spirit of the

modal jazz Modal jazz is jazz that makes use of musical modes, often modulating among them to accompany the chords instead of relying on one tonal center used across the piece. Though exerting influence to the present, modal jazz was most popular in th ...

scene going down in Europe in the 1960s. Mostly, Carola's jazz repertoire consisted in idiosyncratic versions of American songs in English, while her most famous jazz track "The Flame" was an original composition by Esa Pethman and the lyrics by the singer herself. As the vocalist for Esa Pethman's quartet and Hazy Osterwald's sextet in the early

1960s File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the Woodstock, 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong ...

, Carola made fame in Finland and Sweden, and toured Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Switzerland. Her most significant recording is a session with the Heikki Sarmanto Trio from 1966, which the Finnish Music Information Centre considers among the original blueprints of Finnish jazz. Carola's recordings have been credited for the accosting tone of her contralto voice and her phrasing. The singer also co-produced the groovy approach of her supporting orchestras. In late 1960s and early 1970s, she performed in nine languages and a wide variety of styles, including

chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...

, schlager,

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

rock'n'roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African American music such as jazz, rhythm and ...

, and

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

. After her death of Alzheimer's disease in 1997, Carola's music was revived in 2004 with two ''Best of'' albums and ''Carola & Heikki Sarmanto Trio'' reaching the Finnish charts.

Biography

Carola Christina Standertskjöld was born on 23 March 1941 to Elin Christina Fazer and Johan Standertskjöld, into a Swedish-speaking

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

family in Helsinki. They left the harsh Finnish post-war conditions and settled in Switzerland. From a very young age Carola was interested in learning foreign languages. Later her family moved to Spain, where her first public jazz performance took place; she also performed the French

s at school parties and small occasions, accompanying herself on the acoustic guitar.

Jazz career (1962–1966)

When Carola returned to Finland, she was spotted by Esa and Anssi Pethman, brothers who led a jazz quarter that was popular in Finland and Sweden in 1962. As the lead singer of Esa Pethman's quartet, Carola gained fame in Sweden,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in 1963 and released her first track in Finland.: the Jewish folk song " Hava Nagila", published by the

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

as the B-side of Laila Halme's version of "

Telstar Telstar refers to a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched atop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, successfully relayed the first televisi ...

". After leaving Esa Pethman's quartet Carola became the vocalist for the Swiss Hazy Osterwald Sextet. During 1964 she toured the Central European scene and performed on television programs. Returning to Finland in 1965, Carola released a single in German, "Warum Willst Du Das Alles Vergessen" and also performed with a backup band, The Boys, who mostly recorded cover versions of songs in the English language, including

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

' " The Last Time" and Skeeter Davis' " The End of the World". Carola starred both as a singer and actress in the musical television film ''The Cold Old Days'', with the film winning the Golden Rose of the Montreaux Film Festival. Her performances in the film included a cover of

Manos Hadjidakis Manos may refer to: Films * The Hands (film), ''The Hands'' (film) (Spanish: ''Las manos''), a 2006 Argentinean-Italian film * ''Manos: The Hands of Fate'', 1966 horror film Other uses * Manos (album), ''Manos'' (album), by The Spinanes * Manos (n ...

's song "

All Alone Am I "All Alone Am I" is a song from 1962 popularized by the American singer Brenda Lee. The song was originally composed by the Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis and recorded in Greek by Tzeni Karezi for the soundtrack of the film ''To nisi ton genneon ...

", for which she herself composed the French lyrics. In 1966, Carola returned to performing jazz music. As the vocalist of the Heikki Sarmanto Trio, she gave a number of concerts in Finland and recorded a session in the studios of

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

on 5 June 1966. Yle considered the material as uncommercial, aired the tracks once on Finnish radio, and shelved them.

Pop career (1967–1975)

Carola's popularity in Finland peaked with her interpretations of the songs " Hunajainen", " Kielletyt leikit", " Agua de Beber", "Rakkauden jälkeen", "Jerusalem", " Mä lähden stadiin", and the traditional Finnish song "Herrojen kanssa pellon laidassa". She also covered 3 winning songs from the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

(" La, la, la" 1968, "

Un banc, un arbre, une rue "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" (; "A Bench, a Tree, a Street") is a song recorded by French singer Séverine, with music composed by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre and French lyrics written by . It in the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest held in Dublin, res ...

" 1971, "

Après Toi "Après toi" (; "After you") is a song recorded by Greek singer Vicky Leandros, with music composed by her father Leo Leandros under his pseudonym Mario Panas, and German composer , with French lyrics by . It in the Eurovision Song Contest 19 ...

" 1972). In 1969, Carola tried out

rhythm & blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

, recording a television video of

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

's " Chain of Fools". The

tongue-in-cheek Tongue-in-cheek is an idiom that describes a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walte ...

choreography by Heikki Värtsi included girl group dancing and Carola whipping a man in a cave.Carolaa neljällä kielellä
(Carola in four languages. In Finnish).

YLE Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

Her rhythm & blues covers continued with the television videos of Elaine Brown's "Seize the Time" and "The End of Silence" (in Finnish as "Sanaton hiljaisuus").

Retirement (1975–1997)

In the mid-1970s, tired of living constantly in the public eye, Carola retired from the music industry and concentrated on work in her husband Georg Liemola's vegetable wholesale company. Throughout the 1970s, she made selected appearances at jazz clubs in Helsinki, including performances with the UMO Jazz Orchestra. Carola made a comeback in 1980 by publishing the Latin style album ''Maria, Maria'', receiving a golden record certificate in Finland. After that, she refused to appear to audiences. In 1985, Carola was diagnosed with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

. In 1987, Carola gave an exclusive concert with the UMO Jazz Orchestra and two years later one with pianist Iiro Rantala. In the early 1990s, she performed alone at a few charity concerts. After her long battle with the disease, Carola died on 12 November 1997 in

Kirkkonummi Kirkkonummi (; , , Sweden ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern coast of the country. Kirkkonummi is situated in the western part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Kirkkonummi is approximately . It is the most populous Mu ...

Artistry

On stage, Carola concentrated to singing fully and living with the music, usually oblivious of her audience. The Finnish public usually reacted to her concentrated act, accusing her of being drunk. Carola enjoyed being on stage, but after her shows she usually felt depressed by and unsatisfied with her voice and performance.

Jazz singer

Carola had a deep voice and an accosting manner without frills, concentrated on the phrasing. Her

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing narrative, stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatre, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cul ...

technique was accompanied by the grooviness of her supporting orchestras, co-produced by her. Partially, the style was inspired by American jazz singers of the 1950s. Simultaneously, it was in the spirit of the

scene going down in Europe in the 1960s. Mostly, Carola's jazz repertoire consisted in idiosyncratic versions of American songs. Examples include "Just Give Me Time" by Francy Boland and Jimmy Woode, "So Long, Big Time" by Dory Langdon and

Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ' ...

, and "Lonely Woman" by

Margo Guryan Margo Guryan (September 20, 1937 – November 8, 2021) was an American singer-songwriter. As a songwriter, her work was first recorded in 1958, although it was for her 1960s song " Sunday Mornin', a hit for both Spanky and Our Gang and Oliver, ...

and

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Ja ...

. Carola's most famous track in the genre was the swinging "The Flame" composed and arranged by Esa Pethman and lyrics by Carola herself.

Pop singer

Using her international experience, Carola performed in nine languages, including Finnish, Swedish, German, French, Italian, English, and Spanish. She interpreted

, schlager,

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

, and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

Personal life

Carola felt exhausted by the attention of the Finnish press at her private life. Her favourite activities were various

physical exercise Exercise or workout is physical activity that enhances or maintains fitness and overall health. It is performed for various reasons, including weight loss or maintenance, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardio ...

s, including walking,

yachting Yachting is recreational boating activities using medium/large-sized boats or small ships collectively called yachts. Yachting is distinguished from other forms of boating mainly by the priority focus on comfort and luxury, the dependence on ma ...

, and

driving Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a land vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, and buses. A driver's permission to drive on public highways is granted based on a set of conditions being met, and drivers are required to ...

. Her kilometrage was usually 5,000 km/month. Carola admitted consuming "a fair deal" of alcoholic beverages in her youth, quitting later in her life. She smoked 2–3 packages of cigarettes per day. She reportedly considered herself a "terribly lazy" person for not learning to play any instruments. She reportedly spoke five languages: Swedish, Finnish, French, Italian, and English.

Legacy

In 1998, Carola's song "Armonaikaa" was used as the

closing credits Closing credits, aka end credits or end titles, are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television show, or video game. While opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to or at th ...

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical appearance for certain software. * Theme (linguistics), topic * Theme ( ...

of the Prix Europa Special winning film ''Hardly a Butterfly''. In 2004, the double CD ''Parhaat'' (''The Best'') was released, ending up as the No. 15 on the chart of best-selling Finnish albums of the year in Finland with 27,100 copies sold. This caused a revival of Carola's music in Finland. Her 1966 recording session with Heikki Sarmanto Trio was published in the same year. ''Carola & Heikki Sarmanto Trio'' featured 10 songs from the YLE studio sessions, and 4 live performances from the YLE Jazz Concert at Kulttuuritalo concert hall in Helsinki 28 April 1966. The album stayed in the Finnish charts for ten weeks. The Finnish Music Information Centre considers the Heikki Sarmanto Trio among the original blueprints of Finnish jazz. The album was also issued in Germany to a lauding review by the Nordische Musik website. A biographical play ''Kielletyt leikit'' (Forbidden Games), named after the title of the singer's version of the Spanish tune " Romance" and based on Carola's life, ran for a month in the Frenckell theatre of

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

in 2009.Carola-Kielletyt leikit
Tapahtumaopas.fi

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Dusty Groove Dusty Groove is a Chicago-based Online music store, online Record shop, record store specializing in music release, new and vintage jazz, funk, Soul music, soul, Hip hop music, hip-hop, World music, world, Rare groove, rare, collectible, and vi ...

music store: *

Karin Krog Karin Krog (born 15 May 1937) is a Norwegian Vocal jazz, jazz singer. Life and career Krog began singing jazz as a teenager and attracted attention while performing in jam sessions in Oslo. In 1955, she was hired by the pianist Kjell Karlsen ...

Monica Zetterlund Monica Zetterlund (born Eva Monica Nilsson; 20 September 1937 – 12 May 2005) was a Swedish jazz singer and actress. She represented Sweden in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest with the jazz ballad " En gång i Stockholm" ("Once Upon a T ...

Discography

* ''Kielletyt leikit'' (1970) * ''Carola'' (1975) * ''Maria, Maria'' (1980) * ''Parhaat palat'' (1980) * ''Sydämeen jäi soimaan blues'' (1985) * ''Kielletyt leikit'' (1993) * ''20 suosikkia – Rakkauden jälkeen'' (1997) * ''20 suosikkia – Kielletyt leikit'' (1997) * ''20 suosikkia – Ota tai jätä'' (2000) * ''Musiikin tähtihetkiä'' (2001) * ''Carola & Heikki Sarmanto Trio'' (2004) * ''Parhaat: tulkitsijan taival'' (2004) * ''Parhaat: tulkitsijan taival 2'' (2005) * ''Rakkauden jälkeen – Kaikki levytykset ja arkistojen aarteita 1963–1988''

References

External links

Carola in the Finnish Recording Archive

One-minute sample clips of ''Carola & Heikki Sarmanto Trio''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Standertskjold, Carola 1941 births 1997 deaths Singers from Helsinki English-language singers from Finland 20th-century Finnish women singers French-language singers of Finland German-language singers of Finland Spanish-language singers of Finland Swedish-speaking Finns Deaths from dementia in Finland Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Finnish soul singers Finnish jazz musicians Finnish expatriates in Spain Finnish expatriates in Switzerland