Lena Andersson (singer)

Lena Marianne Andersson (Fritsla, Västergötland, 11 April 1955) is a Swedish singer, scoring several hits in the early 1970s. Andersson was signed as 17-year-old as a Polar recording artist in 1971. Benny & Björn of Abba wrote a song for her which was placed third in the 1972 Swedish Eurovision selection contest.^[1][2][3] Andersson also recorded as a backing singer for ABBA.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

Biography

Early life

Andersson was born in April of 1955. At age seven, she moved with her parents Halmstad and was enrolled in 1st grade for the spring semester. She was given a guitar at the age of twelve and discovered a love of folk music, adopting a vocal style similar to that of Joan Baez and Judy Collins. Lena collaborated with the her best friend Pia, a lyricist, and in December 1970, she sent seven songs with guitar accompaniment to the Janne Forsell school as part of an admissions application and after some of her music made its way to radio, she came to the attention of manager Stig Anderson. In January of that year Lena went to Stockholm, accompanied by her father, to train and she did a live recording on the program Midnight Hour where she met Stig Anderson in person, leading to an offer to produce an LP. The LP was recorded by Lena at age 15 during winter break in 1971, accompanied by, amongst others, guitarist Janne Schaffer and pianist Jan Boquist.

Initial success in the 1970's

Following some success with her LP, Andersson made her television debut at age 15 in April 1971 in Hylands Corner with the song Är det konstigt att man längtar bort nån gång (I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again), a song written by Buffy Sainte-Marie with Swedish lyrics by Stig Anderson. This song hit number one on Sweden's "Top Hits" chart almost immediately and led to Andersson being launched quickly to some fame in Sweden. She conducted a public park tour in the same year with 79 engagements around Sweden. Her early 1970s success continued when she took an active part in the Swedish Song Festival contest in 1972 with the song Säg det med en sång (Say it with a song), for which she took third place. In 1972, she released an LP in Japan including two songs in Japanese and in the same years she attended (together with Björn and Benny of ABBA fame) the "Tokyo Music Festival", performing "Better To Have Loved" and receiving first prize. For a period thereafter, she featurdd as a background singer for ABBA, including performances in 1977's ABBA: The Movie. The same year she also participated in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "The Best There Is" (written by Kenneth and Ted Gärdestad), finishing in eighth place.

Later life

In the early 1980s, Andersson produced a few pop singles together with guitarist Lars Finberg (Tonight, Lay Baby Lay, Build Me Up and Inspiration). Despite some success with these singles, her output of professional releases decreased thereafter. Her last release (excepting compilation albums in 1991 and 2002) was Tonight (with B-side Coming Through), released in 1983. She moved in 1997 from Uppsala to Småland and worked together with pianist Magnus Eklof, amongst others, performing live regularly over the next four years. In 1999, she moved to Västervik and was then a member of the Livets Ord ("Word of Life") Christian religious movement. In 2001, last year in Sweden, she played with the with NIZZAN Jazz Band in her old home town of Halmstad.

On 26 May 2001, she married American Tobe Hubbard in Påskallaviks church and now adopted the surname Andersson-Hubbard. She moved on 22 August 2001 to the United States, a few miles north of San Diego, California. She continues to sing, focusing on gospel music, hymns, ballads and jazz with religious texts, and performs at church functions, both as a choir member and a worship leader. In April 2007, she moved with her husband after he was appointed as a children's pastor in the city of Turlock. Since April, 2011, they live in Phoenix, Arizona.

References