Sven-Bertil Taube

Sven-Bertil Taube
Photograph of Sven-Bertil Taube on a stage, holding a microphone
Background information
Birth name Sven-Bertil Gunnar Evert Taube
Born 24 November 1934
Genres Folk music
Occupation(s) Singer, actor
Instruments Singing, guitar
Years active 1954–present
Labels Folkways, EMI

Sven-Bertil Gunnar Evert Taube (born 24 November 1934) is a Swedish singer and actor. Born in Stockholm, he is the son of songwriter Evert Taube[1] and sculptor Astri Taube.[2]

Biography

At age 14, Taube began playing guitar. While traveling throughout Europe, he developed an interest in folklore and folk music. He performed in concerts and on Swedish and Norwegian radio while a student at the Royal Beskow School in Stockholm.[2]

Taube graduated in 1954 from the Cherry Lawn School in Darien, Connecticut.[3] While he was a student at the school, Folkways Records invited him to record an album of Swedish folk songs.[4]

Taube has been married four times, and has four children, born in 1960, 1965, 1979, and 1994. He belongs to an untitled branch of the Baltic German noble Taube family, introduced at the Swedish House of Nobility in 1668 as noble family No. 734.

Musical career

Taube released his first album in 1954; it included a cover of one of his father's songs.[2] He has since released many albums which include songs written by his father. Several of his most well-known versions of Evert Taube songs come from albums recorded in the 1970s, but he recorded more of them at later stages, including his 2007 album Alderville Road. Referring to that album, reviewer Peter Dahlgren said, "Evert had the yarns and Sven-Bertil had the voice."[5] He has also recorded songs by the popular Swedish 18th-century songwriter Carl Michael Bellman,[6] and the poet Nils Ferlin (1898–1961), whose poems were mostly put to music by Lille Bror Söderlundh.[7] Taube also recorded an album with songs by the Swedish songwriter and musician Ulf Peder Olrog, one with Swedish translations of songs by French songwriter Léo Ferré, and one with Swedish translations of songs by Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis.

Selected discography

Swedish Folk Songs and Ballads[8]

  • Released: 1954
  • Format: LP
  • Label: Folkways Records
  • Writer: Evert Taube
  • Tracks: "Viljen I veta och viljen I förstå", "Och flickan hon går i dansen", "Brevet från Lillan", "Tänker du att jag förlorader är?", "Om sommaren sköna", "Sven i Rosengård", "Och jungfrun gick åt killan", "Jag gick mig ut en afton", "Uti vår hage", "Vårvinder friska leka och viska", "Jag unnar dig ändå allt gott"

Nils Ferlin[7]

  • Released: 15 November 1988
  • Format: CD
  • Label: EMI
  • Writer: Nils Ferlin, Lille Bror Söderlundh
  • Tracks: "En liten konstnär", "Den stora kometen", "Vilse", "Goggles", "Inte ens en grå liten fågel", "Får jag lämna några blommor", "På Arendorffs tid", "När skönheten kom till byn", "En valsmelodi", "Stjärnorna kvittar det lika", "På källaren Fimmelstången", "Om våren", "Brådska", "Pulex Irritans människoloppa", "Nasarevalsen", "Som ett ödehus", "Vid diktens port"

Taube Sjunger Taube[9]

Om Sommaren[10]

  • Released: 2004
  • Label: EMI Sweden
  • Writer: Evert Taube
  • Tracks: "Dansen på Sunnanö", "Änglamark", "Sommarnatt", "Solig morgon", "Havsörnsvals", "Här, Rose-Marie, syns blåa Nämdöfjärden... (Rosemari Vid Nämdö Fjärd)", "Sjösala vals", "Vals på Ängön", "Pierina", "Inbjudan till Bohuslän", "Sjösalavår", "Vals i Furusund", "Ellinors vals", "Älskliga blommor små"

Alderville Road: Ord Och Toner Av Evert Taube[11]

  • Released: 1 January 2007
  • Format: CD
  • Label: EMI
  • Writer: Evert Taube
  • Singles: "Intro: Alderville Road", "Bibbi", "Morgon I Ligurien", "Målaren Och Maria Pia", "Vackert Så", "Brittisk Ballad", "Albertina", "Och Skulle Det Så Vara...", "Fragancia", "Linnéa", "Balladen Om Gustav Blom Från Borås", "Sjösalavår", "Här Är Den Sköna Sommaren", "Som Stjärnor Små"

Diamanter[12]

  • Released: 2008
  • Label: EMI
  • Tracks: "ÄLskliga blommor små", "Balladen om briggen 'Blue Bird' av Hull", "Vals i Valparaiso", "Västanvind", "Som stjärnor små", "Sololá", "Oxdragarsång", "Mary Strand", "Linnéa", "Morgonsång på Baggensfjärden", "Ellinors vals", "Möte i monsunen", "Fritiof och Carmencita", "Fritiof Anderssons polka", "Brevet från Lillan", "Dansen på Sunnanö", "Inbjudan till Bohuslän", "Solig morgon", "Vals på Ängön", "Den glade bagar'n i San Remo", "Brudvals", "Sjösalavår"

Carl Michael Bellman: Fredmans Epistlar & Sånger, Sjungna Av Sven-Bertil Taube[6]

  • Released: 16 February 2010
  • Format: CD
  • Label: EMI
  • Writer: Carl Michael Bellman
  • Tracks: "Epistel 1", "Epistel No. 2: Na, skrufva fiolen", "Epistel No. 7: Kärlek och Bacchus helgas min skal", "Epistel No. 73: Fan i fåtöljerna!", "Sång No. 21: Så lunka vi så småningom", "Epistel No. 33: Stolta stad", "Gubben Noah", "Joachim uti Babylon (Joachim lived in Babylon), song for voice", "Vila vid denna källa (Sit down around the spring here), song for voice", "Hör klockorna med ängslig klang (Hear bells give out a fearful boom), song for voice", "Sång No. 19: Ack, döden ar en faslig björn", "Epistel 79", "Träd Fram Du Nattens Gud", "Epistel No. 4: Hej, musikanter", "Epistel No. 45: Tjenare, Mollberg! Hur är det fatt?", "Epistel 81", "Epistel No. 27: Gubben är gammal - urverket dras", "Epistel No. 38: Undan ur vägen", "Epistel No. 25: Blåsen nu alla!", "Epistel No 23", "Epistel No. 50: Febus förnyar"

Acting career

Taube also started an acting career that took him to London, where he performed in theater and musicals, notably as Prince Albert in I and Albert.[13] He won a role on the television series Upstairs, Downstairs. In the 1970s, Taube tried to find work as a film actor, and had some minor roles, most notably in the 1976 World War II drama The Eagle Has Landed[14] and a starring role as a US agent in the 1971 film version of Alistair MacLean's novel Puppet on a Chain.[15]

During the 1980s and 1990s, Taube starred in a number of Swedish films and television series, while keeping his music career alive.

Taube starred in the Swedish film version of Stieg Larsson's novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in the role of Henrick Vanger. The film was released in early 2010. He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Guldbagge Award for his role in the film.[16]

Awards

Selected filmography

References

  1. ↑ "Peopletalk". The Hour 109 (56) (Norwalk, Connecticut: The Hour Publishing). United Press International. 7 March 1980. p. 23. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Swedish Folk Songs & Ballads (PDF) (Booklet). Taube, Sven-Bertil. New York City: Folkways Records. FW 6844.
  3. ↑ Straus, Jerry, ed. (1954). The Cherry Pit '54 (yearbook) (PDF). Darien, Connecticut: Cherry Lawn School. p. 6. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  4. ↑ Beckwith, Ethel (13 December 1953). "The Last Word". Sunday Herald 67 (49) (Bridgeport, Connecticut: Bridgeport Herald). p. 17. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  5. ↑ Dahlgren, Peter (5 December 2010). "Låt oss vakna i Ligurien" [Let us wake up in Liguria]. dagensskiva.com (in Swedish). Peter 2 Meter Media. ISSN 1652-1285. Retrieved 17 October 2010. Evert hade skrönorna och Sven-Bertil hade rösten.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Bertil Taube Sven Carl Michael Bellman: Fredmans Epistlar & Sånger Sjungna Av CD". CD Universe. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Nils Ferlin (Album)". CDON.COM (in Swedish). CDON. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  8. ↑ "Swedish Folk Songs and Ballads". Smithsonian Folkways. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  9. ↑ "Taube Sjunger Taube by Sven-Bertil Taube". Yahoo! Music. Yahoo. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  10. ↑ "Om Sommaren by Sven-Bertil Taube". Yahoo! Music. Yahoo. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  11. ↑ "Sven Betil Taube - Album". CMT. MTV Networks. 18 October 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  12. ↑ "Diamanter by Sven-Bertil Taube". Yahoo! Music. Yahoo. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  13. ↑ Wright, Adrian. "I and Albert". Record Cabinet. Poringland, Norwich, UK: Adrian Wright. Retrieved 17 October 2010. Sven-Bertil Taube is an attractively voiced Albert, but this musical biography is necessarily constructed by the death of its hero half way through the plot.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 "Sven-Bertil Taube Plays Henrik Vanger". The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. Music Box Films. 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "On the Esquire screen". The Southeast Missourian (Cape Girardeau, Missouri: Naeter Bros. Publishing). 26 May 1972. p. 19. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "The Guldbagge Award". Swedish Film Institute. Stockholm: Swedish Film Institute. 1 August 2010. Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Retrieved 16 October 2010.

External links