Magnus Bäcklund

Swedish singer Magnus Bäcklund had two major dreams in life. To become an airline pilot and to be a singer.In 1990 he decided to make reality of at least one of those two dreams, and he packed his bags and moved to USA to get his training to become a commercial pilot. With the ink still wet on his certificate, he returned to Sweden and started his search for a job with an airline. This was a lousy timing. Times were bad for the airlines and non of them hired pilots. Magnus found an ad on an American website where the band "Random Thoughts" were looking for a lead singer. He sent a tape over, with just no expectations at all. But a week later he got a phonecall from Philadelphia, the band wanted him. So he packed his bags again and went back to USA and a week later he was in a studio, recording his first album.Instead of flying aircrafts, he was now a singer, touring the US with a rock band. Some months later, his wife Sophie realized she was pregnant. When the time came for the big happening, they decided to return to Sweden.Back in his home country, he heard about a new TV-show, Fame Factory. The format of the show was a little bit like American Idol, but in the form of an artist school where the students actually had classes all day long, learning all aspects of being an artist.The show was a reality show, broadcasted six days a week, and every saturday there was a final where the students with less points had to leave the school.He made it to the final and once there, he won the whole thing. He now teamed up with another of the students, Jessica Andersson, and together they formed the duo Fame. Three months after winning the Fame Factory, he and Jessica participated in the Swedish Song Contest (Qualification for the Eurovision Song Contest) and after a thrilling final, they stood as winners of the show and were sent to represent Sweden at the big final in Riga.Now the career took a crazy turn. They were suddenly superstars and found themselves constantly touring.Everything has an end, and so had the story of the duo Fame. Magnus realized that he wanted to do his thing and he was not getting any younger, so they decided to put Fame on hold for a while and focus on their own solo careers. This became obvious to the public when they once again participated in the Swedish Song Contest in 2006, but this time as competitors, with their own songs. Magnus made it to the big final and ended up on a fantastic fifth place with his song "The name of love".His first solo album "Never say never" was released in October 2006 and received geat reviews.Now Magnus is working towards a new album but also he´s planning on a career as a commercial pilot since that market look so much brighter then before. Who knows, maybe he will be having two careers simultaneously.