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Carola Maria Häggkvist (born in Hägersten, Stockholm on September 8, 1966), better known as simply Carola, is a Swedish singer, entertainer and occasional songwriter. She represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest on three occasions; finishing third in 1983 with "Främling", winning the Contest in 1991 with "Fångad av en stormvind", and placing fifth in 2006 with "Invincible". She appeared on television for the first time after winning a talent show in 1977. A couple of years later, promoter Bert Karlsson discovered her and she was offered the chance to take part in Melodifestivalen 1982, the national pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, but she turned down the offer. In 1983 she recorded the album Stand by with Carola Häggkvist with the Swedish metal band Standby. Later in 1983, she decided to participate in Melodifestivalen with "Främling", winning the contest with full points from all juries. This was her big breakthrough. A few months later she represented Sweden in Eurovision in Munich where 6.1 million Swedish television viewers, or 84% of the population, followed the competition – a record that still has not been broken. She performed the song once again at the 50th anniversary Eurovision concert in Copenhagen, Denmark.Her debut Främling (Stranger) sold one million copies, a Swedish sales record that is yet to be broken. "Främling" was also recorded in English, German and Dutch, having finished third in the Eurovision Song Contest. During 1983 and 1984 Carola released three albums with Mariann Grammofon AB, the record company of Bert Karlsson, and they all sold very well.In 1985 Carola started to collaborate with the Bee Gees. She recorded an album, Runaway, with songs written mainly by Maurice and Robin Gibb and produced by Maurice. The record sold double platinum when released in Sweden the following year. After this album Carola left the pop scene for a while, embarking on a church tour together with Per-Erik Hallin, subsequently releasing the live album Carola & Per-Erik Hallin i Rättviks kyrka.In Melodifestivalen 1990, Carola made a surprising comeback with "Mitt i ett äventyr" (In the Middle of an Adventure), finishing in second place. She released a new album, Much more. The following year she went for revenge, winning Melodifestivalen with "Fångad av en stormvind". In the Eurovision Song Contest 1991 in Rome she tied on points with Amina from France. The rules at this time stated that if two or more entries ended up in a tie, they were to be separated by counting which of the entries had been awarded the highest number of twelves, but since both countries had been awarded the same number of twelves, the entries were separated by counting the number of tens awarded. The counting went in Sweden's favour, and an ecstatic Carola, cheered on by her team, did a short victory dance on the table before coming on stage a second time. Later that year she recorded a Christmas album in Swedish – Jul.Carola was the first Scandinavian pop artist to go to China where she also released an album in 1992. After her tenth anniversary as an artist in 1993, she changed her focus and recorded a gospel album, My tribute, which was released in Scandinavia and 12 other countries. This album made her Gospel Artist of the Year in the Netherlands in 1994. She continued to release albums during the year. Her album Personligt (Personally) indicated a course change towards a rock sound and was the first album with songs written by Carola, herself.In 1995, Carola made her debut as a musical actress with the role of Maria in The Sound of Music, playing against Tommy Körberg. Three years later, she sang the theme song in the Norwegian musical Sophie's World which was released on the album Songs from Sophie's World. In 2002 she returned to the stage, making a short appearance as Fantine in Les Misérables in London.In 1998 she left the pop mainstream again, recording an album with psalms written by Lina Sandell, Blott en dag, and then an album with children's songs Sov på min arm (Sleep on my Shoulder) in 2001. Later in 2001 she returned to pop with the album My show. The songs "I Believe In Love", "The Light" and "A Kiss Goodbye" from the album all became great hits in Scandinavia and South America.In 2003, Carola celebrated her 20th anniversary as a recording artist. She has released a compilation, Guld, platina & passion – det bästa med Carola (Gold, Platinum & Passion, the Best of Carola) and a boxed set of four CDs: (Guld, platina & passion – det mesta med Carola) and topped the Swedish charts with her song "När löven faller" (When the Leaves Fall), which was originally written for Melodifestivalen 2003 but since she didn't want to sing it, the song got disqualified. She said she was only the demo voice and SVT should look for another singer to sing it in Melodifestivalen.In 2003, Carola released a Christmas album on two CDs called Jul I Betlehem- Jubileumsutgåvan. Her Christmas album was followed by a religious album titled Credo (My Belief) 2004 and a pop-religious album titled Störst av allt (Biggest of All) 2005, containing the hit "Genom Allt" (Through Everything).Following her victory in the Swedish Melodifestivalen with her song "Evighet" (Eternity), she released a Swedish pop album titled Från nu till evighet (From Now to Forever). The album sold platinum, and received excellent reviews from many newspapers. The album contained several hits such as "Stanna eller gå" (Stay or Go), "Jag ger allt" (I Give you Everything) and of course "Evighet".In total, Carola has released 15 albums, and is one of the most popular singing artists in Sweden. In August 2006, she was voted the "Sweden's Best Female Artist" by the viewers of the popular Swedish TV show Folktoppen.In november of 2007 Carola was a guest judge on Idol 2007.n November 2005, Carola confirmed that she would participate in Melodifestivalen again, after a fifteen year absence. In the Gothenburg semi-final, held on March 11, 2006, she performed "Evighet" (Eternity), written by Thomas G:son, Bobby Ljunggren and Henrik Wikström. Her performance involved wind machines, dancers with flags and fireworks. In the final, Carola came second in the jury votes and placed first in the public televote, so overall she won the final of Melodifestivalen 2006 and became the representant for Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens. She performed a reprise of her song half in English (using the title "Invincible") and half in Swedish. Prior to the competition, she was the favourite singer in Ireland's Paddy Power betting at 11-4.In May 2006, Carola came in 5th in the Eurovision Song Contest with her song "Invincible". She was just a few points from 4th place, which Romania claimed, and only 8 points ahead of Lithuania in 6th. Interestingly she not only ended up at the same place, but also received exactly the same number of points in the final (170) as Sweden's 2004 representative Lena Philipsson (also born 1966). Carola entered Melodifestivalen 2008 as part of the duo Johnson & Häggkvist with Andreas Johnson. They sang "One Love", written by Carola, Johnson and Peter Kvint. Johnson & Häggkvist did't qualified to the final.
P.S. Please, DON'T send message to Carola here. I'm NOT her and it's embarrassing for me when I have to read letters to her.
If You wanna send sth to me, write in english please, coz I don't know swedish. Thanks
website about Carola
www.carola.com
www.johnsonhaggkvist.se
www.our-carola.blog.onet.pl
www.carolainternational.com
www.carolatribute.com
www.carolaonline.com
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