Carola Haggkvist, widely known simply as Carola, ranked among Sweden’s most enduring and beloved schlager vocalists across more than two decades. She represented her nation at Eurovision on multiple occasions, capturing the title by the narrowest of margins in 1991 via the track “Fangad Av En Stormvind.”
Her entry into the Swedish music world occurred in 1977 after she won a regional talent contest that secured a national-television slot. Promoter Bert Karlsson soon took notice and urged her to enter the 1982 Melodifestivalen, yet she opted instead to record an album alongside the metal outfit Standby. The pull of the contest circuit proved difficult to resist for long; in 1983 she submitted “Framling” (Stranger) to Melodifestivalen. The song became an immediate sensation, sending Carola to Eurovision where she placed third and returned to Sweden as a household name.
Her debut solo album, Framling, reached the summit of the Swedish charts and remained there for more than twelve weeks. A string of additional chart-topping releases followed during the next seven years, one of which was the Bee Gees collaboration Runaway. Carola reappeared at Melodifestivalen in 1990 with “Mitt I Ett Aventyr,” finishing second. Unwilling to settle for that result, she returned the subsequent year and secured first place with “Fangad Av En Stormvind,” earning another Eurovision berth. At the contest she tied for victory with France’s Amina; after officials tallied the “twelves” and “elevens,” Carola was declared the winner.
Over the ensuing two years she traveled to China and cut her first gospel project, My Tribute, issued in 1993. Roughly a dozen further albums, both secular and gospel, appeared across the following fifteen years. Carola made a third Eurovision appearance in 2006 with “Invincible,” ultimately finishing fourth.
