Hootenanny Singers
The Hootenanny Singers (for a couple of weeks originally called the Westbay Singers, Westbay English for Västervik) were a popular folk group from Sweden, founded in 1961, and continuing into the 1970s. The group included Björn Ulvaeus, who later was a member of ABBA. Other bandmembers were Johan Karlberg, Tonny Rooth and Hansi Schwarz. The group was named "The Northern Lights" for an American-released LP in 1966.
In 1964 they debuted on the Swedish TV-show Hylands hörna with locally famous Swedish poet Dan Andersson's Jag väntar vid min mila (translated as "I'm Waiting at the Charcoal Kiln").[1] The song "Gabrielle" became an international hit song in 1964, translated and performed by the group in Swedish, German, Finnish, Italian, Dutch, and English. However they plagiarised the tune from the Russian song "May There Always Be Sunshine" by Arkady Ostrovsky, who was never credited because of political reasons.
They were famous for the amount of touring of the Swedish outdoor concert venues and had numerous hit singles on the Svensktoppen chart. Their biggest hit was Omkring tiggarn från Luossa, which broke the record by spending 52 weeks on Svensktoppen between November 26, 1972 and November 18, 1973.
Hansi Schwarz was also the leader of the Västervik folk ballad festival for many years. He died in 2013.
Johan Karlberg dropped out of the band in the late 1960s to take over his father's business. He died in 1992.
Some of tracks on the 1969 album På tre man hand were released as solo singles by Björn Ulvaeus.
Discography[2]
Albums
- 1964: "Hootenanny Singers"
- 1964: "Hootenanny Singers" (2nd Album)
- 1965: "Hootenanny Singers Sjunger Evert Taube"
- 1965: "International"
- 1966: "Many Faces/Många Ansikten"
- 1967: "Civila"
- 1967: "Bästa"
- 1968: "5 År"
- 1968: "Bellman På Vårt Sätt"
- 1969: "De Bäste Med Hootenanny Singers & Björn Ulvaeus
- 1969: "På Tre Man Hand"
- 1970: "Skillingtryck"
- 1971: "Våra Vackraste Visor"
- 1972: "Våra Vackraste Visor Vol. 2"
- 1973: "Dan Andersson På Vårt Sätt"
- 1974: "Evert Taube På Vårt Sätt"
Compilation Albums
- 1995: "Svenska Favoriter"
EPs
- 1964: "Jag Väntar Vid Min Mila/Ann-Margret/Ingen Enda Höst/Ave Maria No Morro"
- 1964: "En Mor/Körsbar Utan Kärnor/Gabrielle/I Lunden Gröna"
- 1964: "Lincolnvisan/Hem Igen/Godnattsaga/This Is Your Land"
- 1965: "Britta/Solola/Eh Hattespeleman/Telegrafisten Anton Hanssons Vals"
- 1965: "Björkens Visa/En Festlig Dag/Vildandens Klagan/Finns Det Liv Så Finns Det Hopp"
- 1966: "Vid Roines Strand/Marianne/En Man Och En Kvinna/Vid En Biväg Till En Byväg Bor Den Blonda Beatrice"
- 1967: "Blomman/En sång en gång för längese'n/Det Ar Skönt Att Vara Hemma Igen/Tänk Dej De' Att Du Och Jag Var Me'"
- 1967: "Mårten Gås/Början Till Slutet/Marie Christina/Adjö Farval"
Singles
- 1964: "Jag Väntar Vid Min Mila" (I'm Waiting at the Charcoal Kiln) / "Ann-Margret"
- 1964: "Darlin'" / "Bonnie Ship the Diamond"
- 1965: "Den Gyllene Fregatt" / "Där Skall Jag Bo"
- 1965: "Britta" / "Den Sköna Helen"
- 1965: "Solola" / "Björkens Visa"
- 1965: "Den Sköna Helen" / "Björkens Visa"
- 1966: "No Time" / "Time To Move Along"
- 1966: "Marianne" / "Vid En Biväg Bor Den Blonda Beatrice"
- 1966: "Baby, Those Are The Rules" / "Through Darkness Lights"
- 1967: "En sång en gång för längese'n" (Swedish version of Green, Green Grass of Home) / "Det Är Skönt Att Vara Hemma Igen"
- 1967: "Blomman" / "En Man Och En Kvinna'
- 1967: "En Gång är Igen Gång" / "Du Eller Ingen"
- 1967: "Mrs O'Grady" / "The Fugitive"
- 1967: "Början Till Slutet" / "Adjö Farväl"
- 1968: "Så Länge Du Älskar Är Du Ung" / "Vilken Lycka Att Hålla Dej I Hand"
- 1968: "Mårten Gås" / "Du Ska Bara Tro På Hälften"
- 1968: "Måltidssång" / "Till Fader Berg Rörande Fiolen"
- 1968: "Elenore" / "Fåfängans Marknad"
- 1969: "Den Som Lever Får Se" / "Så Länge Jag Lever"
- 1969: "Om Jag Kunde Skriva En Visa" / "Casanova"
- 1969: "Vinden Sjunger Samma Sång" / "Hem Till De Mina"
- 1970: "Ring Ring, Här är Svensktoppsjuryn" / "Lev Som Du Lär"
- 1970: "I Följ Så Gick Jag Med Herrarna I Hagen" / "Älvsborgsvisan"
- 1970: "Rose Marie" / "Elin Och Herremännen"
- 1970: "En Visa Vill Jag Sjunga Som Handlar Om Min Lilla Vän" / "Spelmansvisa"
- 1971: "Aldrig Mer" / "Lilla Vackra Anna"
- 1971: "Hjärtats Saga" / "Jungman Jansson"
- 1971: "Tess Lördan" / "Rosen Och Fjärilen"
- 1972: "Tiden" / "Ida & Frida & Anne-Marie"
- 1972: "Där Björkarna Susa" (Where the Birches Sough) / "Calle Schewens Vals"
- 1973: "Om Aftonen" / "Till Min Syster"
- 1974: "Brittisk Ballad" / "Ingrid Dardels Polska"
- 1975: "Sjösala Vals" / "Vals I Valparaiso"
- 1975: "Linnea" / "Fritiof Anderssons Paradmarsch"