Nanne Grönvall

Nanne Grönvall is a Swedish singer-songwriter. Born Nanne Nordqvist on 18 May 1962, in the Swedish capital Stockholm, she started her musical career in the 1980s group Sound of Music. The trio participated a couple of times in the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest selections, known as Melodifestivalen, finishing fourth both in 1986 with "Eldorado" and in 1987 with "Alexandra". In the 1992 Melodifestivalen, she was the composer of no fewer than two songs; "Ingenting går som man vill" ("Nothing Goes As You Want") and "Vad som än händer" ("Whatever Will Happen"). In 1995 she was again the composer of the ballad "Det vackraste" ("The Most Beautiful"), sung by Cecilia Vennersten, which came second in the Melodifestivalen final, and later that year was awarded the prize for Best Song of the Year in the Swedish grammies award show. In 1996 she was the vocalist of the new group One More Time when they won the Melodifestivalen final with the sweet, evocative ethno-ballad "Den vilda" ("The wild one"). It finished a strong third in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 behind Ireland and winners Norway. Besides this, Nanne is beloved as a solo artist in her home country, especially due to her strong songs and performances in the national Eurovision finals. In Melodifestivalen 1998 she finished fourth with "Avundsjuk" ("Jealous"). She participated in the UK Song for Europe contest in 2001 and finished fourth. In 2003 she performed the groundbreaking song "Evig kärlek" ("Eternal Love"), a mixture of something as peculiar as church organ/gospel sounds, opera and disco. Absolutely adored by her many fans, but probably considered too retro by regular Swedes. In Melodifestivalen 2005 she was the clear public favourite with her very energetic performance of Håll om mig ("Hold Onto Me") - which she had composed herself, and for which she won the Melodifestivalen Female Composer Award - receiving an overwhelming 25% of the 1.4 million televotes in the final. But due to the rules - regional 10-person juries across the country had more power than all the televotes together - they didn't matter much after all, and she was deemed a second place only, just three points behind Martin Stenmarck, who was then sent to Kyiv, capital of Ukraine, having won the Swedish Eurovision ticket. This controversial fact caused a stir and an outcry amongst viewers and fans. It was reported extensively by the Swedish press, forcing the Melodifestivalen bosses to change the national final rules to make it fairer, with a heavier weighting for the televotes. Just like "Evig kärlek", "Håll om mig" was another peculiar composition; it could perhaps be described as a mixture of rock, opera and disco, with a lot of charm, including in the lyric. It went on to top the Swedish singles chart for two weeks and remain in the top three for eight weeks, selling between 10,000 (gold) and 20,000 (platinum) copies throughout Sweden, a lot more than the actual winning song. Grönvall has another connection with the Eurovision Song Contest. She is married to Peter Grönvall, who is the son of Abba's Benny Andersson. On the 28th of June 2006, it was announced that Grönvall has breast cancer. She will have treatment soon. 2007 Nanne was back again; she took part to the Melodifestivalen with song "Jag måste kyssa dig" (I have to kiss you). But this time she didn't reach the finals, only Andra Chansen (second chance.) Her new album is going to be released in April.