Vikingarna

1958-2004 Vikingarna was a Swedish dansband, formed in 1958 by Claes Johansson as "Jicco & the Vikings". In 1961, the name was changed to "Vikings", and in 1973 to "Vikingarna". The band first entered Svensktoppen in 1975, with the song På världens tak, a Swedish cover of The Carpenters-hit Top of the World. The big break-through on the list came the coming year, with Du gav bara löften ("You only gave promises"). That year, the band sold their first gold record. The singer back then was Stefan Borsch, but from the 1979 album Kramgoa låtar 7, he was replaced by Christer Sjögren. In the year 2000, Vikingarna begun to record songs in the German language, under the name "Vikinger". They were popular in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The band was dissolved in 2004, a few months after releasing a "Greatest Hits" compilation, which spanned most of the band's career, featuring newly recorded versions of several old hits. A documentary/concert titled "Kramgött från början till slut" was released at the same time. Their last concert was held in Arvika on 3 July 2004, in front of more than 7 000 people, breaking the record for most attendants at the site, with both Christer Sjögren and Stefan Borsch appearing. At the time for the 2004 dissolvement, Vikingarna had sold over 11 million records. For many years, the band's album series was named "Kramgoa låtar", and 27 of the bands albums was released under this name. In 1988 and 1991, they were awarded Grammis prizes. For most of the 1980s and 1990s, Vikingarna was often seen as a standard for the dansband sound.