Frans Jeppsson Wall (born 19 December 1998), also known mononymously as Frans, is a Swedish singer-songwriter. He represented host nation Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm with the song " If I Were Sorry", finishing in fifth place.

Life and career

2006–2015: Early career

Jeppsson Wall was born in Ystad, Sweden. His father Mark was born in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

to a Nigerian mother and a British father. At the age of eight, Mark moved to London. Jeppsson Wall's mother is Swedish. He was thus raised speaking both English and Swedish. During most of his life, Jeppsson Wall has been a part-time resident in London and he also studied music there for an entire year when he was 15 at The Norwood School. He has a younger brother named Casper and a twin sister, named Filippa. He is best known for his football anthems with the band Elias, including the 2006 hit " Who's da Man", dedicated to Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović. The song, credited to Elias and featuring vocals by Frans, stayed at the top of

Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from IFPI Sverige. It was formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and has been known by its current name si ...

, the official Swedish Singles Chart, for 13 weeks. For Christmas 2006, he scored a minor hit with his song " Kul med Jul" (English: Fun with Christmas), which peaked at number 24 on the Swedish singles chart. Another sports-related chart entering by Frans was the 2008 song " Fotbollsfest", a song launched in support of the

Sweden men's national football team The Sweden men's national football team () represents Sweden in men's international Association football, football and it is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body of football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is Strawb ...

. The song peaked at number one on the Swedish singles chart, which it did in its second week of charting.

2016–present: Melodifestivalen and Eurovision

After years of absence from music, Frans returned with his participation in Melodifestivalen 2016 in a bid to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song " If I Were Sorry", which he co-wrote with Oscar Fogelström, Michael Saxell and Fredrik Andersson. He performed it in

Gävle Gävle ( ; ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 79,004 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the List of cities in Sweden, 13th-most-populated city in Sweden. I ...

during the fourth and last semi-final leg of the competition on 27 February 2016, going on to secure a place in the final on 12 March 2016 in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden. Immediately after his performance, the single was released. It became very popular and went straight to number one of Sverigetopplistan during the first week following its release. It also charted on the

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

Viral charts in Switzerland, Taiwan, Iceland, Uruguay, the United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, France, Denmark, Turkey and Germany. He won the Melodifestivalen final on 12 March 2016 with 156 points, and went on to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, also held in Stockholm. At the age of 17, Frans became the second youngest ever Melodifestivalen winner after Carola Häggkvist, who was 16 when she won in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. In the Eurovision final, "If I Were Sorry" placed fifth overall. Frans announced the Swedish jury votes as spokesperson in the final of the

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo (Loreen song), Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Br ...

on 11 May.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

Notes

Sources

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeppsson Wall, Frans 1998 births Living people Melodifestivalen winners English-language singers from Sweden Swedish people of British descent Swedish people of Nigerian descent Swedish pop singers Swedish male songwriters Swedish twins People from Ystad Musicians from Skåne County 21st-century Swedish singers 21st-century Swedish male singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants