Åke Gerhard (Utansjö, Ångermanland, 26 March 1921 – 20 August 2009) was a Swedish songwriter. His songs won the title for the first three years of Sweden's

Melodifestival Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song C ...

: In 1958 "

Lilla stjärna "Lilla stjärna" (; literally "Little star") performed by Alice Babs was the entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1958 held in Hilversum, the Netherlands. This was Sweden's first song in the contest, and the first time that the Swedish language w ...

" Little star sung by

Alice Babs Hildur Alice Nilsson (26 January 1924 – 11 February 2014), known by her stage name Alice Babs, was a Swedish singer and actress. She worked in a wide number of genres – Swedish folklore, Elizabethan songs and opera. While she was best known i ...

, in 1959 "Augustin" sung by

Siw Malmkvist Siw Gunnel Margareta Malmkvist (born 31 December 1936) is a Swedish schlager singer and actress popular in Scandinavia and West Germany. She had a number one hit in West Germany in 1964 with "''Liebeskummer lohnt sich nicht''" (''"Lovesickness ...

with lyrics by Harry Sandin (performed by

Brita Borg Brita Kerstin Gunvor Borg (10 June 1926 – 4 May 2010) was a Swedish singer, actress, and variety show artist. Her variety show career spanned from 1943 into the 1970s, while her singing career trailed away at the end of the 1960s. However, s ...

at Eurovision) and in 1960 "

Alla andra får varann Sweden chose its entry for Eurovision Song Contest 1960 by the national final, Melodifestivalen 1960. The winning song, "Alla andra får varann" was performed once by Östen Warnerbring and once by Ingrid Berggren. However Sveriges Radio decid ...

" Everyone else gets each other with lyrics by Ulf Kjellqvist. In 1964, Gerhard founded

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

Olga Records. Named after his mother, the label was distributed through another Swedish record company, Cupol. In 1964, he signed rock quintet

Hep Stars The Hep Stars are a Swedish rock band formed in Stockholm in 1963. During 1965–1966 the band was the most successful of contemporary 1960s Swedish pop groups performing in the English language. Outside the Nordic countries the band is bes ...

to the label, a band which became Olga's biggest success, achieving eight number ones on Kvällstoppen and five on ''

Tio i Topp ''Tio i Topp'' (English: ''Ten At The Top'') was a Swedish record chart and radio program broadcast by Sveriges Radio P3 between the years of 1961 and 1974. It was launched to combat pirate radio charts and was the first official Swedish record cha ...

'' between 1965 and 1967. However, after the Hep Stars success gradually started diminishing in 1968–1970, the label lost a lot of its generated income and as a result, the final release on the label was issued in 1971.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerhard, Ake 1921 births 2009 deaths Swedish songwriters