Doris Svensson (1 July 1947 – 15 January 2023), billed
mononymously
A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person.
A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains ...
as Doris, was a Swedish pop singer. Doris was best known for her lone solo album of eclectic
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Pop music, a musical genre
Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop! (British group), a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Album ...
, rock and
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
, ''Did You Give the World Some Love Today Baby,'' recorded in 1970. The record was re-issued in 1996 to critical acclaim.
Biography
Doris Svensson was born on 1 July 1947 in
Gothenburg
Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
. Her singing career began in 1962 by recording a 45 with the local band The Strangers. She went on recording with Plums, including the tracks "You Made a Fool of Me Last Night" and "Wouldn't That Be Groovy", and The Dandys, including "Go Back to Daddy".
In April 1970, Doris went to record in the
EMI
EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
studios of
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 ...
. Most of the lyrics of the songs were by Scottish writer Francis Cowan. The material was composed by TV producer, jazz-pianist, and composer
Berndt Egerbladh
Berndt Erik Egerbladh (May 1, 1932 – March 2, 2004) was a Swedish jazz pianist, composer and television personality.
Biography
Egerbladh was born in Transtrand. He grew up in Umeå and performed in local jazz and dance orchestras. He graduated ...
. He also provided the
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
brass arrangements for the tracks.
The heavy drumming on the tracks
[ was performed by ]Janne Carlsson
Jan Edvard Carlsson (12 March 1937 – 31 August 2017), known professionally as Janne 'Loffe' Carlsson, was a Swedish actor, musician, composer and artist.
Early life
Carlsson was born on 12 March 1937 in Katarina Parish, Stockholm, the son of ...
from the duo Hansson & Karlsson
Hansson & Karlsson was a Swedish duo consisting of Bo Hansson (organ) and Janne Carlsson (drums). The name ''Carlsson'' being written with a K instead of a C in the name of the band was initially just a mis-print in an early poster (both spelling ...
, and the bass was played by Lucas Lindholm. The album ''Did You Give the World Some Love Today Baby'' was issued by Odeon in Sweden, 1970.[
Doris died on 15 January 2023, at the age of 75.
]
Reception
The promotional singles distributed in U.K. and France in 1970[ attracted little attention among the audiences. After ]Mr Bongo
Mr Bongo is a British, Brighton based independent record label, independent film and publishing company specialising in world music and art house/world cinema.
History
Founded in 1989, in Berwick Street, London, the label later moved to Lexing ...
label re-issued ''Did You Give the World Some Love Today Baby'' in Sweden and U.K. in 1996, and U.S. and Canada in 1998 with bonus tracks from Doris's earlier period, the LP caused interest among the alternative listeners as an odd funk rarity from the archives of Swedish pop.Montreal Mirror
''Montreal Mirror'' or just ''Mirror'' was a free English language alternative newsweekly based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada which was distributed every Thursday. It had a circulation of 70,000 and reached a quarter of a million readers per week. ...
'' newsweekly reviewed it as:"A relic of epic Swedish pop from '70. Perfectly hilarious and hilariously perfect."[ Subsequently, the tracks "Did You Give the World Some Love Today?", "Don't", "Beatmaker", and "You Never Come Closer" were included in eleven retrospective compilation albums issued all over Europe.][ Mr Bongo label issued ''Did You Give the World Some Love Today Baby'' in U.K. again in 2006.]The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'' reviewed the song's instrumental and vocal style as:"...Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
backing Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...
." The Blaxploitation.com database listed ''Did You Give the World Some Love Today Baby'' among the ''Forty Essential Funk Albums'' of the music history.[ Doris's tracks have received airplay in the retro music radio programs, including on ]BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
, East Village Radio
East Village Radio (EVR), begun in August 2003, is an Internet radio station which broadcasts from a storefront studio in the East Village of Manhattan. Originally a pirate radio station broadcasting at 88.1 MHz, the station shut down on ...
, FBi Radio
FBi (call sign: 2FBI) station is an independent, not-for-profit community radio in Sydney, Australia. FBi places a heavy emphasis on local emerging music: it has a policy that at least 50 per cent of its music content is to be Australian, of wh ...
of Australia, Q Radio
Q Radio was a British digital radio station broadcasting online, on DAB and DTV across the UK. The station launched in 2008 as an alternative to the UK's rock and alternative stations, with a strong relationship with ''Q'' magazine. The s ...
,
Raadio 2
Raadio 2 is Estonian radio station. It belongs to Estonian Public Broadcasting (formerly Estonian Radio) and started broadcasting on 1 May 1993.
History
In the course of the radio reform, Vikerraadio was merged with the I program (the name re ...
of Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
, and Radio Fritz of Germany.
"You Never Come Closer" was sampled on "Closer" by influential hip-hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
producer Madlib
Otis Lee Jackson Jr. (born October 24, 1973), known professionally as Madlib, is an American record producer, DJ, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. Critically acclaimed for his eclectic, music sample, sample-heavy production style, he is rega ...
for Quasimoto
Quasimoto was a side project of hip hop producer Madlib, from Oxnard, California. Quasimoto is composed of Madlib and his animated alter ego Lord Quas. Lord Quas is known for his high-pitched voice, which often interacts with Madlib's regular ...
. This has led to Doris' work becoming increasingly popular amongst underground hip-hop fans and record collectors. "You Never Come Closer" can be heard in the video game ''Grand Theft Auto V
''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...
'', on the fictional radio station called ''FlyLo FM''. The TV comedy ''Toast of Tinseltown'' used a cover version of "Beatmaker" performed by Matt Berry
Matthew Charles Berry (born 2 May 1974) is an English actor, comedian, musician, and writer. Noted for his distinctive voice, he is best known for his television roles in comedy series such as ''The IT Crowd'', ''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'', ' ...
and Emma Noble as its end theme.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doris
1947 births
2023 deaths
Funk singers
Mr Bongo Records artists
Swedish soul singers
Swedish women singers
Musicians from Gothenburg