Monica Zetterlund (born Eva Monica Nilsson; 20 September 1937 – 12 May 2005) was a Swedish

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

singer and

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. She represented

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest with the jazz ballad " En gång i Stockholm" ("Once Upon a Time in Stockholm"). Through her lifetime, she starred in over 10 Swedish film productions and recorded over 20 studio albums. She gained international fame through her collaborative album with Bill Evans, '' Waltz for Debby.''

Career

Singer

Zetterlund began by learning the classic jazz songs from radio and records, initially not knowing the language and what they sang about in English. Her hit songs included "" (Swedish cover of " Walking My Baby Back Home"; in Swedish a tribute to

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 ...

town), " Visa från Utanmyra", "", "", "" (" Little Green Apples"), "" (" Waltz for Debby"), "" (" Hit the Road Jack"), "", "", "" (cover of Sting's "Moon Over Bourbon Street") and "", among many others. She also interpreted the works of such Swedish singer-songwriters as Evert Taube,

Olle Adolphson Olle Adolphson (2 May 1934, in Stockholm – 10 March 2004, in Stockholm) was a Sweden, Swedish writer, singer and songwriter. He released a range of books (''Aubade'', ''Foliá''), LPs (''En stol på Tegnér'', etc.) and CDs (''Älskar inte ja ...

and Povel Ramel, as well as international jazz musicians/songwriters. She worked with leading American players including

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

, Bill Evans, Stan Getz,

Steve Kuhn Steve Kuhn (born March 24, 1938) is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and educator. He is the composer of the jazz standard " The Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers". Biography Kuhn was born in New York City, New York, to S ...

and

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

, and in the

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n jazz world with people like Georg Riedel, Egil Johansen, Arne Domnérus, Svend Asmussen and Jan Johansson. In 1964, she recorded the jazz album '' Waltz for Debby'', featuring Bill Evans, a record she herself described as "the best I've done" and was the most proud of. Her professional skill was amply demonstrated in this album in performing the challenging Harold Arlen song, "So Long, Big Time". Her long career also included the song " En gång i Stockholm" ("Once Upon a Time in Stockholm"); a jazz ballad with which she represented Sweden in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest. She finished last, however and scored ''nul points'', but remained successful in Sweden.

Actor

Her collaboration with the comic duo Hasse & Tage (in the 1960s and 1970s) eventually led to a stage career in revues and films. Memorable are her parts in the films '' Att angöra en brygga'' and '' Äppelkriget'', with her most memorable role being in

Jan Troell Jan Gustaf Troell (born 23 July 1931) is a Swedish writer-director and cinematographer. His realistic films, with a lyrical photography in which nature is prominent, have placed him in the first rank of modern Swedish film directors along with I ...

's ''Utvandrarna'' (aka '' The Emigrants''; with

Liv Ullmann Liv Johanne Ullmann (born 16 December 1938) is a Norwegian actress and filmmaker. Recognised as one of the greatest European actresses of all time, Ullmann is known as the muse and frequent collaborator of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, whom she date ...

and Max von Sydow in the leads) as Ulrika, a former prostitute who together with her teenage daughter Elin (portrayed by Zetterlund's daughter, Eva Lena Zetterlund) join the main characters in their emigration to America in the 1850s, a role for which Zetterlund received a Guldbagge Award for Best Supporting Actress. She appeared in more than 20 films and television series.

Awards

Zetterlund was awarded the Illis quorum by the government of Sweden in 2002.

Health and death

She suffered from severe

scoliosis Scoliosis (: scolioses) is a condition in which a person's Vertebral column, spine has an irregular curve in the coronal plane. The curve is usually S- or C-shaped over three dimensions. In some, the degree of curve is stable, while in others ...

which began after a childhood accident, and as a result was forced to retire from performing in 1999. On 12 May 2005, she died following an accidental fire in her

apartment An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

at Birger Jarlsgatan in

Discography

Albums

* ''Swedish Sensation'' (Columbia, 1958) * ''Ahh! Monica!'' (Philips, 1962) * ''Make Mine Swedish Style'' (Philips, 1964) * ''Ohh! Monica!'' (Philips, 1964) * '' Waltz for Debby'' with Bill Evans (Philips, 1964) * ''Monica Zetterlund'' (Philips, 1967) * ''Monica - Monica'' (Gazell 1971) * ''Chicken Feathers'' (SR, 1972) * ''Hej, Man!'' (Odeon, 1975) * ''Folk Som Har Sånger Kan Inte Dö'' (YTF 1976) * '' It Only Happens Every Time'' with Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra (Inner City, 1978) * ''Holiday for Monica'' (Phontastic, 1983) * ''Monica Zetterlund Sjunger Olle Adolphson'' (Phontastic, 1984) * ''Monica Z'' (RCA, 1989) * ''Varsamt'' (RCA, 1991) * ''Topaz'' (RCA, 1993) * ''The Lost Tapes at Bell Sound Studios NYC'' (RCA Victor, 1996) * ''Det Finns Dagar'' (RCA, 1997) * ''Bill Remembered: A Tribute to Bill Evans'' (RCA Victor, 2000) * ''Diamanter'' (EMI, 2005) * ''Sista Gången Du Var Med'' (National, 2006) * ''På Café Katalin Torsdag 14 September 1989'' (Gazell, 2006) * ''På Berns 1964'' (Vax, 2016) * ''Here´s To Life'' (2024, preveously unreleased recordings in English recorded 1989, 1991 and 1993)

Notable songs

*"Va' e' de' där" (" Dat Dere" with Swedish lyrics by Beppe Wolgers.) *" En gång i Stockholm" *"Sakta vi gå genom stan" (" Walkin' My Baby Back Home" with Swedish lyrics by Beppe Wolgers.)

Filmography

*'' Swedish Portraits'' (''Svenska bilder'', 1964) as Mejram *'' Docking the Boat'' (''Att angöra en brygga'', 1965) as Berit *'' Night Games'' (''Nattlek'', 1966) as Lotten *'' The Emigrants'' (''Utvandrarna'', 1971) as Ulrika *'' The Apple War'' (''Äppelkriget'', 1971) as Anna Lindberg *'' The New Land'' (''Nybyggarna'', 1972) as Erika *''Stubby'', ('' Fimpen'', 1974) as Teacher *'' Guttersnipes'' (''Rännstensungar'', 1974) as Malinda Karlsson *'' Sweden for the Swedes'' (''Sverige åt svenskarna'', 1980) as Minister of finance *'' The Children from Blue Lake Mountain'' (''Barnen från Blåsjöfjället'', 1980) as Hulda Krok *''Russian Pizza Blues'' (1992) as Herself

References

External links

* – official site (Monica Zetterlund Society & Memory Fund] (in Swedish) * *
Monica Zetterlund
article reporting her death at Aftonbladet.se (in Swedish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Zetterlund, Monica 1937 births 2005 deaths People from Hagfors Swedish jazz singers Swedish women jazz singers Melodifestivalen winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants Philips Records artists Swedish film actresses Accidental deaths in Sweden Deaths from fire Best Actress Guldbagge Award winners 20th-century Swedish women singers Recipients of the Illis quorum