Erik Tommy Nilsson (born 11 March 1960) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1989, coming fourth. He is also a member of the rock group Easy Action.

Music career

In the late 1970s, Nilsson was the singer of the Swedish rock band Horizont. The group released two albums but a French producer, Yves Accary, contacted Nilsson and signed him to a French record company. The singer enjoyed his first big hit in France in 1981 with the song "No Way No How". The single sold one million copies and the album 200 000 copies. ''No Way No How'', his first album, included disco tracks and ballads. A follow-up LP ''Tommy Nilsson'' was released in 1982 and this time the songs were composed by Tommy Nilsson and Alex R Contanstinos. This was a rock album, recorded in Stockholm and Los Angeles, but it did not sell very well and after two years of travelling between France and the United States, Nilsson decided to go back to Sweden. Nilsson later joined the hard rock group Easy Action, and recorded one album with them, ''That Makes One''. The group eventually split up and Nilsson started a solo career. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 with the ballad '' En dag'' (''One day'') and placed fourth. He has also made several Swedish hits in Sweden; ''Allt som jag känner'' (''Everything that I feel'') (a duet with Tone Norum) in 1987, '' Öppna din dörr'' (''Open your door'') in 1994, ''Dina färger var blå'' (''Your colours were blue'') in 1996, and ''Amelia'' in 2005. In 1988, he was given an award for best Swedish male artist and in 1994 received a gold disc for his album ''En Kvinnas Man''. In 2001, a compilation of his songs, ''En samling 1981–2001'', went platinum in Sweden. In 2005, his album ''Tiden före nu'' reached # 2 on the Swedish sales chart just after its release. Nilsson took part in the Swedish national

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

selection again in 2007. He performed the

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...

'' Jag tror på människan'' (''I believe in man'') in Melodifestivalen 2007's first semi-final in

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat o ...

on 3 February 2007, and qualified for the final round, along with Anna Book. The song placed tenth and last in the final after failing to receive any points from the judges or the

televoting Televoting (also telephone voting, phone voting, and call-in voting) is a method of decision making and opinion polling conducted by telephone. Televoting can also extend to voting by SMS text message via a mobile cell phone. Broadcast contest ...

audience. Nevertheless, ''Jag tror på människan'' reached number 9 on the

Svensktoppen ''Svensktoppen'' () is a weekly record chart airing on Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982–1985. In the years leading up to the January 20 ...

. He is back in the band Easy Action since 2019.

Other work

Nilsson has also collaborated with Swedish television, dubbed cartoons, and acted in several plays. In 1997, Nilsson co-starred with Mary Wilson of

the Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959 as the Primettes. A premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful Amer ...

in ''Supreme Soul'', the story of a black singer who arrives in Sweden to do a show with a white singer. The show consisted of music, as well as humorous moments that highlighted culture differences between Sweden and the United States. Nilsson played the part of Captain von Trapp in the musical ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...

'' that ran in Stockholm beginning 29 September 2007, ending with a tour and the last performance in

Örebro Örebro ( ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...

in May 2008. In 2016, he participated in ''

Så mycket bättre Så mycket bättre (, ) is a Swedish reality television show broadcast on TV4 (Sweden), TV4. The basic premise is that each participating musician performs their own version of a well-known song by another artist, with each episode focusing on ...

'', which was broadcast on TV4. He also participated in the Swedish show Stjärnornas stjärna in 2018, broadcast on the same channel. Nilsson is also known for his

dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

work for animated films and series, including '' Bonkers'', ''

Top Cat ''Top Cat'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast in prime time on the ABC network. It aired in a weekly evening time slot from September 27, 1961, to April 18, 1962, for a single season ...

'', '' Batman: The Animated Series'', '' The Busy World of Richard Scarry'', the voice of '' Patrick Star'' in ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'', among others. He dubbed

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Mel Gibson, multiple accolades, he is known for directing historical films as well for his act ...

's voice of John Smith in ''

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, also known as Matoaka and Rebecca Rolfe; 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. S ...

''.

Personal life

Nilsson was previously married to Swedish actress Malin Berghagen. Since 2017, he is married to actress Linda Olsson.

Discography

Albums

;Studio albums ;Compilation albums

Singles

;Other singles *1981: "In the Mean Meantimes" / "No Way No How" *1981: "Radio Me" *1987: "My Summer With You" (with Tone Norum) *1990: "Too Many Expectations" *1990: "Looking Through the Eyes of a Child" *1990: "Don't Walk Away" *1991: "Long Lasting Love" *1994: "En kvinnas man" *1994: "Lämnar du mig" *1994: "Marianne" *1996: "Om jag är den du vill ha" *1996: "Å så nära" *1996: "Du är för mig" *1999: "Din skugga på mitt täcke" *2001: "När du är här" *2002: "Nu är tid att leva" (with Åsa Jinder) *2005: "Amelia" *2005: "Allt ditt hjärta är" *2006: "Vi brann" *2016: "Håll mitt hjärta hårt" (with Patrik Isaksson and

Uno Svenningsson Uno Svenningsson (born 1 July 1959 in Hagelstorp, Sweden) is a Swedish pop singer-songwriter and guitarist, who has been active in music since the late 1970s. He was the singer in the pop group "Freda'" in the early 1980s and early 1990s, and th ...

as Patrik, Tommy & Uno ( Melodifestivalen 2016) *2016: "My Love Is Not Blind" *2016: "Det sitter i dig"

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nilsson, Tommy 1960 births Living people Swedish rock singers Melodifestivalen winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants Swedish male singers Swedish-language singers Easy Action (band) members English-language singers from Sweden People from Solna Municipality