Charlotte Perrelli

Charlotte Perrelli
Charlotte Perrelli in Norrköping.
Background information
Birth name	Anna Jenny Charlotte Nilsson
Also known as	Charlotte Nilsson
Born	October 7, 1974 (1974-10-07) (age 35)
Origin	Hovmantorp, Sweden
Genres	Dansband music, Disco, Pop
Instruments	Singing
Years active	1987–present
Labels	Stockhouse (1999-2008) Universal Music (2008-present)
Associated acts	Wizex, Anders Engbergs
Website	Myspace site Official Website

Charlotte Perrelli (born Anna Jenny Charlotte Nilsson on October 7, 1974,^[1] in Hovmantorp, Kronobergs län, Sweden) is a Swedish singer and occasional television host, perhaps most famous for winning the 1999 Melodifestivalen and subsequently that year's Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven."

Since then she has released six singles and five albums. Perrelli once again won Melodifestivalen 2008 and represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with her disco song "Hero."

She is one of Sweden's most popular female singers, often performing at Sweden's top shows. Throughout her career, she has worked with different types of music, ranging from dansband and schlager, via modern pop, to soulful ballads and jazz melodies.

Biography

1987–1998

At thirteen Perrelli joined a local dansband in Hovmantorp in the Småland-province in southern Sweden. The band Bengt Ingvars became "Bengt Ingvars med Charlotte". After finishing her compulsory school education, Perrelli moved from Hovmantorp to the neighbouring town of Växjö where she attended the High School of Performing Arts. She also became the lead singer of the band Kendix.

In 1994, Perrelli started singing with the well-established dansband Anders Engbergs. After two albums, Perrelli left the band and joined the highly successful dansband Wizex in 1997. The years with Wizex gave Perrelli the opportunity to develop her skills as a performer. Larger venues and professional management produced results. In 1998 the band was nominated for a Swedish Grammis (Grammy) for the album Mot nya mål, and the album Tusen och en natt sold gold. Perrelli was ready to go solo. Between 1997–1998 Perrelli also starred as the training instructor "Millan Svensson" in the Swedish soap opera Vita lögner.

1999–2000

After being selected as the Swedish contestant for the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest by winning that year's national Melodifestivalen contest, Perrelli went to Jerusalem in late May to compete with her song "Take Me To Your Heaven". She won and her solo career really took to the skies. The following months were hectic for Perrelli, she toured Europe and the Middle East, promoting her Take me to your heaven and started working on her first solo album, the self titled Charlotte. Later that year Perrelli was voted Sweden's sexiest woman by the magazine Café. She later released I write you a lovesong, which was well-received.

2001–2003

In 2001 she released her second album, Miss Jealousy, a pop/rock album which included the top 20 hit single "You Got Me Going Crazy", written by Johan Åberg and Paul Rein, known for their work with Christina Aguilera and Victoria Beckham. This song would later become the debut single for Spanish singer Natalia, whose Spanish version of the song "Vas a volverme loca" in 2002 sold over 200,000 in Spain alone, a record for that year. The album also contained the radio hit "Light of my life". During the months after the release, she promoted the album throughout Europe, and also travelled to New Zealand, to promote her work.

Perrelli hosted the first semifinal of Melodifestivalen 2003 together with Mark Levengood and Lena Philipsson. In April 2003 she did Jesus Christ Superstar. In September she released the new single "Broken Heart", which was followed up by the album Gone Too Long in June 2004, containing hits like Gone too long, Flashdance and Million miles away.

2004–2007

After the success in Melodifestivalen 2003, Perrelli was once again offered to host Melodifestivalen 2004. Perrelli, Peter Settman and Ola Lindström hosted the entire tour together. After the festival, Swedish TV4 offered her an own show on the channel. The show was called Super Troupers which was a talent-show for kids. One of the contestants was Amy Diamond, who is now a successful and singer also Alice Svensson who later came first runner-up in Idol 2008.

In mid-2004 she released her most successful album to date, Gone Too Long, which included songs by some of Sweden's top producers, including Jörgen Elofsson. The album topped the Swedish top for weeks and contained hits like "A million miles away" and "Gone too long". She also joined Robert Wells, Jill Johnson and others on the Rhapsody In Rock-tour in mid-2004.

In 2006, she released the album I din röst, in honour of the famous jazz singer Monica Zetterlund, which contained Monica's most famous songs, along with some personal favorites and the soul-ballad I din röst, written by Charlotte for the album. The album was successful, and she performed many of the songs in Sweden's top shows like Allsång på Skansen and Nationaldagen. She also co-hosted the TV-show 'Tillsammans för världens barn' in October.

In May, 2007 Perrelli was the Swedish expert in the Nordic preview show panel discussion about the Eurovision Song Contest. The contestants and their songs and chances to win were commented on. She was also a part of the panel in 2005.

In mid-2007 Perrelli toured Sweden with the yearly successful Diggiloo. She was joined by singers such as Linda Bengtzing, Lasse Holm, Molly Sandén, Lotta Engberg and Jan Johansen. During the summer she released the love ballad "Som du" which she performed att the popular show Sommarkrysset. During the autumn she released the single disco song "Jag är tillbaks" which she performed at the show Babban & Co.

2008-2009

Charlotte performing at Överby Köpcenter, April 5, 2008.

On March 15, 2008 Perrelli performed and won Melodifestivalen 2008 again with her song "Hero" at the Stockholm Globe Arena. She went on to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia, where she advanced to the finals. Before Eurovision, she went out on an enormous tour, performing at popular TV shows in 17 nations, in order to promote Hero.

On April 14 Perrelli filmed the music video for "Hero" on location in Stockholm. Although "Hero" was one of the favourites to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2008,^[2] it ended 18th out of 25 entries in the final, with 47 points in total. After Eurovision Perrelli started rehearsals for Rhapsody in Rock along with Robert Wells, Perrelli and Robert did a concert in Beijing, China during the 2008 Summer Olympics. In August, it was revealed that Charlotte had signed a record deal with a Chinese record label. This means that her album "Hero" will be released inside China at a later date.

During the autumn, she worked on her Christmas album Rimfrostjul, which was released in November. She also performed at several of Sweden's top TV-shows, such as Sommarkrysset, Victoriadagen and Nationaldagen. On October 31, 2008 Perrelli was a guest judge and coach for the remaining contestants on Idol 2008. In November and December, she promoted her Christmas album and toured Sweden in a set of Christmas concerts.In the beginning of 2009, she travelled to Beijing to perform in a series of TV-shows. She will also begin working on a new album later during the year, and is at the moment a judge in the Swedish show Talang 2009. At the Schlager pride in Stockholm in Juli 2009, she announced that she will release a new album in the end of 2009 or the beginning of 2010.

Personal life

Perrelli is married to Stockholm-based Swedish-Italian restaurateur Nicola Ingrosso, brother of Emilio Ingrosso who was married to another Swedish singer Pernilla Wahlgren in the 1990s. Following a feud with the rest of the family, Charlotte and Nicola decided to change both of their last names to Perrelli. They reside in Stockholm with their two sons. In June 2008 the couple officially announced that they were taking a break in their relationship. It had been speculated for some time in the Swedish media that their relationship was on the rocks. It is believed that Charlotte's heavy workload was a contributing factor to the couple's split.^[3][4] This was later denied by both Nicola and Charlotte, the couple stated they was just taking a break from each other but were still very much in love.

Discography

Albums

All regularly released albums and their chart positions in the Swedish Top 60 (SWE).

Singles

Soundtracks

Soundtracks containing Charlotte Perrelli songs.

• 2000: Livet är en schlager Soundtrack - "Jag vill bara älskas av dig"

Compilations

Compilations containing Charlotte Perrelli songs.

• 1999: Absolute '99: The Best of 1999 - "Take Me To Your Heaven"
• 1999: Mr Music Hits - Vol 7, 1999 - "Take Me To Your Heaven"
• 1999: Maximum Dance - Vol 7, 1999 - "Take Me To Your Heaven"
• 1999: Absolute Music 30 - "Take Me To Your Heaven"
• 1999: 100% Semester - Vol 4 - "Take Me To Your Heaven"
• 2000: Eurovision Song Contest 1956-1999 - "Take Me To Your Heaven"
• 2000: Barn 2000 - "Behöver Dig Nu"
• 2000: Schooldays - "Tusen och en Natt"
• 2001: Melodifestivalen 2001 - "Tusen och en Natt"

References

External links

Wikinews has related news: Interview with Charlotte Perrelli in the run-up to Eurovision 2009

• Official website
• Charlotte Perrelli at MySpace
• Official YouTube Profile
• Unofficial fanpage