Ola Svensson | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ola Nils Håkan Svensson |
| Also known as |
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| Born | (1986-02-23)23 February 1986 (age 39) Lund,Skåne,Sweden |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Labels |
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| Website | www |
Ola Nils Håkan Svensson (born 23 February 1986) is a Swedishartist and songwriter, known professionally by the mononymOla until 2014, and asBrother Leo from 2018 to present. Born inLund,Skåne, his career began in 2005, when he finished eighth on season two ofSwedish Idol. Since then, Ola has released four studio albums. Eleven of his singles have reached the top five on theSwedish singles chart, with six achieving number one, and nine attaining gold and platinum certifications. After being signed toUniversal Music for many years, Ola founded his own record label Oliniho Records for the Swedish market, keeping distribution arrangements withSony Music in Europe and internationally. Following a four-year break, he returned in 2018, recording under the stage name Brother Leo forColumbia Records.[1][2]
Ola was born to Swedish parents, and has two adopted brothers fromEl Salvador, Jonas and Daniel, both his elders. His second single "Brothers", deals in part with his relationship with his brothers. From the age of 5, Svensson has played piano, and a strong musical influence came from his grandfather who died when he was 8. After he died, Ola decided to sing in a boys choir in memory of his grandfather.[3]
By age five Ola began playing the piano atLund's Municipal School of Music, and at nine he joined a boys' choir in his hometownLund. Ola Svensson is an avidfootball (soccer) fan. Ola played for a long time forTrelleborgs FF before moving to the first-division teamVasalunds IF.
As an 11-year-old, Svensson had a starring role in the operaThe Magic Flute at theMalmö City Theatre, directed byPhilip Zandén.[4]
Encouraged by his friends, Svensson tried out to the SwedishIdol auditions. In 2005, Svensson auditioned forseason 2 of the Swedish edition ofIdol.[5]
In the initial audition inMalmö, he sang "This I Promise You" from'N Sync and later "Mandy" fromBarry Manilow /Westlife and finally "Against All Odds" from Phil Collins as a duet. Just 19 and coming fromLund, he performed his qualifying audition "Show Me Heaven", a song fromMaria McKee. The audition was broadcast on 21 September 2005 on SwedishTV4 channel.
In the live shows, he sang "My All" fromMariah Carey (Live Show 1, theme "My Own Idol"), "True Colors" fromCyndi Lauper (Live Show 2, theme: the 1980s) and "Kom igen, Lena" fromHåkan Hellström (Live Show 3, theme: Swedish Hits) going to the next round on all three performances.
But he was eliminated on Live Show 4 broadcast on 21 October 2005, after performingJustin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River", receiving the lowest votes from the public. He finished the competition as eighth overall for the season.[6]
Despite being eliminated early fromIdol, a record deal was soon signed with producerJonas Saeed,[7] and his debut albumGiven to Fly was released in June 2006, appearing straight at number one inSverigetopplistan, the Swedish Albums Chart in its first week of release. His first single "Rain", a cover of a song byAnthony Callea was decided by a poll conducted on his website, winning 60% of his fans' votes.
Between 2005 and 2010, Ola released 8 singles withUniversal Music, five of which reached no. 1 on theSwedish charts, and all gaining a top 5 spot. The single "Natalie", released on 7 June 2007, topped the Swedish singles chart for 5 weeks and was certified platinum.[8] It aired in a number of European radios outside Sweden. The follow-up albumGood Enough was released in autumn 2007 and reached number 2 on the album charts in Sweden.
In 2008, Ola won a covetedRockbjörnen award in Sweden, for Best Song of the Year with "Feelgood". He has also received 14 nominations for the Rockbjörnen award and also a nomination for aGrammy Award. On 22 June 2009 Ola released the single "Sky's the Limit" that again topped the Swedish charts.
In 2009, having gained great success, he took part in the music event NJR in The Park and in Diggiloo Tour with Mojje, Lasse Holm and other artists. In autumn of 2009, Ola participated in the Swedish version ofClash of the Choirs known asKörslaget with his male choirTeam Ola from hometownLund. Finishing as winners of the competition, he donated 500,000 Swedish kronor (around 50,000 pounds) to refugee charity Tamam.[9]
In June 2010, Ola released an EP on iTunes Sweden which featured the single "Overdrive", two new tracks from the upcoming album "All Over The World" and "Still Remember", and a remix of his previous single "Unstoppable".
Ola has taken part inMelodifestivalen twice in a bid to represent Sweden at theEurovision Song Contest in 2008 and in 2010. Ola first participated inMelodifestivalen 2008 appearing for the second semi-final on 16 February with the song "Love in Stereo". The song was written byTony Nilsson andMirja Breitholtz. He moved to the "second chance" phase in Kiruna on 8 March 2008 and was through in the first round against the band Caracola, but was overtaken bySibel in the second round with her song "That Is Where I'll Go". Ola was eliminated without reaching the finals. Despite his failure, his song "Love in Stereo" charted in Sweden reaching number 2 inSverigetopplistan, the official Swedish Singles Chart.
On 6 February 2010, Ola participated yet again inMelodifestivalen 2010. During the semifinal stage in Örnsköldsvik singing "Unstoppable", full title "Unstoppable (The Return of Natalie)", a reference to one of his initial big successes "Nathalie". The song was written by Ola together withDimitri Stassos,Alexander Kronlund and Hanif Sabzevar. Ola sang first in the first heat, and qualified through to the final, held in StockholmGloben Arena on 13 March 2010.[10] He finished seventh in the final, with 47 points.
In June 2010, Ola bought himself out of his Universal Music contract after two albums with Universal,Given to Fly (2006) andGood Enough (2007) and started his own record company, Oliniho Records.[11][12][13] His first album on the label, sef-titled asOla reached number 3 on the Swedish Albums chart. The singles "Unstoppable" and "Overdrive" both became number one hits in Sweden. the single "All Over the World" was later awarded best Scandinavian pop song by the British music siteScandipop.[14] On theOla album, he collaborated withAlexander Kronlund and the English artist and songwriterLabrinth on the track "Let It Hit You"
During 2011, his company signed several international deals, amongst them, Europe, the US and UK. He is currently releasing music in mainland Europe withSony Music. The newly established company said that after five years on a major, Ola [had] decided to start his own record company, Oliniho Records. Ola was quoted saying: "Why not try to do this myself. With the freedom I have today I think it's easier to follow my own direction and I can develop both my artistry and my songwriting in a more natural way."[citation needed]
In February 2016, Ola joined label Warner/Chappell and will release forthcoming albums through this label.[15]
Ola's first UK single, "All Over the World", received much attention, becoming the most played video on4 Music andThe Box and being championed byScott Mills onBBC Radio One on his showReady for the Weekend. In the US it has entered the Hot Dance Airplay Chart and theBillboard Dance Chart. Ola also received attention from popular bloggerPerez Hilton, who called the song "sweet sweet europop deliciousness".[16][17]
In 2011, Ola Svensson / Oliniho Records signed contracts with several countries, including 3BEAT in England, David Gresham Records in South Africa,[18] andUltra Records in the United States.[19][20][21]
In November 2011, Ola travelled to New York to film his music video to "All Over the World".[16] It was released in South Africa, United States and England as per signed agreements and throughAll Around The World record label. The single reached the number 36 on theBillboard Dance Chart in the United States,[22][23]
2012 began with Ola's first promotional tour of the US with notable concerts in New York and California to support the release of "All Over The World". Whilst there, he also found the time to shoot the video for his single "I'm In Love", inLos Angeles, the first taken from his upcoming fourth studio album.[24] It was an international hit charting in German and Austrian charts and was a big hit in Italy'sFIMI Singles Chart reaching number 4. The single was co-written by Ola and some others, alongside one of the more successful songwriters and producers in the world,Shellback, who has also written and produced for artists such as,One Direction,Pink andUsher.[25] Ola also toured internationally to promote his hit single "All Over The World", that had found airplay notably in the UK, South Africa, Germany, Russia and the Middle East. The song went gold in Italy with and Ola's Italian tour.[26]
Single "Maybe" was released in Sweden on 16 August 2013.[27] The video for the single premiered at the music site Gaffa[28] and was a hit on iTunes chart.[29] The single "Jackie Kennedy" in Italy on 3 September 2013.[30] It is taken from Ola's new albumCarelessly Yours which was also released through his Oliniho Records. On the music video, Ola impersonatesJacqueline Kennedy Onassis in some scenes.[31] A third single, "Tonight I'm Yours" was released in Sweden October 2013. The video filmed by video artist Åsa Riton, premiering at the Swedish music blog PSL[32]
Carelessly Yours, released on 15 January 2014, reached number 4 on the Swedish album charts in its week of release. All the songs were written by Ola Svensson. He also took part in the production on several tracks. Partners on this album among others wereShellback,Johan Kermit Boback,Klas Åhlund andPatrik Berger. Svensson made an extensive tour in Sweden, Europe and internationally during 2013 and 2014 playing in twenty countries for promoting his international career.
Then he published an exclusive single for the Russian market called "This could be paradise" while in 2016 the Swedish DJ Philipp Mikal recorded a song with him called "Waiting 4".
Since 2006, Ola has performed regularly and given interviews on Swedish television shows such as Gomorron Sverige,Förkväll, Vakna! Med The Voice,Sommarkrysset, Faddergalan, Celebration of the National Day, Bobster, and the morning shows on SVT1 and TV4, amongst others.
In 2007 he recorded the song "Du är Musiken i Mig" withMolly Sandén, which became the Swedish language version of "You Are the Music in Me" for the filmHigh School Musical 2.
He took part in a short documentaryMy Life as Ola about his experience as an artist and as an individual. He also appeared in several programs including the Swedish seriesSå ska det låta.
Outside of Sweden, he has also taken part in the Polish "Sopot Festival" and "Hity Na Czasie" in August 2009 with the hit song, "S.O.S". Ola has also performed acoustic versions of his singles on radio stations such as RixFM,NRJ,Sveriges Radio andMix Megapol.
In 2010, he recorded withDanish singerMohamed Ali andNorwegian singer Endre Nordvik the song "Fire" for the Scandinavian Nordic version of the filmCamp Rock 2. The song appeared on the soundtrack albumCamp Rock 2: The Final Jam.
He has also performed on televised concerts outside of Sweden such as Europa Live in Russia in 2013. His song "Rich & Young" was used on 9 May 2014 in the eight episode of Italian television seriesColorado broadcast onItalia 1 (Italia Uno), further reinforcing his popularity with Italian listeners.
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE [33] | |||
| Given to Fly |
| 1 | |
| Good Enough |
| 6 | |
| Ola |
| 3 | |
| Carelessly Yours |
| 4 |
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE [33] | |||
| Good Enough (The Feelgood Edition) |
| 2 |
| Title | Year | Peak positions | Certification | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWE [34] | GER [35] | ITA [36] | TUR | ||||
| "Rain" | 2006 | 1 | — | — | — | Given to Fly | |
| "Brothers" | 4 | — | — | — | |||
| "Natalie" | 2007 | 1 | — | — | — | Good Enough | |
| "S.O.S." | 1 | — | — | — |
| ||
| "Love in Stereo" | 2008 | 2 | — | — | — |
| Good Enough - The Feelgood Edition |
| "Feelgood" | 2 | — | — | — |
| ||
| "Sky's the Limit" | 2009 | 1 | — | — | — |
| Non-album single |
| "Unstoppable (The Return of Natalie)" | 2010 | 1 | — | — | 94 |
| Ola |
| "Overdrive" | 1 | — | — | — |
| ||
| "All Over the World" | 3 | — | — | 21 |
| ||
| "Riot" | 2011 | 3 | — | — | — | ||
| "I'm in Love" | 2012 | — | 45 | 4 | 11 |
| Carelessly Yours |
| "Maybe" | 2013 | — | — | — | 20 | ||
| "Jackie Kennedy" | — | — | 32 | — | |||
| "Tonight I'm Yours" | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Rich & Young" | 2014 | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Losin' It" | — | — | — | — | |||
| "This Could Be Paradise" | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||
| Year | Single | Chart peak (SWE) [34] | Notes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| as Ola | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | "Du är musiken i mig" (Molly Sandén and Ola) | 21 | FromHigh School Musical 2 Swedish version of "You Are the Music in Me" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | "Fire" (Ola,Mohamed Ali andEndre Nordvik) | — | FromCamp Rock 2 Scandinavian version of "Fire" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | "Waiting 4" (Philipp Mikal feat. Ola) | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | "Magic" (K391 feat. Brother Leo) | — | "—" denotes singles that did not chart or were not released | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| International | |
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