Andreas Lundstedt is back- with a bittersweet Tune called 'Never, Never' ( in swedish)

With the release of the stars of who will be in Melodifestivalen 2012 -we had a few surpises but not too many well- kept secrets as alot of the artists had been revealed from recent swedish press stories. Let's have a look at a few of the names- One firstly we all know so well is Andreas Lundstedt-

he is internationally known as the core member of Alcazar who broke-through with their massive hit 'Crying in the discoteque' a track that in 2001 was more successful in Australia, UK & Europe than at home in sweden where it only made 29 in the Swedish singles chart- however it did kick-start a career clocking up more than 12 million record sales by the end of 2005- alone.

Then alcazar reformed as a 3-some again in 2007- til 2011 when they took the 2nd break of the band's career- during this time they gave us one of their best albums with 'Disco Defenders' at the time of Melodifestivalen 2009 when 'Stay the Night' finished in 5th.

Andreas began his career in the big apple NYC he lived there from 1992-1995 making a name for himself in choreography -even training stars like Julia Roberts in dance. Then Andreas returned to Stockholm and began a Pop & stage career from back in 1996 when Andreas first debuted in Melodifestivalen -2 years running -as a solo artist- then a third time in 2007-

"Driver Dagg Faller Regn" (wrote by Alexander Bart Ola Hakansson & Tim Norell)

Finished in 2nd place to winner One More Time-

"Jag Saknar Dig Jag Sakner Dig" (wrote by Alexander Bart Ola Hakansson & Tim Norell)

Finished only in 5th place - when Blond won with 'Bara hon alskar mig'

-- At this time Andreas Lundstedt released a self-titled solo album with some great songs all in english- remember during the 90s Melodifestivalen/Eurovision rules meant entries had to be song in the native language. That was different for Andreas at Melodifestivalen 2007- with:

"Move" (wrote by Andreas Lundstedt-Joan Rohr)

Finished 6th in Semi-final 1 in Jonkoping-

So now for 2012 Andreas will sing again in swedish the tune 'Aldrig Aldrig'- in a recent short interview he revealed this new song as a bitter-sweet break-up

tune perfect for him to sing- and wrote with Andreas in mind- He was not sure if he should have a go at Melodifestivalen again solo-

however the song changed his mind- it will be a tough year in Melodifestivalen to enter again- up against some of Sweden's biggest names.

Andreas may even be up against his one-time fellow band-mate ( in Alcazar ) &

also former BF- if Magus Carlsson also makes a comeback for 2012.

This would be pure joy to see both schlager boys at Globen in 2012!

The Artists for Melidifestivalen are out -for the Semi Final 1 & 2

Revealed today from the Svt press conference the first part of the Artists list- showing just who will sing the song-titles and song-writers revealed

a couple of weeks ago- It's interesting to see not too many of the Swedish Media rumours are wrong! One schlager-return that is off the cards- is for Lili & Susie

as the song 'Baby Doll' (wrote by Susie) is to be sung by dansband Top Cats- who have never been in Melodifestivalen before-

There was a bit of a question-mark also over Loreen - as she was one of the highlights of Melodifestivalen 2011 'My heart is refusing Me'

a tune that went on to become one of the summer's best Hits. So this time Loreen with a Thomas G:Son tune is set for maxinum impact, we felt Loreen has a certain Eurovision wow-factor that could do well.Equal joy to find no Alcazar but Andreas will be solo- and singing a swedish tune- this is something he has not done in Melodifestivalen since way back in 1997 certainly going back to his roots!

Here is the list- in no-particular order (not the running order)

Semi Final 1- Vaxjo 4th Feb 2012

• Euphoria Loreen
• (Thomas G:Son & Peter Boström)
• I Want To Be Chris Isaak (This Is Just The Beginning)- The Moniker
• (The Moniker)
• Jag Reser Mig Igen- Thorsten Flinck & Revolutionsorkestern
• (Thomas G:Son & Ted Ström)
• Mistery- Dead By April
• (Pontus Hjelm)
• På Väg- Abalone Dots
• (Abalone Dots & Viktor Källgren)
• Salt & Pepper- Marie Serneholt
• (Lina Eriksson, Mårten Eriksson & Figge Boström)
• Sean Den Förste Banan- Sean Banan
• (Sean Banan, Joakim Larsson, Hans Blomberg & Mårten Andersson)
• The Boy Can Dance - Afro-dite
• (Figge Boström, Catrine Loqvist & Johan Lindman)

Semi Final 2- Gothenburg 11th Feb 2012

• Aldrig, Aldrig- Andreas Lundstedt
• (Niclas Lundin, Maria Marcus, Randy Goodrum)
• Baby Doll- Top Cats
• (Mårten Eriksson, Lina Eriksson, Susie Päivärinta)
• Det Går för Långsamt - Mimi Oh
• (Anton Malmberg Hård af Sederstad & Niclas Lundin)
• Ge Aldrig Upp- Thomas Di Leva
• (Thomas Di Leva)
• I Din Himmel - Sonja Aldén
• (Sonja Aldén, Bobby Ljunggren & Peter Boström)
• Shout It Out- David Lindgren
• (Tony Nilsson & Fernando Fuentes Vargas)
• Soldiers- Ulrik Munther
• (Ulrik Munther, Johan Åberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, David Jackson)
• Stormande Hav - Timoteij
• (Kristian Lagerström, Johan Fjellström, Stina Engelbrecht & Jens Engelbrecht)

ALCAZAR - Reveal they will Take a break! with a farewell gig

During Stockholm Pride 2011- Alcazar will do a farewell gig at the gay Festival. At least for a while -this news was revealed in QX. The disco-defenders will now pursue other projects. The reason for this break is that the group feel they are stuck in a rut. It was revealed in the recent interview.
- 'Right now it feels like we are at a standstill' says Tess to QX Magazine. (read interview here)

Alcazar +Magnus Carlsson.

Alcazar was formed in 1998 and was a trio consisting of Andreas Lundstedt, Tess Merkel and Annikiafiore. Then in 2002 Magnus Carlsson joined the band in 2003 and debuted in Melodifestivalen with Not a Sinner, Nor A Saint, which became a big hit. Then they repeated great success in Melodifestivalen 2005 with poptastic tune- Alcastar which went on to be another massive summer hit. The foursome took a break at this stage, and then both Magnus and Annika left the group- it did look like it was all over at this time as well. Then suddenly Lina Hedlund joined the band in 2009 -the new 'Alcazar' was born of Andreas, Tess & Lina they sung a new tune Stay The Night, which finished 5th at Melodifestivalen, with the tune that many consider the Alcazar's greatest Melodifestivalen entry - This tune certainly looked & sounded set for Eurovision glory back in 2009.

Currently the band's leader Andreas Lundstedt is set to appear in musical 'Legally Blonde' and Lina & Tess have their own solo commitments to go on with.

Let's hope its still not really the end of Alcazar ....

Annikafiore - Forbidden Love Video

Remember Alcazar's Annikafiore,

she has now gone solo recently and she has a thumping new

track that has been choosen by the danes as

OFFICIAL SONG of COPENHAGEN PRIDE 2010

..and the video well it's really something els!!

If you like this track before 23/80/2010 you can download it free

here- be quick

Alcazar's Rehearsal chat- & preview the Moves for 'HeadLines'

Hey look, Tess has got Peter Joback's Glasses on !!

They are Back in 2010 -ALCAZAR with the song 'Headlines'

Yes, last year ALCAZAR brought us one of the biggest Melodifestivalen

Hits 'Stay the Night'

so it was wonderful news to find them back 2 years running.

Here are some of the first rehearsals from Goteburg, ready for satuday's

Semi Final 3 which promises to be

one of the best. From some svenska reports on first hearing the song

'Headlines' is this year- less disco more hard dance-sound, not unlike an updated

'Love in Stereo' from Mf 2007 - This must be a hot contender to go Direct to Globen.

Yet they are up against Darin (joker) Elin Lanto & Johannes Bah Kuhnke.

BONUS he is a fun Tv Parody of 'Stay The Night' calling themselves

Diamond Dogs- very funny

Quess Who is coming back for Melodifestivalen 10 ?

ALCaZAR Joy they are now confirmed they will sing the new song 'Headlines'

in next years Melodifestivalen.. now that's given us one big schlager Smile..more details to come.

Alcazar's HISTORY CHANNEL: Andreas Back in 1997 with "Driver Dagg Faller Regn" & with Stage 4

Alcazar was not infact Andreas first band he was a member of the group Stage 4.
They featured three other famous Melodifestivalen singers in Sweden; Peter Jöback, Lisa Nilsson and Lizette Pålsson.
Here is a rare clip of Stage 4 check to check back in 1989 -



Here we find Andrea's debut in Melodifestivalen 1997. With a hit ballad "Driver Dagg Faller Regn"
wrote by Alexander Bard it came 2nd with a total of 48 points...
not long afterwards Alcazar was born in Stockholm.

Alcazar's HISTORY CHANNEL- 'Funky Feet' 2003 (Abba's unreleased song)

2003- The Alcazar Line up of Andreas Tess and Annika joined by Magnus Carlsson (Barbados)
to make a foursome- Was it any wonder they took this song from Abba's heyday 1976.
'Funky Feet' was never released by Abba at the time, although its been called a 'Dancing Queen'
# 2. Svenne & Lotta released it in the 70's. Then Alcazar made it their own with this
cover on the Alcazarized CD
what a great boogie version..

Alcazar during their Abba period!

ALCAZAR another hit from 'Disco Defenders' they are Burning in this great NEW Vid'

ALCAZAR are the 'Disco Defenders'

  ALCAZAR's New Album 'Disco Defenders' is out now plus it's a double CD collection. Now & Then, with CD 2 featuring a Greatest Hits of the band. Seeing as they never had a real greatest hits' the previous Dancefloor Deluxe CD  was the Best Remix's of Alcazar Hits. The new album has songwriting credits from Anders Hansson, Pet Shop Boys, Danny (E M D) and Oscar Görres. It will be interesting to see with Mans "MZW "album coming out as well, who will win the head-to-head battle for the Swedish Album chart Top position!
One fan-tastic thing about after Globen show is over, we get some terrific Club Mix's normally coming out like the new one for 'Stay The Night'  also found on the new album.

Emilia, E M D, Alcazar Agnes & Sarah Dawn all chat & SING before The Final

GOODBYE SHIRLEY ! & MARIE ! Please come back soon ! Hello to Emilia's new World

 Well as we guessed, the Schlager-Ambulance had more than one call out during Goteburg's Semi Final last night ! SHOCK Horror ! when Shirley Clamp's song did not make the choosen 5 songs, that went in to the dual play off's. As did'nt Marie Serneholt 'Disconnect Me' she gave us a debut performance worthy of any Grand Final + being Song 10- in the running order. Marie looked just  fantastic, as did her wonderful dancing boys - SEE Both LIVE Clips here on SVT.

                       Marie received consolation flowers afterwards from her Bf Mans Zelmerlow  following the basket of his dirty laundry she'd had presented to her on the artists sofa, during the Live show joke ! poor Marie we luv'd you.  The results gave ALCAZAR  the first D T G Ticket.

 The Scotts got '2nd Chance'

Then came the unexpected play off between Emilia 'You're my World' (who sang 'big big world'- in the 90's) & Caroline af Ugglas weird ditty called 'Snalla, snalla'  at this point alot of confusion came from the artists sofa. The Stars got up, only to sit back down looking puzzled! as the new Mf format seemed to have everyone confused. 

Then later a guy from the new 'International jury' came on stage, only to put Caroline's very un-eurovision style song into a 2nd 'second chance' play off to go Globen ( as song 11 !) 

Hmmm...so althrough she is in '2 nd chance'  round, she can be picked from another second chance via the International Jury. To me this was more confusing as this new jury is put in place to choose a better Eurovision style entry, now both Marie & Nina (see them at Link) met this criteria very well. So what happened there?  

But what a fantastic show everyone gave 101% - Mf new format can only get better?

The Results;

Going to the Globen Final-

Alcazar "Stay the Night"    &   Emilia "You're my world" 

  

Going to 'Second Chance' round-

Scotts "Jag tror pa oss"     &   Caroline Af Ugglas "Snalla Snalla"

Going to International Jury Choice Round-

Caroline Af Ugglas "Snalla Snalla"

ALCAZAR INTERVIEW (ESCToday) Will they Shine 3rd time Lucky..Yeah Shine On !! (Tack ESC2D for Fab Clips)

ANDREAS LUNDSTEDT TAKES THE GAYGALAN PRIZE With other MELODIFESTIVALEN Stars from 2008

Monday night was 'QX Gala Awards' at Cirkus in Stockholm. QX magazine readers chose some Melodifestivalen favourites with runner up from MF 2008 'Empty Room' as The Year's Best Swedish (wrote) Song also last years fun Host Björn Gustafsson took 2 awards as well as Years Best TV Star The nights BIG Award of Best Homo went for the second time to Andreas Lundstedt of Alcazar. Here is the full results.




Years Best Homo: Andreas Lundstedt

Years Best Hetero: Gustaf Skarsgård
Years Best Kämpe: Jan Wisén, Brandförsvaret
Years Best Gaystore: Gossip (Göteborg)
Years Best Artist: Amanda Jensen (Swedish Idol)
Years Best Swedish Song: ”Empty Room” Sanna Nielsen
Years Best Inernational Song: ”I Kissed a Girl” Katy Perry
Years Best Newcomer: Björn Gustafsson
Years Best Film: Patrik 1,5
Years Best Duo: Gustaf Skarsgård & Torkel Peterson
Years Best Blogg: Per-Robin's Gaybloggen
Years Best TV-program: ”Bonde söker fru”
Years Best TV-Star: Björn Gustafsson (again, yeeaaah)
Years BestBook: ”Mamma, mormor & jag” Kim Kärnfalk
Years Best Keep-up-the-good-work: Volunters for Stockholm Pride
Years Honour Prize: Hate Shelter

The nights other BIG winner was Gustaf Skarsgård from a movie 'Patrik 1.5' alone combined Years Best Hetero, together with Torkel Peterson was named Duo of the Year, and also the Years Best Film 'Patrik 1,5' three awards in total.

Watch Andreas Award presented by Måns Zelmerlöw & Marie Serneholt + his reactions below in report (swedish)

Andreas Lundstedt hits the town with new Melodifestivalen host "Petra Mede"

A new host has been revealed to replace Kristian Luuks, who has been the popular host of Sweden's top songfestival for past few years. She is 'Petra Mede', a comedian who will bring her own brand of glitter & glamour to show. Rumours are going around she may have an equally fun side-kick at Goteberg semi-final opening.

Petra was recently seen out at 'Pigalle Club' Stockholm in the fantastic company of  'Alcastar' himself,  Andreas Lundstedt. He is very excited about his band Alcazar's Mf entry "Stay the night" . When interviewed by QX Mag recently Andreas mentioned he is writing a new book and feels Alcazar can represent Sweden in Moscow 2009. 

GO ALCAZAR -  GO ANDREAS

Andreas is the 'hot' favourite to win the Top Award of 'Gay of the Year' at QX Awards on 2nd Feb 2009 at Cirkus Stockholm. Other Mf nominations are Bjorn Gusafsson, for TV Star & Breakthrough Artist of the Year. Agnes is also nominated for the Years Best Artist, and the songs "Hero" and "Empty Room" from Mf 2008. Stay schlager-tuned for more on the QX Awards.

 You can view all nominations here    

The Return of the 'Disco Defenders'

One of the most exciting artists on the comeback trail is Alcazar as a three piece group.They began back in 1998 with Andreas Lundstedt Tess Merkel & Annika Kjaergaard & soon after had an international worldwide hit with "Crying in the Discoteque" 
The bands major success in their homeland came with Melodifestivalen 2003 when royal highness 'schlager' king himself Magnus Carlsson from Barbados joined Alcazar to make a 4 piece "Sinner nor a saint" The song finished 3rd  in MF yet became the public's favourite of that year as well as a massive No; 1 Gold selling single.This was followed by the suberb studio album 'Alcazaized' that perfectly shows the bands continued tribute to Disco dance sound of the 70's in a new modern way. More great singles followed "This is the world we live in" & "Start the fire" and another blast of disco stardust with "Alcastar"This was the bands song in Melodifestivalen 2005 once again finished 3rd place. Then in the autumn of 2005 the band announced they would take an Abba-style break to work on other solo projects. 
They had a massive hit with "We Keep on rockin" in 2008 in Sweden, Andeas & Tess are back with former MF star Lina Hedlund, alot like the original line up back in the late 90's.If the new song for MF 2009 "Stay the night" is anything like 'Keep on rockin' we could seeAlcazar pass the previous third placing record.... 
The glitter ball spins as we prepare to be Alcazared