Björn Skifs: One of Sweden’s Most Beloved Artists
Björn Skifs is what they call in Sweden folkkär, meaning beloved by the people. He’s regarded as one of the nation’s most cherished singers, actors, entertainers, and songwriters.
Starting out with Slam Creepers in 1962, he had moderate success touring around Sweden. His early influences included Little Richard and Steve Winwood of The Spencer Davis Group.
When the band disbanded in 1969, Björn moved into light live entertainment, performing as part of a song-and-dance comedy act for a couple of years.
This eventually led to the formation of a new band, Blåblus – a name that directly translates to “Blue Jumper” but also plays on the phrase “Blue Blues.”
With Blåblus, he achieved his greatest success through a cover of Mark James’s Hooked on a Feeling (1974), which became an international hit. The band, now renamed Blue Swede, had to change their name for the U.S. market.
The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has since remained in popular culture thanks to films like Reservoir Dogs and Guardians of the Galaxy.
After releasing a few albums with the band, Björn decided to go solo, marking a shift to singing in Swedish.
Björn Skifs’ Versatile Journey: A Swedish Legend in Music and Film
Björn Skifs frequently competed in Melodifestivalen, Sweden’s qualifying contest for the Eurovision Song Contest. He entered in 1972, 1975, 1978, and 1981. His best entry was Michelangelo, which finished 5th in 1975.
In both 1978 and 1981, he actually made it to the Eurovision finals, finishing 14th and 10th respectively. If you’re not from Sweden, you may not realise how big Melodifestivalen is—it’s up there with Christmas and Midsummer as one of the country’s most anticipated annual events.
From 1969 to 1985, Björn Skifs focused heavily on his music career, releasing albums almost every year.
This was followed by a shift into film, with three major Swedish movies between 1988 and 1993: Strul, Drömkåken, and Joker. He also lent his voice to Woody in the Swedish dubs of Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999), taking over from Tom Hanks.
During this time, he released an autobiography and returned to his roots as a song-and-dance comedy act, performing live during the Swedish summers—when the population comes out to enjoy life, as opposed to the long winters when they stay indoors complaining about the snow.
In 2000, he released another studio album, Back on Track—curiously titled in English despite being sung entirely in Swedish.
Since the turn of the millennium, Björn Skifs has continued releasing albums, held residency shows, and toured the country. He remains as beloved as ever, though he never again reached the heights of his Hooked on a Feeling days—when he was topping charts and holding the #1 spot in America.
Björn Skifs Tunes | Related Pages
Hooked On A Feeling | Chords + TAB
You can learn to play Hooked On A Feeling by Blue Swede using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart and the original recording.
| Ab | Eb | Ab7 | Db |
I can’t stop this feeling, deep inside of me…
Check out the full TAB lesson here: Hooked On A Feeling (Blue Swede) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Björn Skifs on the web
