Brita Borg
Encyclopedia
Brita Borg, full name Brita Kerstin Gunvor Borg (June 10, 1926 – May 4, 2010) was a Swedish
singer, actress, and variety show
artist. Her variety show career spanned from 1943 into the 1970s, while her singing career trailed away at the end of the 1960s. However, she was still an active actress in the 1980s. Borg represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959
in Cannes
.
in Stockholm
and began her career in the Södermalm-based variety show group Vårat gäng ("Our Gang") after having won a song competition which the magazine Vecko-Revyn organised in 1943. In 1945, she formed the quartet Flickery Flies with Allan Johansson, whom she later married. In 1947, she began her long collaboration with famous Swedish variety performer and writer Povel Ramel
. She participated in his radio program Fyra kring en flygel ("Four around a grand piano") and was prima donna in several versions of the Knäppupp variety show between 1952 and 1962.
Amongst her most famous numbers were Fat Mammy Brown, where she played an African-American jazz
/gospel
singer in blackface
and fat padding, the tango
Banne mej from the variety musical Funny Boy
, where she played the seductive Gypsy girl Zamora, and Ulliga krulliga gubbar, a satirical Dixieland
ballad about how modern it would have been to have a beard. When the prolific comedy duo Hasse Alfredsson and Tage Danielsson
were writing for Knäppupp they provided her with songs such as Alla kan ju inte älska alla här i världen ("Everyone can't love everyone"), Aldrig har jag sett en rak banana ("I've Never Seen a Straight Banana
"), and Du är min tekopp ("You are my teacup"). In 1962, she reached the peak of her career as a variety show artist with the number Die Borg, parodying Swedish singers who made a career by catering to German
audiences.
From 1964 onwards Borg performed in several variety shows with Hagge Geigert in Uddevalla
and Gothenburg
, and a sojourn at Folkan with Kar de Mumma
. In the 1970s, she moved to Arvidsjaur
with her new husband, policeman Stig Salomonsson, and thereafter was most active as an actress, most often for Riksteatern
. She played in the musical Call Me Madam in 1967, and made a celebrated performance as Annie Oakley
in the musical Annie Get Your Gun
in 1973. Henceforth she toured with Riksteatern in performances of Christina Alexandra, Fiddler on the Roof
, Ramel riket runt, and The Threepenny Opera
. Among her more important dramatic performances was her turn alongside Halvar Björk
in Richard Hobert
's televised play Polskan och puckelryggen from 1983.
she would travel to sing in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 1959
in Cannes. In the final she reached a respectable 9th place. It was Augustin. In 1960, she performed as Hasse Alfredson's duet-partner in the comic Oj då kära nån and Märta Melin och Ture Tyrén and was awarded the honour of singing a duet with Evert Taube
in two recordings of Invitation till Guatemala and Mary Strand. In 1961, an LP recording was made where she interpreted Århundradets melodier ("The tunes of the century"), including Hässelbysteppen, Min soldat and Sjösala vals. Her genre was traditional pop songs, with the, at the time, common leaning towards Italian (La strada dell'amore, Ciao ciao Bambina). She had attempted more modern progression with Frankenstein rock in 1957 but eventually was surpassed by younger, but less voice-strong singers, with greater appeal to a young audience. Stig Anderson
, Björn Ulvaeus
, and Benny Andersson
gave her a final hit with the song Ljuva sextiotal, which stayed in the Swedish charts (Svensktoppen
) for 20 weeks in 1969.
, maybe because she, as a variety show prima donna, had been self-ironic
from the beginning. The self-ironic undertones remained when Vårat gäng made a comeback in the 1980s and she was able to present herself as "En något överårig tonårsidol" (" A teen idol somewhat past her prime"), and in the anniversary Knäppup show Knäpp igen in 1992, when she sang Vi sätter P för primadonnan ("We stop the show for the prima donna").
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
singer, actress, and variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
artist. Her variety show career spanned from 1943 into the 1970s, while her singing career trailed away at the end of the 1960s. However, she was still an active actress in the 1980s. Borg represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959
Eurovision Song Contest 1959
The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Cannes, following the French victory the previous year....
in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
.
Biography
Borg was born on SödermalmSödermalm
Södermalm, often shortened to "Söder", is a district in central Stockholm. It covers the large island formerly called "Åsön". With a population of 99,685, it is one of the most densely populated districts of Scandinavia...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
and began her career in the Södermalm-based variety show group Vårat gäng ("Our Gang") after having won a song competition which the magazine Vecko-Revyn organised in 1943. In 1945, she formed the quartet Flickery Flies with Allan Johansson, whom she later married. In 1947, she began her long collaboration with famous Swedish variety performer and writer Povel Ramel
Povel Ramel
Baron Povel Karl Henric Ramel was a Swedish entertainer. Ramel was a singer, pianist, vaudeville artist, author and a novelty song composer. His style was characterized by imaginative wit, both verbal and musical...
. She participated in his radio program Fyra kring en flygel ("Four around a grand piano") and was prima donna in several versions of the Knäppupp variety show between 1952 and 1962.
Amongst her most famous numbers were Fat Mammy Brown, where she played an African-American jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
/gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
singer in blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
and fat padding, the tango
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
Banne mej from the variety musical Funny Boy
Funny Boy
Funny Boy is a coming-of-age novel by Canadian author Shyam Selvadurai. First published by McClelland and Stewart in September 1994, the novel won the Lambda Literary Award for gay male fiction and the Books in Canada First Novel Award....
, where she played the seductive Gypsy girl Zamora, and Ulliga krulliga gubbar, a satirical Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
ballad about how modern it would have been to have a beard. When the prolific comedy duo Hasse Alfredsson and Tage Danielsson
Tage Danielsson
Tage Danielsson was a Swedish author, actor, poet and film director. He was born in Linköping and died in Stockholm...
were writing for Knäppupp they provided her with songs such as Alla kan ju inte älska alla här i världen ("Everyone can't love everyone"), Aldrig har jag sett en rak banana ("I've Never Seen a Straight Banana
I've Never Seen a Straight Banana
"I've Never Seen a Straight Banana" is a novelty song from 1926, written by Ted Waite. A short film was made in 1926 in the Phonofilm sound-on-film process with music hall comedian Dick Henderson singing it....
"), and Du är min tekopp ("You are my teacup"). In 1962, she reached the peak of her career as a variety show artist with the number Die Borg, parodying Swedish singers who made a career by catering to German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
audiences.
From 1964 onwards Borg performed in several variety shows with Hagge Geigert in Uddevalla
Uddevalla
Uddevalla is a city and the seat of Uddevalla Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 30,513 inhabitants in 2005.It is located at the bay Byfjorden, of the south-eastern part of the sea known as Skagerrak...
and Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, and a sojourn at Folkan with Kar de Mumma
Kar de Mumma
Kar de Mumma , birth name Erik Harald Zetterström, was a Swedish humorous writer and playwright. His pen name can be read as Car da Mon in Swedish....
. In the 1970s, she moved to Arvidsjaur
Arvidsjaur
Arvidsjaur is a locality and the seat of Arvidsjaur Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 4,644 inhabitants in 2005.Arvidsjaur is a large centre for the European car industry. During the winter months major car-manufacturers perform arctic trials in the Arvidsjaur Municipality area...
with her new husband, policeman Stig Salomonsson, and thereafter was most active as an actress, most often for Riksteatern
Riksteatern
Riksteatern is the name of the popular "National Touring Theatre"/"National Theatre Company" in Sweden. It's the biggest theatre company on tour in Sweden and can, in one way, almost be described as Sweden's national stage on tour....
. She played in the musical Call Me Madam in 1967, and made a celebrated performance as Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps...
in the musical Annie Get Your Gun
Annie Get Your Gun (musical)
Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...
in 1973. Henceforth she toured with Riksteatern in performances of Christina Alexandra, Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
, Ramel riket runt, and The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...
. Among her more important dramatic performances was her turn alongside Halvar Björk
Halvar Björk
Erik Halvar Bertil Björk was a Swedish actor. He worked at the Malmö City Theatre from 1962 till 1986, but also made many substantial film- and TV-roles; for example, he acted in Autumn Sonata and Sunday's Children by Ingmar Bergman and The Emigrants and The New Land by Jan Troell.Björk won...
in Richard Hobert
Richard Hobert
Richard Hobert, born 1 December 1951 in Kalmar, is a Swedish scriptwriter and film director.Hobert studied political science, languages and film/theatre at the Lund University from 1970-73. He debuted as a radio playwright in 1974. Holbert worked as a writer and assistant director up to his debut...
's televised play Polskan och puckelryggen from 1983.
Singing career
In the 1950s, Borg was a Swedish pop-queen. She made many recordings, first for Sonora, then for Knäppupp. In 1959, it was decided that whichever song won in the MelodifestivalenMelodifestivalen
Melodifestivalen is an annual music competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television and Sveriges Radio . It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almost every year since 1959...
she would travel to sing in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 1959
Eurovision Song Contest 1959
The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Cannes, following the French victory the previous year....
in Cannes. In the final she reached a respectable 9th place. It was Augustin. In 1960, she performed as Hasse Alfredson's duet-partner in the comic Oj då kära nån and Märta Melin och Ture Tyrén and was awarded the honour of singing a duet with Evert Taube
Evert Taube
Evert Axel Taube was a Swedish author, artist, composer and singer. He is best known for his folk songs, and is widely regarded as one of Sweden's most respected musicians.-Biography:...
in two recordings of Invitation till Guatemala and Mary Strand. In 1961, an LP recording was made where she interpreted Århundradets melodier ("The tunes of the century"), including Hässelbysteppen, Min soldat and Sjösala vals. Her genre was traditional pop songs, with the, at the time, common leaning towards Italian (La strada dell'amore, Ciao ciao Bambina). She had attempted more modern progression with Frankenstein rock in 1957 but eventually was surpassed by younger, but less voice-strong singers, with greater appeal to a young audience. Stig Anderson
Stig Anderson
Stig 'Stikkan' Erik Leopold Anderson was born in Hova, Sweden, and is best known as the manager of the pop group ABBA.- Polar Music:Anderson was the founder of the Polar Music record label in 1963...
, Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Kristian Ulvaeus is a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, writer, producer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
, and Benny Andersson
Benny Andersson
Göran Bror "Benny" Andersson is a Swedish musician, composer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
gave her a final hit with the song Ljuva sextiotal, which stayed in the Swedish charts (Svensktoppen
Svensktoppen
Svensktoppen is a record chart at 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. Svensktoppen airs once a week...
) for 20 weeks in 1969.
Acting career
Borg was musical, humorous, and conscientious, but ended up becoming an actress instead of a pop star. She has not made a major comeback similar to the comebacks by several other older Swedish pop stars such as Hanson, Carson, and Malmkvist, or had her pop song recordings re-released in anthologies and CDs, like Leander and Lindblom have. She has barely even become camp or a gay icon, as Git GayGit Gay
Birgit Carp , better known by her screen name Git Gay, was a Swedish revue director, actress, and singer.Git Gay was born Birgit Agda Holmberg in 1921 in Karlshamn, Sweden. Her parents wanted her to become a concerto pianist and sent her to the Music Conservatory in Malmö...
, maybe because she, as a variety show prima donna, had been self-ironic
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
from the beginning. The self-ironic undertones remained when Vårat gäng made a comeback in the 1980s and she was able to present herself as "En något överårig tonårsidol" (" A teen idol somewhat past her prime"), and in the anniversary Knäppup show Knäpp igen in 1992, when she sang Vi sätter P för primadonnan ("We stop the show for the prima donna").
Other songs
- "Tangerine" (1943)
- "Alla säger att jag ser så ledsen ut" (first Ramel-song 1947)
- "Jag ska ta morfar med mig ut i kväll" (a big hit in 1948)
- "Sodom och Gomorra"
- "Calypso Italiano" (1957)
- "Kärlek livet ut" (1957)
- "Sorglösa brunn" (duet with Ramel)
- "Ge en fräknig och ful liten flicka en chans"
- "Regn, regn, regn" (on EP-record "Brita i regnet")
- "Utsikt från en bro" (lyrics by Karl GerhardKarl GerhardKarl Gerhard was a Swedish revue-writer and performer. Many of Karl Gerhard’s plays and songs are politically to the left, and during the 1930s and World War II, they contained clear anti-fascist statements....
about a waiting sailor's wife) - "Gotländsk sommarnatt"
- "Frysboxcalypso" (advertisement for Elektro-Helios on a rare EP with Alfredson)
- "Res med mig till Skottland!"
- "Ett rent undantag" (a small, comedic variety show song which to Ramel's disappointment didn't become a hit)
- "Jan Öivind Swahn"
- "Die Borg" (from the Knäppupp show Dax igen)
Filmography
- Rymdinvasion i Lappland (1959)
- Den store amatören (1958)
- I rök och dans (1954)
- I dur och skur (1953)
- I dimma dold (1953)
- Dårskapens hus (1951)
- Med flyg till sjunde himlen (1949)
- Gatan (1949)
- Lilla Märta kommer tillbaka (1948)
- Swing it, magistern!Swing it, magistern!Swing it, magistern! is a 1940 Swedish film directed by Schamyl Bauman and starring Adolf Jahr and Alice Babs.- Synopsis :Young student Inga Danell secretly performs at nightclubs as Linda Loy.- Cast :*Adolf Jahr as "Susen" Bergman...
(1940) (uncredited)