Agnes Carlsson

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Agnes

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Img_capt =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Agnes Emilia Carlsson
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1988|03|06
Died =
Origin = Vänersborg, Sweden
Instrument = Singing
Genre = Pop, Soul, R&B
Occupation = Singer
Years_active = 2005–present
Label = Sony BMG (2005–2007)
Roxy Records (2008–present)
Associated_acts = Daniel Lindström, Markus Fagervall, Marie Picasso
URL = [http://www.agnescarlsson.se/ Official website]
Current_members =
Past_members =

Agnes Carlsson (often credited simply as Agnes), born 6 March 1988 in Vänersborg, is a Swedish pop, R&B and soul singer who rose to fame as the winner of the second series of the Swedish singing competition "Idol" in 2005. She has since gone on to be one of Sweden's most popular and best-selling female singers.

Biography

"Idol" 2005

In the spring of 2005, a 17-year-old Carlsson auditioned for the second series of phenomenally popular Swedish singing competition "Idol" in Göteborg, singing "Varje Gång Jag Ser Dig" by Lisa Nilsson. The four judges were all hugely impressed by the strong power of her voice and she successfully passed through to the theatre rounds of the contest. Her vocals continued to impress, and she made it to the semi-finals. To the dismay of the judges, Carlsson did not get a place in the final eleven contestants, and when she again failed to grab a place through the special 'wildcard' round, they decided to pass her through to the finals as the judges' choice contestant. Despite this setback, Carlsson wowed both the judges and the public during every week of the finals, and after making it to the grand finale nine weeks later, she defeated runner-up Sebastian Karlsson and was crowned as the second Swedish Idol. Throughout the finals, Carlsson had never landed in the bottom 2 or 3, and she is currently one of only 4 wildcard contestants to win an "Idol" competition anywhere in the world. She was preceded in 2004 by Canada's Ryan Malcolm and Kazakhstan's Almas Kishkenbayev, and followed in 2007 by Australia's Natalie Gauci

"Idol" Performances

*Göteborg Auditions: "Varje Gång Jag Ser Dig" by Lisa Nilsson
*Semi Finals: "Together Again" by Janet Jackson
*Wildcards: "Små Rum" by Lisa Nilsson
*Top 11: "My Everything" by Jennifer Brown
*Top 10: "I'm So Excited" by The Pointer Sisters
*Top 9: "Himlen Runt Hörnet" by Lisa Nilsson
*Top 8: "I'm Outta Love" by Anastacia
*Top 7: "Young Hearts Run Free" by Candi Staton
*Top 6: "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by The Four Seasons
*Top 5: "Sk8er Boi" by Avril Lavigne
*Top 5: "Wonderwall" by Oasis
*Top 4: "Heaven" by Bryan Adams
*Top 4: "The Trouble with Love Is" by Kelly Clarkson
*Top 3: "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera
*Top 3: "Flashdance...What a Feeling" by Irene Cara
*Top 2 Grand Finale: "My Everything" by Jennifer Brown
*Top 2 Grand Finale: "This Is It" by Melba Moore
*Top 2 Grand Finale: "Right Here, Right Now" by Agnes Carlsson - "Declared 2nd Swedish Idol"

Post-"Idol" Career

2005-2006: "Agnes" and Huge Commercial Success

Immediately after winning "Idol", Carlsson signed a recording contract with Sony BMG and her debut single, "Right Here Right Now" was released. A week later, the song debuted at number one on the Swedish singles chart, a position it held for six weeks. It was quickly certified double platinum for the sale of 40,000 copies in Sweden. Just one week later, on December 19 2005, her debut album "Agnes" was released to positive reviews and massive opening week sales. It shot into the albums chart a week later at number one, a position it held for two consecutive weeks.

In March 2006, whilst touring in support of her debut album, Carlsson released her second single, "Stranded". Although it received positive critical reviews, the single did not gain commercial success and stalled in the singles chart at number twenty-seven. Despite this however, Carlsson's debut album continued to enjoy huge sales success, selling over 90,000 copies in Sweden alone. It was certified double platinum and to date holds the record for being the highest-selling album by any "Idol" contestant.

2006-2007: "Stronger" and Continued Popularity

On August 22 2006, only eight months after her "Idol" win, Carlsson's third single "Kick Back Relax" premiered on the TV-show "Sommarkrysset". The song, which would serve as the lead single from her much anticipated sophomore album, was released on September 7 and narrowly missed the top spot on the Swedish singles chart, peaking at number two. Her second album, "Stronger" was released on October 11, less than a year after the release of her debut. Like its predecessor, "Stronger" debuted at number one on the albums chart, and went on to sell 50,000 copies, certifying it platinum. One of the album's tracks, "Love Is All Around" has since been covered by numerous singers in three continents, the most notable being by "Australian Idol" alumni Ricki Lee Coulter, which peaked at number two in Australia and became one of the country's biggest hits in 2007.

On November 15, Carlsson released "Champion", the second single from her sophomore album. The song peaked at number nineteen, seemingly setting a pattern of high-low chart positions for Carlsson, which had also occurred with the two singles from her first album. In early 2007, Carlsson embarked upon her second national tour in just over one year. In December, Carlsson and her former "Idol" fellow contestant Måns Zelmerlöw joined forces for a huge Christmas campaign for clothing store MQ. In order to promote the company, they released a cover of the Mariah Carey song "All I Want For Christmas Is You", which peaked at number three on the Swedish singles chart.

2008: Departure From Sony BMG and "Dance! Love! Pop!"

In early 2008, it was announced that Carlsson had parted ways with her record label Sony BMG, citing creative differences as the reason behind the split. She quickly signed to record company Roxy Records, who stated that after taking a short break from the music industry, Carlsson would return with her third studio album, the first with her new label. On August 11, Carlsson's fifth single "On and On" was passed to radio stations and released as a digital download [http://www.agnescarlsson.se/] . Geared towards the dance and club genre, the single was a clear change of artistic direction for Carlsson's music, which had previously consisted of pop and RnB. The first public performance of the single was on August 16 during the Swedeish TV-show "Sommarkrysset". [ [http://www.expressen.se/noje/1.1267616/agnes-gjorde-comback-i-sommarkrysset Agnes gjorde comeback i sommarkrysset "(Expressen.se)"] ] . The single debuted at number twenty-seven, but since its physical release it has surged up the chart and has so far peaked at number eight, as well as charting at the top spot of the dance and club charts.

On September 13, Kaj Kindvall, the host of the radioshow "Tracks" announced that Carlsson's highly anticipated third studio album would be called "Dance! Love! Pop!" [http://www.sr.se/webbradio/webbradio.asp?type=db&id=1318866 SR.se Intervju med Agnes Carlsson] ] and then went on to explain the reason behind the record's name: "Dance! Love! Pop!" covers the three things that the music is all about on this album; dance-music that has a twist of pop and is about love". [ [http://www.sr.se/webbradio/webbradio.asp?type=latestbroadcast&Id=2696&BroadcastDate=&IsBlock=1 P3 Webbradio] ] Roxy Records confirmed the album's title four days later, and also stated that the release date of the album would be October 29, 2008.

In an interview with Swedish radio channel P3 the song "Love Me Senseless" was played, and although it was confirmed as a track on Carlsson's third album, it was not confirmed whether it would be released as the second single [ [http://www.agnes-carlsson.nu/media/radio/agnes_p3_080830.html P3 Star intervju med Agnes Carlsson] ] .

Discography

Infobox Artist Discography
Artist = Agnes Carlsson
Logo =


Caption =
Studio = 3
Compilation =
Live =
Video =
Music videos = 5
Singles = 6
Option = 4
Option name = B-sides
Option color = crimson
1Option =
1Option name = Other Charted Songs
1Option color = chartreuse
2Option = 1
2Option name = Collaborations
2Option color = violet
3Option = 2
3Option name = Tours
3Option color = orange
References =
Ref link = Notes and references

The following is a complete discography of every album and single released by Swedish Pop/RnB music artist Agnes Carlsson.

Albums

ingles

Controversey

In October 2006 it was announced that Carlsson would compete in the Swedish contest Melodifestivalen, which would decide the country's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. However, after revealing too much about the show in an interview, she was disqualified from the contest. Due to Carlsson's popularity, the disqualifaction caused a huge public outcry in Sweden, but the contest's producers refused to change their decision.

External links

* [http://www.agnescarlsson.se Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/agnescarlsson Official Myspace]
* [http://www.agnes-carlsson.nu/ Unofficial Fansite]

References