Ola Svensson

Ola Svensson
Background information
Birth name	Ola Nils Håkan Svensson
Born	23 February 1986 (1986-02-23) (age 25) Lund, Skåne Sweden
Genres	Pop
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Oliniho Records UK - 3Beat Records / All Around The World USA - UltraBeat Records South Africa - David Gresham Records
Website	Official website

Ola Nils Håkan Svensson (born 23 February 1986), professionally known simply as Ola, is a Swedish pop singer born in Lund in the southern region of Skåne, Sweden. He first appeared on Idol (Sweden) in 2005. He has sold over 135 000 records in Sweden ^[1] and his songs have been played on the radio just under 200,000 times in Sweden. In 2010, Ola's songs were played over 12 million times on Swedish Spotify. Ola started 2011 by winning a Scandipop Award for Best Male Solo Single with 'All Over The World'.^[2]

Early life

He took piano lessons since he was 5 years old and was heavily influenced by his grandfather, who died when Ola was 8 years old. He introduced Ola to singing as a child and later, he joined a boys choir in his hometown of Lund. Ola becoming one of Sweden’s most successful artists was not obvious from the start. For a long time, football (soccer) was his life. Joining Division 1 club Lunds BK, he carried forward a dream of becoming a professional.

Idol 2005

Before going on Idol, he took part in a school musical and was told by school mates that he should attend the auditions held for Swedish Idol in the nearby town of Malmö.

He took part in the auditions singing the following songs:

• Audition in Malmö: "This I Promise You" from 'N Sync
• Audition: "Mandy" from Barry Manilow / Westlife
• Final audition: "Against All Odds" from Phil Collins (duet)
• Qualifying final: Show Me Heaven from Maria McKee

Qualifying for the live finals of the Swedish Idol 2005, he sang the following songs during the contest:

• Live week 1: My All from Mariah Carey (Theme: My Own Idol)
• Live week 2: "True Colors from Cyndi Lauper (Theme: The 1980s)
• Live week 3: "Kom Igen Lena!" from Håkan Hellström (Theme: Swedish hits)
• Live week 4: "Cry Me A River from Justin Timberlake (Theme: Pop hits)

He was eliminated receiving fewest votes after week 4 and came 8th overall in the 2005 competition. He was then contacted no less than a week after the show by record producer, Jonas Saeed, willing to sign Ola and work on his first single and album.

Rise to Fame

Despite coming eighth in Idol, he is a contestant that proves that the results of a TV show, such as Idol, do not matter when reality takes over. The record deal was soon signed, and his debut album Given to Fly soared straight to number one in the Swedish album chart.

A poll was set up on his website for the fans opinion on what song would be his new single. The options were a cover of "Rain" by Anthony Callea or "How We Do It", a song to be on the up-coming album. Over 60% of the votes were for "Rain".

He has since had a number one hit with songs "Rain", "Natalie", "S.O.S.", "Feelgood", "Sky's The Limit", "Unstoppable" and "Overdrive". He also had a smaller hit with "Brothers" (his second single in 2006), although, this was not as popular and peaked at 4. The song "Brothers" is based on his two older brothers, Jonas and Daniel, who are adopted from El Salvador.

In 2007, Ola recorded the song "Du Är Musiken I Mig" with Molly Sandén. The song is the Swedish version of "You Are the Music in Me" from High School Musical 2.

In 2010, Ola recorded the song "Fire" from Camp Rock 2 with Mohamed Ali and Endre Nordvik for a Scandinavian release of the film.

Ola regularly partakes in the RIX FM Festival and in 2009, took part in NRJ in the Park and the Diggiloo Tour with Mojje, Lasse Holm and others.

Summer 2010 saw Ola begin his own tour around Sweden, and played often at RIX FM festivals and on his own stage.

In 2010, Ola collaborated with the UK artist Labrinth on the track 'Let It Hit You' which is included on Ola's third studio album.

In 2011, a fan-based Street Team was created in Sweden to help promote Ola in his home country. This proved to be successful and there are now Street Teams in Sweden, the US, the UK, Russia, Germany, Argentina, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, the Netherlands and Brazil.

Television and Radio

In 2007, he did some promotional work for the song "Du Är Musiken I Mig" with Molly Sandén in London, whilst filming a short TV documentary on his daily life, titled "My Life As Ola".

Ola has been on several Swedish TV shows including Så Ska Det Låta, Bobster and Vi I Femman. He has also done several interviews with shows such Gomorron Sverige, Förkväll and Vakna! Med The Voice, recorded on film. He has also taken part in Sommarkrysset in Gröna Lund, Stockholm with his singles "Rain", "Natalie", "Feelgood", "Sky's The Limit" and "Overdrive". He also took part in the Polish "Sopot Festival" and "Hity Na Czasie" in August 2009 with hit song, "S.O.S".

Ola regularly does radio interviews with Rix FM, Mix Megapol and Sveriges Radio.

In November 2009, Ola won Körslaget with his male choir from hometown, Lund.

Melodifestivalen

Ola participated in Melodifestivalen 2008 and made it to the second semifinal on the 16th February^[3] with the entry "Love in Stereo." He went on to the second chance in Kiruna on 8 March where he got through the first round although was beaten in the second round by Sibel.

On 6 February 2010, Ola participated in the first Semi-Final of Melodifestivalen 2010 in Örnsköldsvik with the pop-song "Unstoppable," achieving second place after Salem Al Fakir and 'Keep On Walking'. He participated in the final at Globen on 13 March, achieving seventh place with 47 points and the highest amount of points from the international jury.

Discography

Ola has released three studio albums, Given to Fly, Good Enough and Ola. Good Enough was re-released to include Melodifestivalen song "Love In Stereo" and single "Feelgood", (hence the re-released album called Good Enough - The Feelgood Edition. It also featured remixes of S.O.S and Natalie, and an acoustic version of 'If You Gave Me Your Love' which was recorded live at a P3 session. He also released a Polish edition of the album, available in Poland for his fans there.

In June 2010, Ola released an EP on iTunes Sweden which featured new single Overdrive, two new tracks from the up-coming album titled "All Over The World" and "Still Remember" and a remix of his previous single "Unstoppable".

His third album 'Ola' was released in Sweden on 15 September 2010 and was the first album to be released on Ola's own label, Oliniho Records.

In August 2011 Ola released single 'All Over The World' in South Africa via record company David Gresham Records. ^[4]

In October 2011 Ola released single 'All Over The World' in the USA via UltraBeat Records and in the UK via 3Beat and All Around The World.

Albums

• 2005 - My Own Idol - Idol 2005
• 2006 - Given to Fly (#1)
• 2007 - Good Enough (#6)
• 2008 - Good Enough - The Feelgood Edition (#2)
• 2010 - Ola (#3)

Singles

Year	Single	Chart position	Album
		Sweden
2006	"Rain"	1	Given to Fly
	"Brothers"	4
2007	"Natalie"	1	Good Enough
	"Du Är Musiken I Mig" (with Molly Sandén)	21	High School Musical 2
	"S.O.S."	1	Good Enough
2008	"Love in Stereo"	2	Good Enough - The Feelgood Edition
	"Feelgood"	2
2009	"Sky's the Limit"	1	—
2010	"Unstoppable (The Return of Natalie)"	1	Ola
	"Overdrive"	1
	"Fire" (with Mohamed Ali and Endre Nordvik)	-	Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam
	"All Over the World"	3	Ola
2011	"RIOT"	3

References

1. ^ http://www.ola.cd/media/147048/biography.pdf
2. ^ "The Scandipop Awards 2011", Scandipop.co.uk, 14 January 2011
3. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melodifestivalen_2008_semifinals#Semifinal_2
4. ^ http://www.greshamrecords.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/july2011/OLA_ALL_OVER_THE_WORLD_RELEASE_SHEET1.pdf

External links

• Ola Svensson's Official Homepage
• Ola's Twitter
• Ola's Facebook Page
• Ola's Official YouTube
• Ola's Official Blog

Persondata
Name	Svensson, Ola
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	23 February 1986
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death