Östen Warnerbring

Östen Warnerbring
Östen Warnerbring
Background information
Born	(1934-11-22)22 November 1934 Malmö, Sweden
Died	18 January 2006(2006-01-18) (aged 71) San Agustín, Spain
Genres	Schlager
Occupation(s)	Singer Songwriter Composer Musician
Instrument(s)	Saxophone Clarinet
Years active	1952-2005

Östen Warnerbring (22 November 1934 – 18 January 2006) was a Swedish singer, musician, composer and lyrics writer who mastered several musical genres. He started out as a jazz musician but over the years, he had huge successes both in the area of popular music and as a singer of Swedish poetry, put into music by himself. In the 1970s, he became one of the first Swedish artists to use his native accent, of the province of Scania (Skåne) in the south of Sweden, also while singing.

He represented his country at the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 with the song Som en dröm, written by Marcus Österdahl & Curt Pettersson with lyrics by Patrice Hellberg.

Early life

Warnerbring was born in Malmö and lived in the medieval town of Skanör when he had a breakthrough in the mid-1960s.

Melodifestivalen - Swedish heat of the Eurovision Song Contest

Warnerbring made several appearances in the Swedish heats of Eurovision. His first was in the 1959 qualifying competition with the song Kungsgatans blues which finished in fourth place. In 1960 he tried again and although he won with Alla andra får varann, SR decided to send Siw Malmkvist to the Eurovision final in London. Warnerbring performed two songs in the 1962 final. Lolo Lolita was placed fourth and Trollen ska trivas sixth.

Following his 1967 victory, Warnerbring defended his title in 1968 by teaming up with Svante Thuresson and together they took fifth place with Här kommar pojkar. His next appearance, in 1972, saw him finish in second place above a song submitted by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. Warnerbring's song, Så’n e’ du så’n e’ jag finished seven points behind the eventual winning group Family Four. His final attempt at the Eurovision title in 1974 was also his least successful. En mysig vals was placed tenth and last.

Later life

Warnerbring died in San Augustin, Canary Islands.