Christer Sjögren / Christer Sjogren

Swedish balladeer (and devout Elvis Presley disciple) Christer Sjögren's deep, melodious voice helped to make him a popular purveyor of his homeland's sentimental, light pop/rock dansband style, as well as a successful interpreter of inspirational music. Originally a member of the band Pelles Orkester, he left that group in 1978 to join the dansband Vikingarna — which had initially formed 20 years earlier (as Jicco and the Vikings) — replacing Stefan Borsch as that group's lead vocalist. With Vikingarna, Sjögren recorded literally dozens of albums, most of them in the endless Kramgoa Låtar series; several, toward the end, in the German language; and many of them including covers of Elvis Presley numbers, beginning on his first album with the group, 1979's Kramgoa Låtar 7 — Djinghis Khan, with "Can't Help Falling in Love" (rendered as "Tro På Mej"). In 1989, Sjögren recorded a successful album of religious music, Andliga Sånger, for which he was billed jointly with Vikingarna; he followed it up with another religious album under his own name and several more, including two Christmas albums, over the ensuing decade. After the band's dissolution in 2004, Sjögren scored his first number one album as a solo artist with Love Me Tender, a collection of Presley covers. Two years later he returned with a nearly-as-successful sequel, King Creole; 2007 brought yet another religious record. ~ K. Ross Hoffman, Rovi