Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest - 2008

The Swedish Final, Melodifestivalen 2008,  was held on March 15th at the Globe Theatre in Stockholm, hosted by Kristian Luuk. The winner was chosen by regional juries (50%) and televoting (50%).

The 5 Swedish Semi-Finals were also hosted by Kristian Luuk. In the first 4 semi-finals there were two rounds of televoting - the first to select the top 5 and the second to select the top 2 songs to qualify directly for the final and the 3rd and 4th placed songs that went forward to the 5th semi-final. In the 5th semi-final songs competed in groups of pairs. The most popular song from each pairing was chosen by televoting, then the winners of pairs 1 & 2 competed against each other to qualify for the final as did the winners of pairs 3 & 4.

The final was won by Charlotte Perrelli with the song Hero, which was written and composed by Fredrik Kempe and Bobby Ljunggren. Sanna Nielsen, who was the favourite of televoters, came second, as she did not receive enough points from the 11 juries.

Results:

Semi-Final 1 - February 9th - Scandinavium, Gothenburg

1. Thank you - Amy Diamond
2. I love Europe - Christer Sjögren
3. Line of fire - E-Type & The Poodles
4. Visst finns mirakel - Suzzie Tapper
5. Déjà vu - Velvet
6. That's love - Michael Michailoff
7. Lullaby - Brandur
8. Alla gamla x - Face-84

Semi-Final 2 - February 16th - ABB Arena - Västerås

1. Empty Room - Sanna Nielsen
2. Just a minute - Rongedal
3. One love - Johnson & Häggkvist
4. Love in stereo _ Ola
5. Kebabpizza Slivovitza - Andra Generationen
6. Du behöver aldrig mer vara rädd - Lasse Lindh
7. Den första svalan - Alexander Schöld
8. Razborka - The Nicole

Semi-Final 3 - February 23rd - Cloetta Center, Linköping

1. Lay Your Love on Me - BWO
2. Upp o hoppa - Frida feat. Headline
3. Smiling in Love - Caracola
4. When you need me - Thérèse Andersson
5. Under mitt tunna skinn - Patrik Isaksson & Bandet
6. Jag saknar dig ibland - Ainbusk
7. Izdajice - Mickey Huskić
8. Hallelujah New World - Eskobar

Semi-Final 4 - March 1st - Telenor Arena Karlskrona, Karlskrona

1. Hero - Charlotte Perrelli
2. Hur svårt kan det va - Linda Bengtzing
3. That Is Where I'll Go - Sibel
4. I lågornas sken - Nordman
5. If I Could - Calaisa
6. Ingen mår så bra som jag - Fronda
7. Pame - Daniel Mitsogiannis
8. För många ord om kärlek - Niklas Strömstedt

Semi-Final 5 - March 9th - Arena Arctica, Kiruna

Line of fire - E-Type & The Poodles (-) V That's where I'll go - Sibel (Q)
Love in stereo - Ola (Q) V Caracola - Smiling in love (-)
One love - Johnson & Häggkvist V I lågornas sken - Nordman (Q)
When you need me - Thérèse Andersson V Visst finns mirakel - Suzzie Tapper (Q)

That's where I'll go - Sibel (F) V Love in stereo - Ola (-)
I lågornas sken - Nordman (F) V Visst finns mirakel - Suzzie Tapper (-)

The Final - March 15 - Globen, Stockholm

01. Hero - Charlotte Perrelli, 224 points
02. Empty room - Sanna Nielsen, 206 points
03. Lay your love on me - BWO, 158 points
04. Just a minute - Rongedal, 142 points
05. Hur svårt kan det va? - Linda Bengtzing, 64 points
06. I lågornas sken - Nordman, 48 points
07. There is where I'll go - Sibel, 39 points
08. Thank you - Amy Diamond, 36 points
09. I love europe - Christer Sjögren, 23 points
10. Upp o hoppa - Frida feat. Headline, 6 points

At the ESC, Charlotte Perrelli competed in the second semi-final on 22 May. She did not actually finished among the ten best, but thanks to the new rule that the last finalist will be chosen by the back-up juries, she took the final ticket at the expense of Macedonia. The actual placement was 12th, 7 points after Macedonia and 2 points after Bulgaria. She was drawn into the 15th spot in the final. Although being one of the heavy favorites before the final, Sweden did not finish higher than 18th, receiving only 47 points.

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Charlotte Perrelli (born Anna Jenny Charlotte Nilsson on 7 October 1974, in Hovmantorp, Kronobergs län, Sweden) is a Swedish singer and occasional television host, perhaps most famous for winning the 1999 Melodifestivalen and subsequently that year's Eurovision Song Contest with the song Take Me to Your Heaven. She is one of Sweden's most popular female singers, often performing at Sweden's top shows. Throughout her career, she has worked with different types of music, ranging from dansband and schlager, via modern pop, to soulful ballads and jazz.

At thirteen Charlotte joined a local dansband in Hovmantorp in the Småland-province in southern Sweden. The band Bengt Ingvars became Bengt Ingvars med Charlotte. After finishing her compulsory school education, Perrelli moved from Hovmantorp to the neighbouring town of Växjö where she attended the High School of Performing Arts. She also became the lead singer of the band Kendix.

In 1994, Charlotte started singing with the well-established dansband Anders Engbergs. After two albums, Perrelli left the band and joined the highly successful dansband Wizex in 1997. The years with Wizex gave Charlotte the opportunity to develop her skills as a performer. Larger venues and professional management produced results. In 1998 the band was nominated for a Swedish Grammis for the album Mot nya mål, and the album Tusen och en natt sold gold. Perrelli was ready to go solo. Between 1997–1998 Charlotte also starred as the training instructor Millan Svensson in the Swedish soap opera Vita lögner.

After being selected as the Swedish contestant for the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest by winning that year's Melodifestivalen, Charlotte went to Jerusalem in late May to compete with her song Take Me To Your Heaven. She won and her solo career really took to the skies. The following months were hectic for Charlotte, she toured Europe and the Middle East, promoting her Take me to your heaven and started working on her first solo album, the self titled Charlotte. Later that year she was voted Sweden's sexiest woman by the magazine Café. She later released I write you a lovesong, together with debut album Charlotte, which was well-received. Throughout the rest of the year, she toured Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia in support of her album. For the Eurovision Song Contest 2000, Charlotte did not make an appearance due to a conflict between her and the SVT.

In 2001 she released her second album, Miss Jealousy, a pop/rock album which included the top 20 hit single You Got Me Going Crazy, written by Johan Åberg and Paul Rein, known for their work with Christina Aguilera and Victoria Beckham. This song would later become the debut single for Spanish singer Natalia, whose Spanish version of the song Vas a volverme loca in 2002 sold over 200,000 in Spain alone, a record for that year. The album also contained the radio hit Light of my life. During the months after the release, she promoted the album throughout Europe, and also travelled to New Zealand, to promote her work.

Charlotte hosted the first semifinal of Melodifestivalen 2003 together with Mark Levengood and Lena Philipsson. In April 2003 she performed in Jesus Christ Superstar. In September she released the new single Broken Heart, which was followed up by the album Gone Too Long in June 2004, containing hits like Gone too long, Flashdance and Million miles away.

After the success in Melodifestivalen 2003, Charlotte was once again offered to host Melodifestivalen 2004. Charlotte Perrelli, Peter Settman and Ola Lindholm hosted the entire tour together. After the festival, Swedish TV4 offered her an own show on the channel. The show was called Super Troupers which was a talent-show for kids. One of the contestants was Amy Diamond, who is now a successful and singer also Alice Svensson who later came first runner-up in Idol 2008.

In mid-2004 she released her, until then, most successful album, Gone Too Long, which included songs by some of Sweden's top producers, including Jörgen Elofsson. The album topped the Swedish top for weeks and contained hits like A million miles away and Gone too long. In the summer, she joined Robert Wells, Jill Johnson and others on the Rhapsody In Rock-tour in mid-2004. In the spring of 2005, she was a judge on Inför Eurovision, a TV show which previewed that year's Eurovision songs.

In 2006, she released the album I din röst, in honour of the famous jazz singer Monica Zetterlund, which contained Monica's most famous songs, along with some personal favorites and the soul-ballad I din röst, written by Charlotte for the album. The album was successful, and she performed many of the songs in Sweden's top shows like Allsång på Skansen and Nationaldagen. She also co-hosted the TV-show Tillsammans för världens barn in October, where she also performed The Greatest Love of all.

In May, 2007 Charlotte was the Swedish expert in the Nordic preview show panel discussion about the Eurovision Song Contest. The contestants and their songs and chances to win were commented on. She was also a part of the panel in 2005.

In mid-2007 Charlotte toured Sweden with the yearly successful Diggiloo. She was joined by singers such as Linda Bengtzing, Lasse Holm, Molly Sandén, Lotta Engberg and Jan Johansen. During the summer she released the love ballad Som du which she performed att the popular show Sommarkrysset. During the autumn she released the single disco song Jag är tillbaks which she performed at the show Babban & Co. Both singles had moderate success.

On 15 March 2008 Perrelli performed and won Melodifestivalen 2008 again with her song Hero at the Stockholm Globe Arena. Hero became an enormous hit in Sweden, topping the charts for several weeks and becoming the most sold single of 2008 for a Swedish artist. She went on to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia, where she advanced to the finals. Before Eurovision, she went out on an enormous tour, performing at popular TV shows in 17 nations, in order to promote Hero.

On 14 April Charlotte filmed the music video for Hero on location in Stockholm. She also released her album titled Hero, which went on to sell platinum in Sweden. Although Hero was one of the favourites to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, it ended 18th out of 25 entries in the final, with 47 points in total. After Eurovision, the song Bullet was released as a single, and it performed moderately on the Swedish charts. Perrelli started rehearsals for Rhapsody in Rock along with Robert Wells, with whom she toured with during that summer. Perrelli and Robert did a concert in Beijing, China during the 2008 Summer Olympics. In August, it was revealed that Charlotte had signed a record deal with a Chinese record label. As a result, her album Hero was released inside China.

During the autumn, she worked on her Christmas album Rimfrostjul, which was released in November. She also performed at several of Sweden's top TV-shows, such as Sommarkrysset, Victoriadagen and Nationaldagen. On 31 October 2008 Charlotte was a guest judge and coach for the remaining contestants on Idol 2008. In November and December, she promoted her Christmas album and toured Sweden in a set of Christmas concerts.In the beginning of 2009, she travelled to Beijing to perform in a series of TV-shows. She worked as a judge on the Swedish show Talang 2009.

At the Schlager pride in Stockholm in July 2009, she announced that she will release a new album in 2010. This was later changed to 2012. Charlotte recorded a new single for the Swedish Royal Wedding in June 2010 together with pop singer Magnus Carlsson titled Mitt livs gemal, which was very well-received and performed throughout Sweden. In August, she released her first fitness book titled Kan du Kan jag. In December 2010, she toured Swedish churches with her material from her Christmas album Rimfrostjul. Charlotte was also a judge on Talang 2010. She returned as a judge for Talang 2011 which is the series fifth season. During the Summer, she toured with Diggiloo once more. In November 2011, she confirmed that she would play Eva Peron in the musical Evita at the Malmoe Opera, something which she described as a dream come true.

In November 2011, it was announced that she would once again participate in Melodifestivalen 2012 with the entry The Girl by Fredrik Kempe in hopes of representing Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. In the fourth semifinal of the show, she came 5th, and failed to qualify to the final. Nonetheless, she released her seventh album titled The Girl, which contained 8 new tracks. One of the tracks was called Little Braveheart, which was a duet with the successful Belgian singer Kate Ryan. She also released her own perfume and shimmering lotion titled The Girl, which was an enormous success. In the summer of 2012, she will once again tour with Diggiloo. After this, she will release her second fitness book, and then play Eva Peron in the musical Evita at the Malmö Opera.

In 2003, Charlotte married Stockholm-based Swedish-Italian restaurateur Nicola Ingrosso, brother of Emilio Ingrosso who had been married to another Swedish singer, Pernilla Wahlgren. Following a feud with Ingrosso's family, Charlotte and Nicola decided to change their last names to Perrelli. They have two sons; Angelo (born in 2004) and Alessio (born in 2005). After speculations in Swedish media that their relationship was on the rocks, the couple officially announced their separation in June 2008. It is believed that Charlotte's heavy workload was a contributing factor to the couple's split. On 24 September 2009, the couple filed for divorce.

In 2012, Perrelli announced that she is not single in a Swedish radio interview, and that she has been dating an unknown man for a while. It was later confirmed that this was Anders Jensen.