Ted Gärdestad

Ted Gärdestad
Background Information
Origin	Sollentuna, Sweden
Birth date	18 February 1956
Death date	22 June 1997
Age	41
Eurovision Song Contest
Country	Sweden
Year	1979
Song	Satellit
Semi Position	--
Semi Points	--
Final Position	17th
Final Points	8

Ted Gärdestad was a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician who represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 in Jerusalem with the song Satellit, which finished in 17th place.

He was often described as a 'musical wonderchild' in the Swedish media and had in fact made his TV debut at the age of six playing accordion. Four years later, he made his acting debut in a TV movie and in 1970 acted in an American film as a tennis player but his love of music came first and he signed to Polar Music.

In February 1973, Ted entered Melodifestivalen with the song "Oh, vilken härlig dag" ("Oh What a Lovely Day"), which came joint fourth. A quartet at the time known as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid finished third with a song called "Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)". Ted had another attempt in 1975 with the song "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'", Svenne & Lotta placed third with "Bang en boomerang", and Ted finished seventh but the song became another hit single on the important radio charts Svensktoppen, Heta Högen and Kvällstoppen. Ted and brother Kenneth returned to Melodifestivalen in 1977 with the song "Det bästa som finns" ("The Best of All"), but that time they employed another Polar Music labelmate, Lena Andersson, to perform the song which finished eighth out of ten entries, and Ted himself never recorded the track.

By 1975, Ted had become a big star in Sweden, with his boyish good looks he was prominently featured in teen magazines, his love life and teenage romances were even covered by the national dailies, he had his own fan club, all his albums had gone gold and had also sold well in the rest of Scandinavia, besides ABBA and Anni-Frid Lyngstad he was the Polar Music label's best-selling artist.

After his appearance at the 1979 Contest, he made an unsuccessful return to Melodifestivalen in 1980 with "Låt solen värma dig" ("Let the Sun Warm You") with then girlfriend Annica Boller and disappointing sales of his 1981 album Stormvarning (#31, 2 weeks), internationally released as 2I'd Rather Write a Symphony" on the Polydor label in a few countries and equally overlooked, Ted dropped out of the music scene - at the age of 25.

In the late 1980s, his life took a tragic turn that would affect him for his remaining years when he was accused by the Swedish media of being the chief suspect in the murder of prime minister Olof Palme, in spite of having been out of the country at the time of the incident. A few years later he was again the victim of vicious rumours as he was accused of being the so-called Lasermannen, a bank robber and serial killer and again it was groundless rumours with no foundation in fact, proven when the real perpetrator of the crimes was caught. This however clearly took its toll on the sensitive and already unstable former star.

In the early 1990s he had a sudden resurgence in popularity and toured extensively throughout 1994 to 1996.

He decided to end his own life in June 1997 by jumping in front of a train at the age of 41.