Alice Babs

Biography

Alice Babs was a famous Swedish singer. Her first recording was The “Joddlarflickan” in 1939, but before that she had made many appearances in various contexts. She recorded several record tracks before the year ended, including a number of titles with Nisse Lind’s Hot-trio. Alice Babs struck out as a swing singer in the movie ‘Swing it, magistern!’ (1940). She quickly became a symbol of the new jazz music, which also led to strong reactions from some of the older generation. In total, Alice Babs made some 20 music films.
In 1958 she was Sweden’s first representative in the Eurovision Song Contest, and came in fourth place with the song “Lilla stjärna”. The composer did not want to approve the text version that Alice Babs sang at the festival, therefore there was no record of her Eurovision song. However, the song was released on record 36 years later.
Together with Svend Asmussen and Ulrik Neumann she formed the vocal jazz trio Swe-Danes in 1958. They toured the United States from 1959 to 1960 and appeared in the Ed Sullivan show and at Coconut Grove in Los Angeles. Alice Babs reached the British charts with her version of “After You’ve Gone” in 1963. In the same year, she began collaborating with jazz composer Duke Ellington. This resulted in several albums. She had performed with Ellington in the US and several times in Sweden and Nordic TV, both in church concerts and in other contexts. Babs also worked closely with pianist and artist Charlie Norman for many years. In 1974 she became a member of the Royal Musical Academy.
In 2008, a documentary about Alice Bab’s life, “Alice Babs, Naturröstens hemlighet” was released. Alice Babs died at the age of 90 on February 11, 2014, after suffering of Alzheimer.