Biography
Lill-Babs, real name Barbro Svensson, was a Swedish singer. After singing in a radio show in 1954, she was discovered by conductor Simon Brehm, who took her to Stockholm where she made a professional debut at the dance restaurant Bal Palais. She released her first album in 1954. Simon Brehm was Svensson’s manager until his death in 1967. It was also he who gave her the artist name Lill-Babs: a conscious connection to the older and then considerably more famous singer Alice Babs. She made her big popular breakthrough when she sang in Stikkan Anderson’s “Är du kär i mej ännu Klas-Göran?” in 1959. Her theater debut had already bean made the year before. She also starred in a number of films, including in the films “Floyd” and “En nolla för mycket”. In 1960, she took part in Melodifestivalen and in 1961, she represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “April, April”. Lill-Babs did several tavern shows in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. In 1969, she participated in the Norwegian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. During the 1970s, she played revues and had lots of success in the musical “Annie get your gun”. In 1982, poet Lars Forsell wrote a show for Lill-Babs. In the spring of 2017, Lill-Babs performed the show “Tillsammans – 183 år på scen” together with Siw Malmkvist and Ann-Louise Hanson. On April 3, 2018, Barbro Svensson died of cancer at 80 years old.
