Owe Thörnqvist

Owe Thörnqvist (born 12 March 1929 in Uppsala) is a Swedish troubadour, revue artist and songwriter.^[1] Since the 1980s he has lived in Spain and Florida in the winter for health reasons,^[2] and in Sweden in the summers.^[3] He has also made regular concert tours in Sweden.

After completing his military service and while studying Political Science at Uppsala University, in 1953, Thörnqvist produced his first revue in Uppsala, and in 1955 his first record was released. His musical style includes rock, ballroom rumba and calypso, and he has also written pastiches of American popular music; his texts are characterised by word play and humour.

Thörnqvist was one of the first people to do comedy in Sweden, in venues such as Hamburger Börs and Berns in Stockholm in the 1950s. He has worked together with artists such as Povel Ramel (in the revue I hatt och strumpa in 1961–62), Anita Lindblom, Lill Lindfors, and Eva Rydberg. In 1963, Thörnqvist provided guest vocals and performed the song "Wilma" on the Flintstones episode "The Swedish Visitors".

In 2004, Thörnqvist received H. M. The King's Medal in the 8th size for his contributions to Swedish culture as a songwriter, singer and composer.^[4] He has also received the Evert Taube prize (Evert Taube-stipendiet) and the Cornelis Vreeswijk prize (Cornelis Vreeswijk-stipendiet).^[5]

On 30 November 2016, it was revealed that Thörnqvist had been selected to take part in the third semifinal of Melodifestivalen 2017 with the song Boogieman Blues,^[6] making his début at the contest.

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