Vikingarna is a Swedish dansband, formed in 1958. The band originally disbanded in 2004 after an extensive farewell tour, but announced their comeback in March 2011, however, with only two original members remaining.
They are the best-selling dansband in Scandinavian music history, and are often regarding as the greatest dansband to have existed, and had at the time of their dissolution sold more than 11 million records.
Vikingarna was formed in 1958 by Claes Johansson as "Ji-Coo & the Vikings". Three years later however, in 1961, the band split in two, "Jicco" becoming its own entity, while the remaining members changed the bandname to "The Vikings". The band would go through several member changes in the next decade, rarely having a steady line-up for more than a year or two. In 1963, they recorded a cover of country standard The Tennessee Waltz, selling 20 000 copies, but falling short of any real success. It was not until 1973 that the band would finally achieve fame, recruiting several new members, including Tony Eriksson (who left again soon after, but returned for good 1976), Tord Sjöman and Stefan Borsch, who would all remain with the band for several years, and recording their first album at this time, as part of a multi-artist album project by Swedish/Germen recording company Odeon.
The album gave the band their first hit, entering Svensktoppen in 1974, with the song "På världens tak", a Swedish cover of The Carpenters hit "Top of the World".
In 1978, singer Stefan Borsch, drummer Per-Anders Carlsson and bass guitarist Börje Gunnarson announced that they were leaving the band. This came as a shock to the band, who were having greater success than ever at the time, but dedicated to continue and recruited new members. One of the new members were Christer Sjögren, who would stay as the bands singer for the rest of their tenure. The band soon recorded and released their eleventh album, "Kramgoa Låtar 9", with their new line-up, including a Swedish cover of "Dschingis Kahn", the West German entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1979.
Continuing the heavy schedule of touring and recording into the 1980s, the band gradually began to grow outside the Swedish borders. Already established in Eastern Norway and some parts of Denmark, the band expanded their tours to include all of Scandinavia, soon becoming the most popular and best selling dansband ever. For most of the 1980s and 1990s, Vikingarna was often seen as a standard for the dansband sound. The release of "Kramgoa Låtar 13" in 1985, also saw the bands first ever release in the Soviet Union, tailing 40 000 copies in the Eastern European country. In 1990, the band also recruited renowned guitarist Lasse Westmann to their line-up. Continuing their success into the 90s, the band recorded what would be their final album for several years in 1992, entitled "Kramgoa Låtar 20", before going on a three year break.
During this time, several of the members began solo projects and started new bands, the most successful being singer Christer Sjögren, who had already established himself in Scandinavia as a solo artist. In 1988 and 1991, they were also awarded Grammis prizes.
In 1995, the band once again returned to the studio and recorded a new album entitled "Kramgoa Låtar 1995", a modernization of their album gimmick, and it would achieve a platinum record in both Sweden and Norway within two weeks of its release. It also gave the band their first hit record in Finland. This prompted the band to resume touring in Scandinavia, and two years later they once again returned to the studio to record their next album, "Kramgoa Låtar 1997".
However, their happiness came to an abrupt end, when long-time drummer Anders Erixon died suddenly on August 4, 1997, just 53 years old. At the time of his death, he had completed around two-thirds of the drum tracks for the new album. Singer Christer Sjögren would iterate that Erixon was the core of the band, keeping them together when everyone else was tired. Studio musician Klas Anderhaal finished the drum tracks for an October release, and afterwards joined the band as Erixons replacement. The band would then continue touring and recording for several more years, releasing new albums on a semi-yearly basis, while playing to sold-out crowds throughout Scandinavia.
In the year 2000, Vikingarna expanded their horizons, and begun to record songs in German, under the name "Vikinger", the German translation of "Vikingarna". They became immensely popular in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, even having several TV appearances in the former country. The band would record two more albums in German, both becoming best-sellers. In late 2003, Klas Anderhaal left the band to resume his career as a studio musician, and was replaced by drummer Johan Norgren. At the same time, the band announced that they were doing a farewell tour the following year, and that the band would retire afterwards.
Not long after, on January 30, 2004, the bands guitarist Lasse Westmann died after short illness. The band would recruite his colleague and friend Lasse Wellander to fill his shoes on their farewell tour. In June 2004, the band appeared on Swedish hit television show "Allsång på Skansen", in what would be one of the most viewed episodes in the shows history. The band played their final concert in their founding town of Arvika on 3 July 2004, in front of more than 7,000 people, breaking the record for most attendants at the site, with both Christer Sjögren and Stefan Borsch appearing.
At the same time, a "Greatest Hits" compilation album, which spanned most of the band's career featuring newly recorded versions of several old hits was released. A documentary/concert film titled "Kramgött från början till slut" was released at the same time. At the time of their 2004 dissolvement, Vikingarna had sold over 11 million records.
In 2008, four years after their retirement, their final concert was released on both CD and DVD. Since then, most of the members had remained active with their individual solo projects. On March 18, 2011, lead singer Christer Sjögren announced to Swedish and Norwegian news that the band were planning a comeback tour, with the first concert schedueled for July 7 at Ekebofestivalen in Sweden. He also told reporters that several new songs had been written, and that a new album featuring these was in the works. Sjögren, along with keyboard player Erik Lihm, are the only two members of the former line-up who are returning, with the remainder of the line-up being filled by the members of Erik Lihms own band.
