Monica Zetterlund

Swedish singer and actress Monica Zetterlund won international fame in the 1960s as a vocal stylist who recorded and toured with top US jazz stars and became an accomplished performer in revues on stage and an actress in films. Having learned about jazz from radio and records, she performed with her father's band mimicking the English words of jazz standards. From 1958 to 2000, she recorded more than 20 albums and earned acclaim for her interpretations of Swedish songwriters such as Evert Taube and Ollie Adolphson. She recorded and toured with jazz luminaries including Louis Armstrong, Stan Getz and Quincy Jones and in 1964 her album 'Waltz for Debby' with pianist Bill Evans became an immense critical and commercial hit. Stage revue performances with comedy duo Hasse & Tage led to television and film work and she won the Swedish equivalent of an Academy Award for her appearances in two films: Tage Danielsson's 'The Apple War' in 1971 and Jan Troell's 'The New Land' in 1972, both starring Max Von Zydow and Liv Ullmann. Zetterlund was plagued from childhood with scoliosis, a debilitating disease of the spine, which meant that she often performed sitting down. Zetterlund died aged 67 in a fire at her apartment in central Stockholm.

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