VoR
Take it or leave it
Another disaster for this bitch 
A sort of Swedish Colleen Nolan figure, weave enthusiast and mature Jesy Nelson lookalike Anna Book is best remembered for her truly ludicrous 1986 hit ABC. Unlike fellow 80s divas such as Lena Philipsson and Pernilla Wahlgren, Anna wasn't really able to translate her childhood stardom into an adult recording career, and by all accounts she sort of dropped off the radar for much of the 90s, re-emerging in 2006 on the first season of Sweden's Strictly Come Dancing, where she came second to Måns Zelmerlöw. She parlayed this profile boost into another ludicrous Melfest hit in 2007 with Samba Sambero. Since then she hasn't really had much of a recording career to speak of, but unlike her first stab at fame, she has maintained a presence on the lower rungs of Swedish celebrity thanks to her seemingly endless capacity for drama.
These have included (inevitably) her endlessly fluctuating weight, gastric bypass surgery, a near-fatal bowel obstruction, her son being accused of sexual assault, something about a dispute with a refrigerator repair man which was somehow deemed newsworthy enough for one of her trademark weeping photoshoots for the Swedish tabloids:
And, of course, arguably her finest hour - her inglorious return to Melfest 2016. Intended to celebrate 30 years since ABC, Anna's grand comeback sadly went awry when it emerged that her entry had already been recorded in English for a a Moldovan national final a couple of years earlier:
For once, this was not a drama of poor Anna's making (she never claimed to have written the song herself) but nevertheless she was booted from the competition just 24 hours before her scheduled performance. A wave of uncharacteristic public sympathy followed, so much so that Anna was allowed to perform out of competition, received a VERY un-Swedish ovation from the crowd and even went to #1 on iTunes for a few minutes.
Since then she seems to have mostly gone back to the day job of being a messy bitch who lives for Drama. A relatively minor figure in the Schlager firmament, but essential nontheless.
8th: Anna Book - Himmel för två
A sort of Swedish Colleen Nolan figure, weave enthusiast and mature Jesy Nelson lookalike Anna Book is best remembered for her truly ludicrous 1986 hit ABC. Unlike fellow 80s divas such as Lena Philipsson and Pernilla Wahlgren, Anna wasn't really able to translate her childhood stardom into an adult recording career, and by all accounts she sort of dropped off the radar for much of the 90s, re-emerging in 2006 on the first season of Sweden's Strictly Come Dancing, where she came second to Måns Zelmerlöw. She parlayed this profile boost into another ludicrous Melfest hit in 2007 with Samba Sambero. Since then she hasn't really had much of a recording career to speak of, but unlike her first stab at fame, she has maintained a presence on the lower rungs of Swedish celebrity thanks to her seemingly endless capacity for drama.
These have included (inevitably) her endlessly fluctuating weight, gastric bypass surgery, a near-fatal bowel obstruction, her son being accused of sexual assault, something about a dispute with a refrigerator repair man which was somehow deemed newsworthy enough for one of her trademark weeping photoshoots for the Swedish tabloids:
And, of course, arguably her finest hour - her inglorious return to Melfest 2016. Intended to celebrate 30 years since ABC, Anna's grand comeback sadly went awry when it emerged that her entry had already been recorded in English for a a Moldovan national final a couple of years earlier:
For once, this was not a drama of poor Anna's making (she never claimed to have written the song herself) but nevertheless she was booted from the competition just 24 hours before her scheduled performance. A wave of uncharacteristic public sympathy followed, so much so that Anna was allowed to perform out of competition, received a VERY un-Swedish ovation from the crowd and even went to #1 on iTunes for a few minutes.
Since then she seems to have mostly gone back to the day job of being a messy bitch who lives for Drama. A relatively minor figure in the Schlager firmament, but essential nontheless.
8th: Anna Book - Himmel för två
