Jan Harpo Torsten Svensson was born on April 5, 1950 in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1975 he rose to international fame with his song 'Moviestar'. It reached number one in Sweden and Germany, number 2 in Australia and the Netherlands. Although Harpo is still active in the music business to this day, he never repeated this level of success.
One of the backing singers on 'Moviestar' was Frida from that other famous Swedish act, Abba. I am sure that I didn't know this as a kid, even though I was an Abba fan, but the song had an incredible impact on me. I loved the melody, the strange accent in the vocals, and played my sister's copy of the single time and again. I bought my own copy in 1991.
My collection: 7" single no. 1520
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, September 21, 1991
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'Moviestar' / ' I don't know why'
Although I am not familiar with most of Harpo's work, I bought three singles by him on one day. This is the third and last one.
'With a girl like you' was written by Reg Presley and a hit single for the Troggs in 1966. Swedish singer Harpo released his version of the song in 1978. Although the single was released all over Europe, it was not a hit.
After his Europe-wide success with 'Moviestar', Swedish singer followed this single up with 'Motorcycle mama' in Decembe 1975. It didn't reach the Dutch Top 40, and for a year, Harpo went silent. He came back in January 1977 with 'Rock 'n' Roll clown', which showed signs of it being a novelty song, with its 'Hee haw haw' chorus.
Jan Harpo Torsten Svensson was born on April 5, 1950 in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1975 he rose to international fame with his song 'Moviestar'. It reached number one in Sweden and Germany, number 2 in Australia and the Netherlands. Although Harpo is still active in the music business to this day, he never repeated this level of success.
