Glenmark, Anders (20 November 1953-Present)

Multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and producer from Tomelilla, Sweden, who was a member of the family act, The Glenmarks, before going on to co-form Gemini with his sister, Karin. The Glenmarks released a self-titled album in 1972, and the simply titled Glenmarks II in 1973. They placed fourth in the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest with “En liten sang som alla andra”. In 1974, they issued Jul A La Carte and landed in eighth place with “I annorlunda land”. This was followed by Glenmarks tvA sidor and sixth place with “Lady Antoinette” in 1975.

Anders released an eponymous solo album and peaked at #5 on the Swedish charts with “Nu bubbler bladet sa hett I mig”. He appeared on a pair of albums by ABBA songstresses Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Elva Kvinnor I Ett Hus and Frida Ensam, respectively. That’s him on guitar on ABBA’s 1976 hit, “Money Money Money”. He is listed in the credits of the Michael B. Tretow album, Let’s Boogie. Anders Glenmark! reached #37 on the Swedish charts in 1976. He released something of a novelty record entitled “Laderlappen”, which was the Swedish word for “Batman”.

In 1977, his sophomore effort, Express, managed #48 on the Swedish charts, and he appeared on ABBA’s Arrival. He produced Eva Dahlgren’s solo debut, Finns det nan som bryr sig om in 1978. In 1980, he appeared on ABBA’s Super Trouper and placed fourth in the Eurovision Song Contest with “De tar mitt liv – det ar jag”. He hit the small screen when he participated in Melodifestivalen 1981.

In 1982, he arranged and produced and played keyboards and sang background vocals on Eva Dahlgren’s Tvillingskal. He did similar multi-tasking on Kikki’s 1983 album, Singles Bar: In addition to co-writing four songs, including the title track, he arranged, produced, and sang backing vocals. He co-wrote all but two tracks on his sister Karin’s 1984 album, Mitt Innersta Rum, and duetted with her on two tracks, “Flyga Fri” and “Kall som is”. “Kall som is” placed 4^th in the Eurovision Song Contest. On TV, fans could catch Anders in action on Melodifestivalen 1984.

Anders, Karin, and Liza Ohlman sang background vocals on the Chess soundtrack in 1984, including the Murray Head hit, “One Night in Bangkok”, which soared to #3 in the U.S. and #12 in the U.K. In 1985, he and Eva covered “The Long and Winding Road” for Anc-galan – Svensk Rock mot Aparitheid.

He and Karin co-formed Gemini and released a self-titled album in November. The album was co-produced by Anders, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus and Anders co-wrote three of the songs, “Falling”, “In the Middle of Nowhere”, and “Live on the Love”. It was followed by Geminism, which featured the same three producers and four more tracks co-written by Anders, “Beat the Heat”, “Sniffin’ out the Snakes”, “There’s No Way to Fool a Heart”, and “Wild About That Girl”.

In 1987, he composed music for the film Le Test and played acoustic, bass and electric guitar, clarinet, keyboards and percussion and sang background vocals on Eva Dahlgren’s Ung och stolt. His own album, Har gar en man, reached #15 on the Swedish charts in 1988. He was one of the musicians on Tomas Ledin’s album, Down on the Pleasure Avenue.

In 1989, he played the Arbiter in Chess in Concert, appeared on another Melodifestivalen TV special, and performed acoustic and electric guitar, an ARP Omni, minimoog and polymoog and background vocals on Eva Dahlgren’s KannMej. He produced Orup’s 2 and duetted on “Upp Over Mina Oron”, which grabbed 2^nd place in the Eurovision Song Contest and 4^th place on the Swedish charts.

In 1990, he appeared on the TV show Aerlige Otto and released Jag finns har for dig, which rocketed to #2 on the Swedish charts and sent a pair of singles into the top ten, “Hon har blommor I sitt har” and “Hon sa”. This was followed by 99 in 1991, and it managed #7 whilst “Greyhound Bus” arrived at #10. “Mare Mare” reached the top twenty in 1992. In 1993, his Boogie i mitt huvud peaked at #6 and “Bygg pa mig” cracked the top forty, his REMIx3 CD hit the shelves, and he composed music for the television mini-series, Allis med is.

He performed Chess in Concert in 1994 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and this time got to perform the part of The American. Orup (a.k.a. Thomas Eriksson), Niklas Stromstedt and he co-founded GES and enjoyed some chart success with their self-titled debut ascending to the top of the Swedish charts and three singles—“En javel pa karlek”, “Man grater aldrig pa en lordag”, and “Nar vi graver guld i USA”—going to #5, #15, and #1, respectively.

In 1996, he co-wrote or wrote most of the material for and produced Anni-Frid Lyngstad’s Djupa Andetag. The simply titled Glenmark grazed the top ten in 1997 and “I min sang” barely missed out on the top twenty. He performed Chess in Concert again in 1997 and 1998, and appeared on the quasi-ABBA tribute, Fran Waterloo to Duvemala.

In 2000, “Greyhound Bus” made the cut on Absolute Music 34 and a CD of Anders’ Hits was released. His Alla dessabilder went to the top forty in Sweden and “Kom karavaner”, a duet with Sos Fenger, reached #31. He also co-produced Tomas Ledin’s Hela Vagen.

GES returned to the top of the charts in 2003 with Den Andra Skivan, and the title track did almost as well, just stalling at #2. Anders made a handful of TV appearances in the 2000s, once on Allsang pa Skansen and three times on BingoLotto.

In 2005, Det basta med Karin och Anders Glenmark, a CD of previous material, was released. They toured with a Christmas show in Sweden towards the end of the year. By Christmas 2006, Glenmark & Glenmark, a holiday offering from the brother-sister pair, was under the tree.

He and Niklas Stromstedt contributed “Lev Livet” to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007. Anders arranged and produced “End Song” for the 2007 film, Arn: The Knight Templar. In 2008, he and Niklas co-wrote “Dar du andas” for the sequel, Arn – Riket vid vagens slut, and it was performed by Marie Fredriksson. The song also appears on a compilation that Anders produced entitled Alla himlens anglar. Anders appeared at the Globe Arena on 19^thNovember 2008 for The Show of Christmas.

Another Anders compilation, Original Album Classics, was released in 2010. He can also be heard on Diamanter – Sjuttiotalet and The Tim Rice Collection: Stage and Screen Classics.

He has his own production company, Anders Glenmark Productions, and his own vintage Swedish paper doll, for those difficult-to-buy-for fans.

ABBA recordings
Elaine (Benny Andersson/Bjorn Ulvaeus)
Atlantic 3776 ST-A-39221-SP (US 45)

Here he is with “Mare Mare”…

Sources:

Glenmark, Anders (20 November 1953-Present)

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