2020 marked Lasse Berghagen's 56 years as an artist. He was discovered in 1964, then only 19 years old, by producer Curt Pettersson. The debut album was released the following year and the artist's career quickly got rolling. However, his big breakthrough as a singer came a couple of years later, in 1969, with the song Teddybjörnen Fredriksson. A song that, to say the least, became Lasse Berghagen's signature tune.

Over the years, there were over 20 albums – and many hits on the Swedish charts. Swing Swing, A Simple Song About Freedom and You Who Walk Through Life, to name a few.

"Everything went at a hell of a speed"

But according to him, it was not planned that it was precisely artistry that would dominate Lasse Berghagen's professional life. Born in 1945 in Stockholm, it was instead the forester profession at a young age that attracted:

"Everything went at a hell of a speed in 1964. I had no interest in becoming an artist. I was going to be a forester," he said in an interview with Aftonbladet in 2019.

In total, Berghagen participated three times in the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1975 he won the competition with the song Jennie Jennie. In the Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Sweden that year because ABBA had won the contest with Waterloo the year before, Lasse Berghagen took home eighth place.

Became the face of the sing-along

Lasse Berghagen took over the program management for SVT's summer tradition Allsång på skansen in 1994. With a bright blue blazer and the theme song Stockholm in my heart, which Berghagen himself had written, he contributed to a renewal of the program and the viewing figures increased significantly.

But the summer of 2003 was his last Sing-along year, and the following year the program leadership was handed over to Anders Lundin. After that, Berghagen was seen less and less in public contexts – a conscious choice after many years in intense spotlight, he has explained in interviews.

In 2010, Berghagen participated in the very first season of TV4's entertainment program Så mycket bättre, then together with artists such as Christer Sandelin, Petter, Plura Jonsson, September and Thomas Di Leva. And not least Berghagen's former wife, Barbro "Lill-Babs" Svensson.

During the program, Berghagen performed, among other things, an acclaimed version of rapper Petter's song Längesen.