Louise Hoffsten

Louise Hoffsten has been one of the most recognisable voices in Swedish music since the mid-1980s — a singer and harmonica player who came out of blues rock and never really left it, however far her records wandered into rock, jazz and folk.

Born in Linköping on 6 September 1965 into a musical family, she is the daughter of the jazz trumpeter Gunnar Hoffsten. She turned professional in 1986 singing with the blues-rock band Sky High, appearing on their 1987 album Humanizer, and released her first solo album Genom eld och vatten the same year.

Rhythm & Blonde

The breakthrough came in 1993 with her sixth album, Rhythm & Blonde, which established her with an earthy vocal delivery and the harmonica as a signature. It won her both a Grammis and a Rockbjörnen for Best Female Artist. Her reach went international: several songs from the 1995 album 6 were used on the American series Melrose Place, and Faith Hill covered "Bringing Out the Elvis" on the multi-platinum Breathe.

Multiple sclerosis and after

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the 1990s, she has been open about living with the condition, addressing it in the book-and-record project Blues in 1997 and in the 2015 book En näve grus. She has kept writing, recording and touring, and appeared on Så mycket bättre in 2018. She lives in Stockholm.

Recognition

Beyond the Grammis and Rockbjörnen, she has received the Evert Taube Scholarship in 2010, the Cornelis Vreeswijk Prize, the Povel Ramel Karamellodiktstipendium, the TCO Culture Prize, the King's Medal of the eighth size, and an honorary doctorate from Linköping University in 2004. In 2022 she was given the Musikförläggarnas hederspris, the music publishers' lifetime achievement award.

Grammis Best Female Artist 1993; Rockbjörnen Best Female Artist 1993; Evert Taube Scholarship 2010; honorary doctorate, Linköping University 2004; Musikförläggarnas hederspris 2022; King's Medal (8th size); Cornelis Vreeswijk Prize; Povel Ramel Karamellodiktstipendium