Linda Bengtzing (b. 1974)
Birthplace:
Gullspång, Sweden
Born:
March 13, 1974
Bengtzing grew up in Gullspång, a little village in Västra Götaland located in the west of Sweden. She released two singles in 1987 and 1989, however, she disappeared from the music industry for fifteen years. In 2004 she took part in the fourth and the final season of Fame Factory but she went on the program at the same time as her song "Alla flickor" being selected to participate at Melodifestivalen 2005. Her song surprised everyone and she took part in the Melodifestivalen final after receiving sufficient votes in the 'Andra Chansen' (Second Chance) round. She finished in last place, scoring 15 jury points but receiving 0 points from the Swedish public's televoting. The single reached #8 in the Swedish charts and a few months "Diamanter", a song very similar to Alla flickor, reached #32. One year later she appeared again in Melodifestivalen. Her song, "Jag ljuger så bra", written first for Jessica Andersson, finished in the top two of the first heat and, therefore, was entered into the final. Linda's song came seventh out of 10 in the final in Stockholm's Globen. Whilst Linda may not have received many votes from the public the single rose to #2 in the Swedish charts, making it her greatest hit. Days before the Melodifestivalen 2006 final, she released her first album, "Ingenting att förlora" (#4) and months later the second single from the album, "Kan du se" debuted at #7, though did not chart the next week. In 2007 she released a new single, "Värsta schlagern", a parody on traditional Melodifestivalen entries. The song is rumoured to have been entered into Melodifestivalen 2007 but was not selected as one of the 32 songs to compete for the title in the live shows. The song is a duet together with Markoolio. Linda participated at Melodifestivalen 2008, competing in Heat 4 (Karlskrona) on the 1 March 2008, where she directly qualified for the final round. She went on to finish fifth out of ten in the final, with 64 points from the juries but nothing from the public. The song was composed by Johan Fransson, Tim Larsson, Tobias Lundgren and is called Hur svårt kan det va? (How hard can it be?). Linda released her second album on the 19 February 2008, 4 days after the Melodifestivalen final. It has been reported that Linda's record company (Mariann Records) would not allow Linda to release her second album unless she entered Melodifestivalen 2008. In 2009, she recorded the song "Victorious". The latter has been submitted for the 2010 edition of Melodifestivalen but unfortunately, it was not selected. The song was eventually recorded as a duet with the Swedish singer Velvet (one of her friends). The 22nd of February 2010, the song was available as a digital release and some remixes were also released few weeks later. The "Victorious" music video was shot in Los Angeles. In 2011 once again competed at Melodifestivalen with the song "E de fel på mig?". And 2014 she tried represent to Sweden at Eurovision Song Contest 2014 but for the first time she failed to reach the final with her song "Ta mig".