Rockin'XXL: Sven Zetterberg (SWE)

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Sven Zetterberg (SWE)

Scandinavian bluesman Sven Zetterberg impressed Swedish audiences beginning in the early '70s with his guitar, harp, and raw soulful vocals. He was born in 1952 in Skärblacka, Sweden, and started playing harmonica at the age of 12 when he discovered the music of Little Walter. His first band, Telge Blues, was formed in 1972 and played the Swedish club scene for a number of years, followed by the formation of Sven Zetterberg & the Chicago Express. This band, for the better part of ten years, held the top position in the Swedish blues scene and recorded four albums -- The Blue Solution (1990), Watch Your Step (1991), Permanently Blue (1995), and Steppin' Out (1996) -- before breaking up. Through the years, Zetterberg learned from and played with a host of American blues greats who traveled through Scandinavia, including Jimmy Rogers, Sunnyland Slim, and Jimmy McCracklin.
In 1979, Zetterberg made his first trip to America, heading directly to Chicago, making further contacts with several important musicians. This culminated in the 1983 album Chicago Blues Meeting, featuring Sunnyland Slim and S.P. Leary. Zetterberg continued to tour and release discs, including his first solo recording, Blues from Within, issued by the Amigo label in 1999. Let Me Get Over It followed in spring 2001, and he remained prolific over the next decade and a half, releasing such albums as Moving in the Right Direction, Southern Soul Agenda, Hollerin' Up a Storm, Grounded in Reality, Mileage and Something for Everybody. After concluding a Christmas tour in mid-December of 2016, Zetterberg died of heart failure in Stockholm on the 18th of that month. He was 64 years old.

1984

Red Lightnin'073/ 22 tr./ 71:38 min.