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Christer Björkman

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Christer Björkman
Björkman in Malmö Arena, 2019
Background information
Birth nameChrister Samuel Björkman
Born (1957-08-25) 25 August 1957 (age 67)
Borås, Sweden
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • television producer
Years active1984–present

Christer Samuel Björkman (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈkrɪ̌sːtɛr ˈbjœ̌rkman]; born 25 August 1957) is a Swedish singer and television producer. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 with the song "I morgon är en annan dag".[1] From 2002 to 2021, he served as a producer of Melodifestivalen, and has remained an important figure in the production of Melodifestivalen and the Eurovision Song Contest. He stepped down from this position after Melodifestivalen 2021, and is currently working at Voxovation, a Los Angeles-based company that focuses on expanding the Eurovision Song Contest brand into other markets.[2][3][4]

Biography

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Björkman was born in Borås as the son of gaming entrepreneur Ulla Björkman (b. 1939). He never met his father while he was alive. He began working as a hairdresser, and soon had his own hair salon in Borås.[citation needed]

In 1985, Björkman started his entertainment career by recording a song called "Våga och vinn", which was produced by Bruno Glenmark.[citation needed]

Björkman won Melodifestivalen 1992 with "I morgon är en annan dag", and represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 1992. He finished second last, Sweden's worst result at the contest since 1977. He entered Melodifestivalen a second and third time in 1993 with "Välkommen till livet" and 1999 with a song called "Välkommen hem" which finished last among the ten participants.[citation needed]

Alongside Richard Herrey, Björkman founded the Marcel Bezençon Awards in 2002.[5]

From 2002 to 2021, Björkman held the positions of contest producer of Melodifestivalen and Sweden's head of delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest.[6] During his last year as producer in 2021, he also hosted all of the shows.[7]

Björkman was the show producer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, following Loreen's victory the year prior.[8] He has acted as a juror at the national selections of other countries,[9] and served as contest producer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm following Måns Zelmerlöw's victory the year prior,[10] as well as the 2017,[11] 2018[12] and 2019 contests.[13] As such, he was responsible for determining the running order of the shows.[14][15][16][17] He returned to the Eurovision Song Contest as contest producer in 2024, when the event was held in Malmö, following Loreen's second win the year prior,[18] and will continue to assume the role for the 2025 contest.[19]

Together with Edward af Sillén, Björkman served as the Swedish commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.[20]

Björkman served as juror in many national selections for the Eurovision Song Contest and its spin-offs. In 2016, Björkman was chosen to be one of three expert jurors at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Valletta, Malta. In 2018, he was invited as an international juror for Sweden at Destination Eurovision 2018, the French national selection for that year's contest.[21] In 2019, he served as a member of the juries at Eurovision – Australia Decides[22] and Albania's Festivali i Këngës 58.[23] In 2024, he served as judge at the Luxembourg Song Contest.[24]

Björkman was also one of the producers of the American Song Contest in 2022.[25]

Personal life

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Björkman is openly gay, and is married to Martin Kagemark.

References

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  1. ^ "Christer Björkman". Christerbjorkman.com. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  2. ^ Gallagher, Robin (15 January 2017). "Four more years: Christer Björkman to leave Melodifestivalen in 2021". wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs.
  3. ^ Bronson, Fred (19 March 2022). "How Swedish Producers Helped Transform Eurovision Into 'American Song Contest'". Billboard.com. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Announcement: Eurovision Song Contest Latin America". eurovision.tv. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  5. ^ "Marcel Bezençon Awards | Eurovision Song Contest". eurovision.tv. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  6. ^ Rowe, James (15 March 2021). "Lotta Furebäck To Replace Christer Björkman As Head Of Delegation". The Euro Trip Podcast. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  7. ^ Gallagher, Robyn (5 January 2021). "Melodifestivalen 2021: Christer Björkman will host, joined by Måns Zelmerlöw, Oscar Zia, Lena Philipsson, Shirley Clamp and more". wiwibloggs. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  8. ^ "Blog Archive " SVT presents Eurovision 2013 Core Team". esctoday.com. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  9. ^ "BELGIUM: HADISE AND CHRISTER BJÖRKMAN TO JUDGE EUROSONG 2016". wiwibloggs. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  10. ^ Escudero, Victor M. (26 October 2015). "Meet the core team for 2016". Eurovision Song Contest. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  11. ^ "Christer Björkman: "I'm thrilled to be back!"". eurovision.tv. 22 February 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  12. ^ "It's time to meet the team behind Eurovision 2018!". eurovision.tv. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  13. ^ "Ever wonder what it's like to be Eurovision's Contest Producer?". eurovision.tv. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  14. ^ "Running order of the Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. 8 April 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  15. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: How is the Running Order being decided?". eurovision.tv. 12 May 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  16. ^ "Eurovision 2018: This is the running order of the Grand Final!". eurovision.tv. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  17. ^ "Eurovision 2019: This is the running order of the Grand Final!". eurovision.tv. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  18. ^ "Eurovision 2024 core team for Malmö is now complete". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 11 September 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  19. ^ "Switzerland 2025: Core project team is in place". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 3 July 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  20. ^ "Melodifestivalen. Bilder, video och texter för media". 16 November 2021. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  21. ^ "Destination Eurovision 2nd semi-final jury revealed – ESCXTRA.com". 2 October 2023. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  22. ^ Eersel, Dennis Van (7 February 2019). "Christer Björkman part of the jury for Australia Decides". ESCDaily. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  23. ^ Adams, William Lee (21 December 2019). "Festivali i Këngës 58: Jury member Christer Björkman on Albania finalists and American Song Contest". wiwibloggs. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  24. ^ Abbes, Oranie (22 November 2023). "Luxembourg 2024: International jury including Christer Björkman assess potential Eurovision singers". wiwibloggs. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  25. ^ "The Eurovision Song Contest travels to America!". eurovision.tv. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
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Media related to Christer Björkman at Wikimedia Commons

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
1992 		Succeeded by
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